The WNBA Grapples With Incorporating Sensational Rookie Class
The 2024 WNBA rookie class, headlined by Caitlin Clark, disrupts and expands league's horizons
When the Indiana Fever played its first full season at the newly renovated Gainbridge Fieldhouse in 2023, the team drew an average attendance of around 4,000 fans. What a difference a year makes. During the 2024 season, the venue routinely hosted sold out crowds with upwards of 17,000 fans. The attendance surge, of course, was largely thanks to Indiana drafting one of the most dynamic and talented rookies in WNBA history, Caitlin Clark.
Despite the enormous upside for the league, the past season has been anything but smooth for the WNBA. League management, teams and players have all grappled with major challenges and controversies stemming from surging interest in a 2024 rookie class achieving on-court success and off-court popularity. With all the fanfare, growing pains for the WNBA were understandable.
Although the league started in 1997, the WNBA wasn’t fully prepared for anything like the star power arriving in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Headlined by University of Iowa sensation Caitlin Clark, the rookie class boasted many other household names including Stanford’s Cameron Brink and a trio of SEC juggernauts: LSU’s Angel Reese, South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso and Rickea Jackson from Tennessee. The broadcast of the draft itself drew a record 2.44 million viewers, obliterating the previous mark of 601,000, set in 2004.
The Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream warm up ahead of their Sept. 8 game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Fever rookie Caitlin Clark is pictured on the Jumbotron.
Many of the rookies already dealt with the spotlight in college. They raked in millions: in TV viewership, social media followings and dollars in recently legalized endorsement deals. For example, even in college, the “Caitlin Clark effect” resulted not only in home arena sellouts, but also away games throughout the country. Though the women’s college game is more popular, it was reasonable to assume that the much of the same economic and social influence of Clark and the rookie class would translate to the professional ranks. Indeed, the impact has been wide ranging, prompting scrambles for bigger arenas, difficulty in meeting merchandise demand, massive ratings boosts and even some expectation adjustments for the league.
Even though the Fever play in one of the smallest WNBA markets, Indianapolis stepped up to the challenge. Renovations to Gainbridge Fieldhouse couldn’t have arrived at a more fortuitous time. Sharing a home arena with the NBA’s Indiana Pacers was a distinct advantage for the Indiana Fever, providing a large and modern venue to host legions of new and old Clark fans night after night throughout the season.
Fans arrive at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for the Sept. 8 Indiana Fever–Atlanta Dream game.
Earlier this month, the Women’s Sports Journal attended a Friday night Fever game at Gainbridge as the team hosted the Minnesota Lynx. The Fever and Lynx emerged from the Olympic break as two of the hottest teams in the league, and were destined for a collision course. From before the opening tip to the final buzzer, the crowd was electric. Fans commented that the atmosphere felt like a playoff game, though the Indiana Fever hadn’t reached the playoffs since 2016.
The Minnesota Lynx (foreground) and Indiana Fever (background) warm up ahead of their Sept. 6 game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
A few other teams, including the Lynx, Phoenix Mercury, and New York Liberty, have similar arrangements with their NBA counterparts, helping keep up with ticket demand for away games. However, some of the WNBA’s other teams play in significantly smaller arenas with capacities well below 10,000. How did they address the swelling demand?
The Washington Mystics were a shining example of a team rising to the challenge. Washington was one of the earliest cities to identify and seize the opportunity of the Clark effect and change its Fever game to a larger arena.
The Mystics ordinarily play at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in front of 4,200 fans. As its initial matchup with the Fever neared, the Mystics announced that they would move its June Fever game to Capital One Arena, the downtown home of Washington’s NBA team, which would allow for around 20,000 fans to attend.
Not only did the Mystics change venues for the Fever, the team also scheduled its first matchup with Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky for Capital One Arena as well. Reese, another massive star in this year’s rookie class, was a big ticket draw all season. She has a large fan base in the D.C. metro region, being from nearby Baltimore and playing her first two college seasons at the University of Maryland. Reese and fellow rookie Kamilla Cardoso were both drafted to the Sky in the first round, billed as the team’s formidable front court duo of the future.
