Caitlin Clark’s return to Iowa for Fever preseason game draws average ESPN viewership of 1.3 million

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Caitlin Clark’s return to Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the WNBA preseason game between the Indiana Fever and Brazilian national team averaged 1.3 million viewers on ESPN, the network announced Tuesday.

The average viewership for Sunday’s game was 13% higher than ESPN’s 2024 regular-season average for the WNBA.

The Fever-Brazil television audience peaked at 1.6 million, and the game drew a sellout crowd of 15,000 at Carver-Hawkeye, where the average paid ticket price on the resale market was $440.

Clark, starting her second season with the Fever, scored 16 points in Indiana’s 108-44 win. It was the NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader’s second time back at Carver-Hawkeye since she left the Hawkeyes; her jersey No. 22 was retired in a ceremony after Iowa’s 76-69 win over Southern California on Feb. 2.