Craig Shipp
The WNBA has not seen a television audience like this since its very first weekend of existence. Sunday’s blowout between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky pulled in numbers the league had not touched in nearly three decades, and Caitlin Clark was the reason cameras were rolling in the first place.
NBC announced this week that its primetime broadcast of the 113-90 Fever win averaged 3.31 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, peaking at 3.82 million. That makes it the most-watched WNBA regular-season game since the league’s opening weekend back in June 1997 and the third-most-watched regular-season game in WNBA history.
Only two games have ever drawn more, both from that same 1997 debut weekend: a Liberty-Sparks matchup that pulled 5.04 million viewers and a Sting-Mercury game that drew 3.59 million. Roughly 6,440 regular-season games were played in between.
Caitlin Clark just helped deliver a TV audience the WNBA hasn’t seen in nearly three decades.
The Indiana Fever’s 113-90 win over the Chicago Sky averaged 3.31 million viewers and peaked at 3.82 million, making it the most-watched WNBA regular-season game since 1997 and the… pic.twitter.com/oaStkgxJhr
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 27, 2026
Clark did her part on the court, scoring 37 points on 8-of-12 shooting from three-point range while adding 10 assists. The performance came with a personal edge attached. Chicago’s DiJonai Carrington had been ejected for a flagrant foul after hitting Fever guard Sophie Cunningham in the face two weeks earlier, then posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE” on social media before marking the rematch date on X.
Clark and Carrington already had history dating back to a 2024 playoff series, and when Clark drilled a three-pointer over her Sunday, the two exchanged words on the way back down the court. Carrington finished with 7 points on 3-of-11 shooting.
Late in the third quarter, the broadcast picked up a different kind of drama entirely. Former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom, sitting courtside in a shirt reading “WOMAN noun. adult human female,” was confronted by Sky guard Natasha Cloud and escorted out of Wintrust Arena by security. The Sky later banned him from home games.
Caitlin Clark’s Season Has Been One Record After Another
Front Office Sports reported that the Fever have now set viewership records on six different networks this season alone, including CBS, NBC, ESPN, Prime Video, USA Network, and Ion. Indiana’s July matchup with Las Vegas drew 2.64 million on NBC and Peacock, while an August meeting with Atlanta on ESPN pulled 2.58 million, the largest cable audience in league history. A Prime Video game against Dallas averaged 1.07 million viewers, a figure NBC and Amazon both noted was on par with the average NBA broadcast on the same platform.
Clark has played in nine of the WNBA’s twelve largest audiences since 2000, all within a single season, and three of the six biggest games in league history overall. She is doing it while staying healthy after an injury-shortened 2025 limited her to 13 appearances. This year she has suited up for 35 of Indiana’s 39 games, averaging 22.1 points, 8.3 assists, and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 45.0 percent from the field. Over her last 15 games specifically, those numbers have climbed to 25.4 points and 9.1 assists on a shooting line of 48.6/42.4/83.0.
Analyst Jemele Hill argued this week that Clark is the league’s most popular player and its biggest draw, but not yet its face, reserving that title for A’ja Wilson until Clark builds a championship standard to match her ratings power. Reaction online largely pushed back on that framing, with fans pointing to the sheer scale of the numbers as proof enough of her pull on the sport.
NBC’s entire WNBA regular-season window averaged 1.75 million viewers this year, up 35 percent from the year before, and the network has already locked in Games 1 and 4 of the WNBA Finals. The Fever have clinched a playoff spot at 25-14, sitting fifth in the league, with five regular-season games left before the postseason begins.