Caitlin Clark’s superstardom is showing itself in new ways.
As the WNBA star entered her third season in the league, her Indiana Fever were slated to play all 44 of their regular-season games on national television or streaming. That beat last year’s previous record of 41 games. In 2024, Clark’s rookie season, Indiana was scheduled 36 times on national television.
It also topped bigger markets like Dallas (36 national television games in 2026), New York (35) and Los Angeles (31). It’s also worth noting that Dallas brings its own star power — the past two No. 1 picks in the WNBA draft, Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, will suit up for the Wings this season.
When it comes to market size, the Fever’s Indianapolis metro area is the second smallest in the WNBA, ahead of only Connecticut. The 2025 U.S. Census Bureau estimate for Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood sat at 2.2 million.
By contrast, metro areas like New York (20 million), Los Angeles (12.8 million) and Dallas (8.5 million) are far larger. But in this case, the draw of Clark vaults Indiana ahead.
Cross-league, the Fever’s national television slate of 44 actually beats any team in the NBA. For the 2025-26 NBA regular-season, the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors were scheduled for a league-high 34 national TV games apiece. This is despite the NBA having 82 games per team, compared to the WNBA’s 44-game season.
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As a whole, the WNBA announced a record 216 games this season will be nationally televised. Last year, the scheduled national television slate sat at 177 games. 149 were scheduled in 2024.
The full roster of the league’s broadcast partnerships for 2026 includes ABC, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, CBS Sports/Paramount+, ION, NBC/Peacock/NBCSN, and USA Network, as well as NBA TV.
Methodology note: 2026 national television counts from the WNBA’s schedule page. U.S. metro area populations from the U.S. Census Bureau’s MSA estimates for 2025. Connecticut uses the Norwich-New London-Willimantic metro area. Toronto’s size based on Statistics Canada’s CMA totals for 2025.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Caitlin Clark made the Indiana Fever a WNBA TV outlier
