Caitlin Clark fans criticized the WNBA for not leaning into her meteoric rise more. They didn’t feel she was on the national stage enough. Well, this season Indiana Fever fans have nothing to complain about because the WNBA not only leaned in, but they totally embraced the Fever as the No. 1 team in the WNBA.
According to reports on X:
“The Fever will have all 44 of their regular season games on national TV this year. They have the most nationally televised games out of all the teams in the league, including the defending-champion. Most nationally televised games:
Fever – 44
Wings – 36
Liberty – 35
Aces – 33
Sparks – 31″
A’ja Wilson Fans Feel Disrespected By Indiana Fever Getting Every Game Televised
Naturally, the anti-Clark committee isn’t thrilled with the league’s blatant favoritism, and also how they are positioning the Fever and Caitlin Clark to be the most popular team by making every game a national televised one. This is probably unprecedented for a team and a player who have never won a championship. While Clark’s booming brand will surely keep the ratings up, the message the WNBA is sending doesn’t sit well with some fans, who are anticipating a circus of double standards within the league and media as it pertains to CC and the Fever.
This is just the first.
“Wild how they show you what they prioritize right there in plain view,” said storyteller and film producer Matthew Cherry.
There are plenty of fans who don’t like what they perceive as disrespect towards teams such as the Las Vegas Aces, who will have the fifth-most games nationally televised, despite winning their third title under Becky Hammon in 2025, while boasting the four-time MVP in Wilson.
“They showed us they don’t prioritize winners & champions,” said another fan who was disgruntled about the Fever getting all of the national TV love.
“White mediocrity over black greatness is this country’s bread and butter,” another fan quipped, taking a shot at Fever players such as Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull and how much more popular they are versus other players of color who are deemed better.
WNBA & Clark Fans See It As Just Good Business
With all due respect to fans of the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces and even Angel Reese’s Atlanta Dream, this move by the WNBA does make business sense. At the same time the league doesn’t want to alienate fans by showing blatant favoritism toward one franchise over the others.
It could lead to unnecessary assumptions that those advantages will extend to the court.
Robert Littal of BSO didn’t have an issue with it.
“This is no different than the NBA or NFL. The cowboys haven’t won a title in 30+ years but they are going to get more nationally tv games than the Seahawks. You can bank on that,” he said on X.
“One MAJOR difference if you’re discussing the drought …. the Cowboys have a history of winning championships and league-leading ratings PRIOR TO the drought. Better argument might’ve been the Cowboys in the 70s … but the NFL was trying to promote a major market,” a fan replied.
Indiana Fever Carried WNBA Ratings Last Season
According to reports, The Indiana Fever had the highest TV ratings in the 2025 WNBA season. Their nationally televised games averaged 1.26 million viewers — far above the 549k for non-Fever games. That’s with Clark playing just 13 of the 44 games. With her finally healthy, training camps underway and social media emotions running high for the 2026 season, the WNBA anticipates a feeding frenzy.
“A white girl finally got the WNBA noticed, due to being the greatest female player- You mad?” one fan replied to Cherry’s post.
“Wild that the league promotes the most popular player in league history who has brought an entirely new audience to the sport and made it possible to pay players competitively,” quipped one netizen.
“You don’t have to like her, but she’s brought the W to a new level,” one user commented.
Nine of the top 10 most-watched games featured the Fever, including the season’s #1 (2.7M for Sky-Fever on ABC). Even with Clark missing some games, they remained the league’s biggest draw.
The CC effect isn’t going anywhere, and now that a new CBA is cut and pockets are fuller, it’s going to be an Indiana Fever turn up in the media and the airwaves, and all of that is going to be hard for the best teams to beat.
