Caitlin Clark drives ‘spike’ in Fever, WNBA ticket curiosity

INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark is having a major impression on the WNBA even earlier than her arrival.

Clark, the transcendent Iowa star and presumptive first general choose in Monday’s WNBA draft, is driving an uptick in curiosity and ticket costs to see the Indiana Fever, which holds the No. 1 general choice.

The Fever, second-to-last in WNBA residence attendance final season (averaging 4,067 followers), would solely verify a “spike” in ticket curiosity, declining to touch upon specifics. However the group is responding to the surge of curiosity by taking the unprecedented step of pre-selling single-game tickets to 2 video games per day over a 15-day stretch heading into Monday.

The presale tickets have been promoting briskly. By Thursday afternoon, solely a handful of seats exterior the balcony degree remained from the batch of tickets made accessible earlier within the day for video games towards the Seattle Storm and Dallas Wings. Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the place the Fever and Indiana Pacers play residence video games, has a capability of greater than 18,000.

In the meantime, ticket market Vivid Seats experiences the group’s regular-season opener — a Might 14 highway recreation towards the Connecticut Solar — has seen a value improve of 91% since Clark declared for the draft. The Fever’s residence opener, on Might 16 towards the New York Liberty, has seen a 50% value improve since Clark declared, Vivid Seats reported.

At ticket platform SeakGeek, the common Fever resale value for residence video games is at the moment $182 — a 136% improve from 2023. That type of shift is often solely seen within the NBA, coming as the results of a participant like LeBron James altering groups.

“That is undoubtedly probably the most important instance I can consider on the ladies’s facet,” mentioned Chris Leyden, director of progress advertising and marketing at SeatGeek.

“Three issues drive demand for tickets,” he added. “It is one, how in style the group is general … Two, it is how good the group is. Successful groups at all times drive up demand. Three, to me, is the star participant issue. And this simply completely checks the field.”

The curiosity in Clark shouldn’t be restricted to Fever residence video games.

The Las Vegas Aces just lately moved their July 2 recreation towards Indiana from Michelob ULTRA Enviornment to the bigger T-Cell Enviornment as a direct results of heightened demand for tickets, in response to a group spokesman. The group has performed a number of video games at T-Cell Enviornment up to now, however these have been the results of scheduling conflicts, the group mentioned.

This alteration was totally different.

“The demand for the July 2 recreation towards Indiana was notably excessive, and the choice was made to maneuver that recreation to T-Cell Enviornment,” spokesman John Maxwell mentioned.

In the meantime, the Storm just lately made a five-game ticket mini-plan accessible, with two of the 5 video games that includes matchups with the Fever. Secondary market costs for highway video games that includes the Fever may seemingly exceed these for residence video games, Leyden mentioned, due to the restricted alternatives to see her play in these cities.

The curiosity in Clark has already had a major impression on the Fever’s nationwide visibility. The WNBA introduced earlier this week that the group may have 36 of its 40 video games this season proven by nationwide broadcast or streaming companions. Eight of these video games will likely be broadcast on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.