Every game used to be a home game for the Indiana Fever, but is it still? Caitlin Clark’s left quad injury might have changed the trajectory of Indiana’s season, and maybe of the WNBA. The six-foot-tall point guard’s 26.5% economic impact wasn’t thrown around for nothing. She brought in viewership and ticket sales aplenty. But what exactly happens when she gets injured for a prolonged period of time? Unfortunately, we are about to find out! 

At minimum, Clark is all set to miss the next two weeks of play, with her re-examination being on June 9th. If her left quad holds up well, she might return to play on the 10th against Atlanta, but that’s a long shot at best. Considering return to play protocols and screenings, we don’t exactly know when Clark is going to take the court again. And it is definitely impacting the Fever quite harshly. 

The average ticket price for the next five Fever games is down from $137 to $80, with the Sky vs Fever game’s prices going down by about 71%! Not to mention, the cheapest ticket fell from about $86 to $25 as per TickPick. While it’s not fair, the hype behind the Indiana Fever and the WNBA is strongly tied to the Caitlin Clark show, and it seems to be dying down for the near future. Analyst Rachel DeMita couldn’t let it just pass.

“We have seen all of our social media fans saying that they didn’t wanna watch the games if she wasn’t going to be there,” she started on the Courtside Club. And that has been the harsh truth. In one of the instances reported by USA Today, Colorado’s John Kopecky canceled expensive travel plans after hearing Clark’s injury news. “She’s the biggest draw − that’s who the girls want to see,” he said, speaking about his family. While Kopecky is looking for tickets in August, such cases piling up wouldn’t help the present Fever or the league. 

“I would urge you guys, if you are Indiana Fever fans, if you are Caitlin Clark fans, and if you have the means to go to the game, then definitely do that,” DeMita urged, signalling the onset of a viewership crisis in the WNBA. But the issue is something she saw coming from a mile away! 

After all, the ‘Caitlin Clark effect’ cannot be underestimated. The Indiana Fever star was all set to bring in about a billion dollars for the WNBA this year, and has drawn an incredible amount of attention to the league as well, making sure more games were nationally televised in her sophomore season. After all, some fans have spent upwards of $3000 to fly out to Indiana Fever games, as per DeMita. But the only hope is that Caitlin’s absence doesn’t drown all of the attention. The cards are in Fever’s hands, too, to retain its audience. 

“I do hope that it’s not too much of a hit to the Indiana Fever team and itself, and that they can win some games when Caitlin is gone and when she comes back, she is playing in her tip-top form,” the podcaster echoes. “Because I don’t want this hype and this excitement behind the team and behind her and behind the league to die down.” Caitlin Clark breathed new life into the W, and we don’t want to see a small injury take any of that away. 

But what exactly is the Indiana Fever star doing in the interim? After all, it’s quite important to keep yourself busy during times of injury, and it seems like Caitlin Clark got the memo!

Caitlin Clark’s injury escapades: What is the injured star doing?

Times of injury are the toughest of them all. It’s quite difficult to sit idly, and let your body heal on its own, especially as an athlete. So when Caitlin Clark was pictured out and about signing autographs, greeting fans, and even becoming the Indiana Fever’s newest photographer, we weren’t surprised! The Indiana Fever are taking good care of the people’s champion, and they’re even trying to make the most out of a bad situation!

Where teams would enforce strict guidelines to rest, Stephanie White is taking a completely different approach. Admirably, her solution to a bad hand is to make the most of what she’s got. She can’t train Clark physically, so what else is left? Her mentality and game IQ.

“We’ve asked her to just be around the coaches throughout the course of practice and in-game so that she can hear our perspective: Where we’re coming from, the things that we’re trying to emphasize-so that she can get a little bit more of a coaching hat,” the Indiana head coach let the fans in. 

This keeps Caitlin Clark involved with the game, and might even benefit the Fever going forward.