Caitlin Clark’s impact on WNBA is already apparent

After having just 22 games nationally broadcast or streamed last season, the Fever will have 36 of their 40 games featured on national broadcasts or by the league’s streaming partners. A direct result of Clark being their anticipated selection with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft on April 15.

The WNBA’s broadcast and streaming partners are ready for The Caitlin Clark Show.

Caitlin Clark hasn’t even been drafted, and her impact on the WNBA already is on full display.

The league announced its national broadcast and streaming schedule Wednesday for its 28th season, and the Indiana Fever will be featured most. Not the back-to-back WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces, nor the runner-up New York Liberty, but the Fever, who went 13-27 last season and finished 10th.

After having just 22 games nationally broadcast or streamed last season, the Fever will have 36 of their 40 games featured on national telecasts or by the league’s streaming partners. It’s a direct result of the team’s anticipated selection of Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft on Monday.

WNBA TV slate focuses on Fever, likely No. 1 Caitlin Clark

The Indiana Fever, expected to draft Iowa star Caitlin Clark with the No. 1 pick, will have peak visibility this WNBA season, with 36 of their 40 games featured by the league’s national broadcast and streaming partners.

The WNBA on Wednesday released its 2024 national broadcast schedule, which includes 25 regular-season games and the entirety of the playoffs on ESPN/ABC platforms.

The WNBA draft is Monday, with Clark expected to go to the Fever, where she will join last year’s No. 1 pick and rookie of the year Aliyah Boston.

Thanks to the expected fever for the Fever, Indiana will be featured eight times across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2; 13 times on NBA TV; eight times on ION; four times on Prime Video; twice on CBS and once on CBS Sports Network.

Indiana is hoping to advance to the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season, after which franchise legend Tamika Catchings retired.

Having Boston (South Carolina) and Clark (Iowa) on the same team also will unite two of the biggest women’s college basketball fan bases. The Fever finished 13-27 last season in coach Christie Sides’ first year with the team.

Two-time defending champion Las Vegas — led by two-time WNBA MVPs A’ja Wilson and Candace Parker — will have 35 of 40 games broadcast or streamed across all platforms.

New York, behind two-time MVP Breanna Stewart, will have 31 games presented on the league broadcast and streaming platforms. Las Vegas and New York, who faced off in the WNBA Finals last season, will meet three times in the regular season this year — once each on ABC, ESPN and CBS.

Dallas, led by scoring sensation Arike Ogunbowale, and Phoenix, where new additions such as Kahleah Copper and Natasha Cloud join star center Brittney Griner, both will be featured 25 times by the league’s broadcast and streaming partners.

The ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 schedule tips off with an ESPN2 doubleheader on opening night, May 14. It starts with Clark’s pro debut as Indiana visits the Connecticut Sun, led by 2023 MVP runner-up Alyssa Thomas. That’s followed by Las Vegas hosting Phoenix, with the Aces holding their ring ceremony and unveiling their championship banner.

“With the energy and excitement already generated by what we anticipate will be a star-studded rookie class, and on the heels of a 2023 season that featured one of the greatest MVP races in WNBA history and our most-watched regular season in over two decades,” commissioner Cathy Engelbert said, “the WNBA’s broadcast and streaming partners are offering a huge national platform that will showcase the league’s superstars, rising stars, rivalries.”

The WNBA All-Star Game will be televised in primetime (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC) on July 20. It will pit the All-Stars on USA Basketball’s women’s national team vs. the remaining All-Stars. The skills challenge and 3-point contest will be on July 19 and also in primetime (9 p.m. ET, ESPN).

After the All-Star Game, the WNBA season will take a break for the Paris Olympics. League play resumes Aug. 15, as ESPN will showcase New York at Los Angeles.