Indy already feeling the Caitlin Clark effect
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowWith ticket sales and prices already off the charts and jerseys selling out within an hour after the Indiana Fever made their No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft, the “Caitlin Clark Effect” is already being felt in Indianapolis.
Clark made her Hoosier debut with the Fever last week during a jam packed press conference, and one longtime sports analyst says she will start as a drawing card for the WNBA unlike anything they’ve had before.
“I know there’s a lot of resistance to this notion, but people forget that the NBA needed that, too,” said Mike DeCourcy, columnist for The Sporting News. “At one point the NBA in the 80s was struggling to get its finals, its championship series on primetime television, and then along came the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rivalry. And when that happened, the NBA started to explode, and then when Michael Jordan came along on top of that, it fully exploded.”
DeCourcy told Inside INdiana Business that the phenomenon surrounding Clark isn’t an insult to women’s basketball, but rather an opportunity.
And it’s one that fans are clearly capitalizing on. Fever ticket sales are soaring, with the average resale price for the 2024 season being triple what it was just a year ago. And on sites like StubHub, floor seats are going for as much as $1,600, and that’s just for the Fever’s preseason opener.
Former Fever star Tamika Catchings says the former Iowa superstar will be a great fit for Indiana.
“Obviously, Iowa’s right around the corner, and I think even for her fans, being able to have a lot of Iowa fan drive over for all of her games, I mean, seeing the numbers that have been posted for her collegiate career that will also translate to her professional career,” Catchings said.
WNBA teams across the league have seen an increase in ticket sales, especially for games against the Fever. It’s even prompted teams around the league to find bigger venues to house more fans ostensibly there to see No. 22.
“T have a player like that, you want people in the stands,” said Catchings. “You want people to be able to witness what she’s going to be able to do. I want more and more people to watch the Indiana Fever and so we’re really being able to have that opportunity to go to different cities and have more people in the seats, more people watching women’s basketball.”
Chris Gahl, executive vice president for Visit Indy, says the Caitlin Clark impact will also bring a boost to tourism in Indy.
“Meeting planners are predominately female. Event planners [are] predominately female. They’re already calling to say, ‘We want to come watch her play,'” said Gahl. “We already have ad campaigns running in Des Moines and throughout Iowa saying, ‘Come watch your number one player, now our number one fan.’ So it is definitely a tangible result from the Caitlin impact.”
The Indiana Fever’s regular season home opener will take place May 16 against the New York Liberty. The only available seats not being sold on the secondary market are in the upper section of Gainbridge Fieldhouse.