Is the Angel Reese vs. Caitlin Clark Rivalry Helping or Hurting the WNBA?

Photo courtesy Athlon Sports

Anyone who follows the WNBA knows an intense rivalry has formed between second-year players Angel Reese of the Sky and Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever. But I wonder whether this is just a media creation or something that has real impact on the league, the teams and the players. So let’s take a look.

Rivalry History

This fierce rivalry started long before the two stars took the WNBA by storm last season. Their first ever head-to-head matchup came back on February 23, 2021, when they were both Freshman in college - Reese playing for the Maryland Terrapins and Clark for the Iowa Hawkeyes. They played a total of five head-to-head matchups in their collegiate careers, with Reese’s teams taking four of them, including the historic 2023 Women’s National Championship when Reese was with LSU. However, the script flipped in Clark’s favor once they made it to the WNBA. The Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever have squared off six times since Clark and Reese were drafted in 2024. The Fever have won five of those games including the 2025 WNBA season opener that was nationally televised on ABC and ESPN and a June matchup that had to be moved to the United Center because of ticket demand. Clark missed that game due to injury.

Noticeable Ticket Price Impact

One of the best ways to measure the impact that Clark and Reese have had on the WNBA is through the added revenue they have brought to the league. So let’s compare the average ticket prices of each Sky vs Fever matchup to the averages of every other home game in Chicago and Indiana.

As the chart above illustrates, a single ticket to watch a Sky vs Fever game is more expensive than the average of other Sky and Fever home games combined. This graph also emphasizes how influential Caitlin Clark has been on the WNBA herself, with the average ticket price of all Fever home games not including the Sky at nearly $200. There are other ways to dissect the impacts of these two polarizing stars.

Sky & Fever Home Attendance Numbers

Another way I measured the impact of this rivalry is by looking at each team's home attendance numbers when they play each other compared to the rest of the league.

Again, you can see from this chart how much of a draw this matchup has been since Clark and Reese joined the league. In fact, most of the Fever’s road games have had to be moved to NBA arenas for more seating capacity, while all their future home games have been moved to the Indiana Pacers’ NBA arena, Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Sky play play all of their home games at DePaul University’s Wintrust Arena, which has a seating capacity of just over 10,000, but their most recent home game against the Fever was moved to the 20,000-seat United Center, the largest arena in the NBA.

Spikes in TV Viewership

These may be the most astonishing numbers connected to the rivalry:

Average WNBA Game TV Viewership (2024): 657,000 viewers

Average Sky vs. Fever Game TV Viewership (2024): 3,000,000 viewers

While the WNBA’s rapid growth in popularity alone is very impressive, it is fair to say that much of the credit goes to Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese for bringing in so many more eyes to the product.

Negative Social Media Narratives?

While this rivalry has undoubtedly elevated the overall media relevance of the WNBA, a handful of social media narratives surrounding the two stars have taken a toxic turn that overshadows their incredible on-court talents. On platforms like Twitter and TikTok you will find hundreds of thousands of posts consisting of heated debates that have reduced Reese and Clark to symbols of much larger cultural issues instead of focusing on the amazing athletes that they are. I believe all the constant negativity surrounding this rivalry could ruin what should be a historic time for the WNBA and all basketball fans. It takes the fun out of watching these two teams, even though I find Reese and Clark both to be extremely exciting players.