Held on back-to-back nights, both the Sky and Fever games at Capital One Arena were incredibly successful. The Washington Mystics leaned into the popularity of the rookie class in promoting the games, maximizing the appeal of their own first round rookie pick, UConn standout Aaliyah Edwards, and the visiting Reese and Clark.
The Washington Mystics host the Indiana Fever on June 7 at Capital One Arena in Washington, drawing a crowd of 20,333 attendees.
Not only did the location change make professional women’s basketball more accessible to the D.C. region, the Mystics were able to showcase their team and product to thousands more fans. Notably, the Fever’s June game drew 20,333 attendees, which set the mark for the highest WNBA regular season attendance since 1999.
Besides the Mystics, the Atlanta Dream also found success in moving its two Fever games from their home arena – the smallest capacity in the league – to the city’s larger State Farm Arena. Its most recent game set a women’s basketball attendance record for the state of Georgia with upwards of 17,000 fans, a far cry from the 3,500-person capacity of Atlanta’s Gateway Center. The Dream marketed the game as a showcase for the WNBA’s most recent three overall picks: Clark and Aliyah Boston (2023) for the Fever versus the Dream’s #1 selection in 2022, Rhyne Howard.
While a few teams moved to bigger arenas to host the Fever, not all were able to do so. Those that did not found themselves with some of the highest priced tickets in WNBA history. The Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings saw unprecedented interest and demand for a much smaller pool of tickets, as neither moved their Fever games to larger arenas. Accordingly, at the time of their August matchup, ticket prices for the Sky’s final home game with the Fever were the most expensive for any game in WNBA history.
Another logistical surprise this season was merchandise sales. For example, Clark’s #22 Indiana Fever jersey sold out online within hours of her selection. With manufacturing and supply chain delays, they took months to reach the fans who ordered them. Other merchandise was created and scaled up quickly, but fulfilment of online jersey sales, particularly Clark’s, lagged throughout the season.
Though Clark led all WNBA jersey sales this season, two other rookies’ jerseys also sold at a top-five clip: Reese at #2, and at #4, Kate Martin, Clark’s college teammate at Iowa and a second round pick for the Las Vegas Aces.
According to the Indiana Fever’s midseason report, sales at the team’s store were up 700% from the same period in 2023. Despite early hiccups, Clark and Fever merchandise are available through numerous online and brick-and-mortar stores and continue to sell well.
This season, Clark also inked a deal with Wilson Sporting Goods to create a signature line of basketballs. The company hadn’t made a similar deal with a player since Michael Jordan. So far, the company has released about a half dozen Caitlin Clark signature basketballs, and all have sold out within hours of release, with some restocks planned for the future.
A rack of t-shirt jerseys in a Dick’s Sporting Goods store. With nearly 40 t-shirts on this rack, only two weren’t Caitlin Clark #22 Indiana Fever shirts.
In addition to the massive uptick in ticket and merchandise sales, the WNBA has been forced to navigate an explosion of fan interest, not just in person but also on social media platforms. Over the past season, the ugliest factions often garnered the most attention for spewing racist, homophobic and misogynistic hate speech at players.
DiJonai Carrington, a Connecticut Sun veteran, recently tweeted her disgust with Indiana Fever fans following an August loss at Gainbridge. She posted, “the indiana fever have the nastiest fans in the W. ew.”
The tweet quickly received 15,000 likes and 3.4 million views. When Indiana played Connecticut in the first round of the playoffs this week, fan vitriol reached a fever pitch and sparked widespread comment and debate among players, coaches and executives across the league, including statements from the WNBA and WNBPA.
Meanwhile, not all social media WNBA discourse has been malicious. For example, Indiana Fever guard Erica Wheeler described a vastly different experience. During the Fever’s most recent visit to Washington, an anonymous fan paid for her dinner and wished her luck in her upcoming game.
