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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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This WNBA offseason has already been riddled with storylines from the league’s massive new media rights era to the continued gravitational pull of Caitlin Clark.
The WNBA is entering Year 1 of an 11-year, $2.2 billion broadcast agreement spanning ESPN, NBC, Amazon, CBS, and more, a landmark deal designed to supercharge visibility and revenue across the sport.
At the center of it all, the Indiana Fever have remained the league’s focal point thanks to Clark.
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Even after her injury-shortened 2025 campaign, Indiana still ranked second in attendance at 16,560 fans per game, nearly four times its 2023 average, reinforcing how closely the league’s momentum is tied to its biggest star.
Now, a new development has taken that reality a step further.
On Wednesday, April 22, the Fever released their full broadcast schedule, and all 44 regular-season games will be nationally televised.
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Clark entered the WNBA in 2024 as the No. 1 overall pick following a historic college career at Iowa, where she became the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer and one of the most recognizable athletes in American sports.
Her pro résumé, even this early, backs up the hype, winning 2024 Rookie of the Year honors after leading the league in assists, while earning All-Star selections in each of her first two seasons.
Even with injuries limiting her to just 13 games in 2025, her impact didn’t fade. If anything, her absence only amplified it.
National windows shrank, and marquee matchups lost juice. And while WNBA broadcasts still saw a 3% increase in overall viewership, the four most-watched games of the season all featured Clark.
That included Indiana’s season opener against the Chicago Sky, which drew 2.7 million viewers.
That’s the definition of a face-of-the-league player.
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We’ve seen basketball stars drive TV windows before, but this is something different. This is a franchise becoming appointment viewing, night after night, across every major platform.
The Fever’s 2026 season tips off May 9 at home against Dallas, launching a fully national slate that runs from opening night through the regular-season finale on Sept. 24.
If the “Clark effect” continues to lift viewership, it creates a rising tide scenario: more exposure for opponents, more sponsorship dollars, and greater leverage in future media negotiations.
If there were any lingering debate about who the face of the WNBA is, this just answered it.
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