One of the top storylines thus far in the 2024 WNBA season is the rapidly growing rivalry between Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky.
June 1 marked the first meeting between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese on the WNBA court. The two had a pair of notable showdowns in the NCAA, including the 2023 women’s national championship game where Reese and the LSU Tigers emerged victorious.
In that June 1 contest, Chennedy Carter of the Sky delivered an unnecessary shoulder check on Clark after making a basket. Reese celebrated the hit on the sidelines, adding extra fuel to her rivalry with Clark.
Last week, Reese made further headlines when she stated that people aren’t only watching women’s basketball because of one person (clearly a reference to Clark), but because of her as well.
But some interesting numbers strongly suggest that Reese isn’t the massive WNBA draw that she claims to be. As per Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated, both of Caitlin Clark’s contests last weekend drew over 17,000 spectators.Every WNBA game without Clark that weekend came nowhere close to such numbers, with only one of them drawing 10,000-plus fans.
Not only that, but the showdown between Clark’s Fever and the Washington Mystics on Friday drew over 20,333 fans, per Joe Pompliano. The Clark effect is very much real, folks. The attendance figures and television ratings don’t lie.
Caitlin Clark & Angel Reese Meet Again On Sunday
The good news for fans of the Fever-Sky rivalry is that the next meeting is now just six days away. Indiana will play host to Chicago again on Sunday at noon EST on CBS, the second of their four-game season series.
Don’t be surprised if that game smashed WNBA viewership records. Clark and Reese are two of the league’s biggest draws, and the whole Carter-Clark shoulder check fiasco is only going to make this showdown more compelling.