She later tweeted that other fans began offering to buy her dinner as well. She thanked them, and suggested they instead make donations back to the community through her Wheeler Kid Foundation. Hours later, she was overwhelmed by their support.
One of the most notable measures of the economic success of the 2024 rookie class was the explosion of television ratings this season. WNBA games averaged a viewership of 657,000 this season, building on a steady rise over recent seasons. Impressively, 22 games thus far have drawn more than 1 million viewers.
The Indiana Fever played in 19 of the 22 most-watched games this season. Several of these Fever games averaged viewership over 2 million, particularly matchups against other top rookies like the Chicago Sky’s Reese and Cardoso. Despite competing with Sunday afternoon’s NFL football slate, Game 1 of the Fever–Sun playoff matchup drew 1.8 million viewers on ABC. The Game 2 tilt on ESPN drew 2.5 million viewers, peaking at 3.4 million.
Clark’s final regular season ended with similar flourish. After the immense success of the June matchup, the Washington Mystics once again changed their final game against the Indiana Fever to Capital One Arena. The Women’s Sports Journal was there to witness the setting of the WNBA’s all-time attendance record of 20,711 fans.
Caitlin Clark practices three-point shots ahead of the Indiana Fever’s Sept. 19 game against the Washington Mystics at Capital One Arena in DC. A WNBA record 20,711 fans attended the game.
The game captured the excitement of both fan bases from start to finish. After an early Fever lead, the Mystics fought back and led for much of the game, pulling ahead by 16 at the end of the third quarter. The Fever reserves mounted an exciting fourth quarter comeback, falling just short. The Mystics won 92-91.
Most impressive perhaps was the palpable energy in the building. Families, friends, neighbors, sports teams, grandparents and young kids came out to enjoy the show. Despite Clark’s limited playing time and the fact that the game was held on a September weeknight, the record capacity stayed for the game’s entirety. Clark’s signature #22 t-shirts and jerseys filled the arena, and the crowd cheered vigorously for both teams.
Mystics rookie Aaliyah Edwards was sidelined for the game as she recovered from an ankle injury. Edwards and Shakira Austin, nursing a back injury of her own, look to further forge their strong front court tandem for the franchise going forward. And since the Mystics fell short of their playoff bid, they positioned themselves for a top-four lottery pick for next season. Another huge name, UConn’s Paige Bueckers, is widely expected to be 2025’s #1 overall pick. Will she rejoin her college teammate next year with the Mystics?
Mystics rookie Aaliyah Edwards gets up shots before the Sept. 19 Washington Mystics–Indiana Fever game at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
The rookie class came in with immense expectations, and by all accounts surpassed the hype. Sure, they sold jerseys, merchandise and tickets. But they also delivered on the court. In fact, Caitlin Clark ended the season as the WNBA’s assists leader, finished seventh in the league in scoring and set rookie records in assists, points and three-pointers made. She’s expected to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award and contend for First-Team WNBA honors. Angel Reese set rookie and league records in rebounding and double-doubles. She finished top of the WNBA in rebounds per game. Clark and Reese were honored with midseason All-Star selections and teamed up on the All-WNBA team to defeat the Team USA Olympians and help secure the best TV ratings of the entire season: a whopping 3.4 million viewers. Furthermore, both are expected to make the All-Rookie Team with at least three of their rookie classmates.
Despite the ups and downs of the season, the rookie class truly reinvigorated the WNBA this season. Growing pains remain, and much more work needs to be done to capitalize on the incoming fans, increased scrutiny and league growth. In 2025, the league will expand to 13 teams, with the launch of the Golden State Valkyries. In 2026, the WNBA will grow to 15 teams, welcoming a new team to Toronto and bringing a franchise back to Portland.
In the meantime, fans can appreciate the growth of the WNBA and women’s basketball: where it is, and where it is going. The future is bright.