No Caitlin Clark Gives Indiana Fever a Reason to Be Sorry as National Analyst Drops Shocking Gainbridge Fieldhouse Intel

“You knew that was coming,” Caitlin Clark told her teammates after she buried a three from even beyond her logo. The crowd came alive as Caitlin Clark got nothing but net from far out against Brazil. At that point, she was just flexing in front of her home fans with an insurmountable lead over the Brazilians. The fans did turn up for their home girl, with the tickets being sold out within 45 minutes for their game against Brazil. It was lively with Clark and Co. crushing the Samba to register a comfortable 108-44 win. While it is expected to be a full house when CC is on the court, the same is not anticipated in her absence, and that’s what was rumored in their first preseason game against the Mystics.

Since Clark was out with an injury, there were doubts about whether people turned up. Since the star power of CC is magnitudes above any of her teammates, there were some pictures of the Gainbridge Fieldhouse being kind of empty. Not just the cameras, some of the rival fans on social media implied that the stadium was empty without Caitlin Clark. Without her, no one wants to watch the Fever. But this national analyst has just cleared up the situation in the atmosphere during the first Indiana preseason game.

Rachel A. DeMita, who sat on the courtside during the game, said on her YouTube channel, “For the first, second and third quarters, that place was pretty full. Now the upper bowl was not full. There were definitely a lot of seats in the upper bowl, but the 100s levels, the 200s levels, and the courtside areas were all packed. It was very full, the crowd was lively. It was a more lively crowd than you’d expect for a preseason game.”

If DeMita is to be believed, for most of the game, it was pretty loud and full in Indiana, with the official attendance numbers being 12,461, with the total capacity of the stadium being  18000. The effect of Clark being on the bench was felt, as some fans sold their tickets online after they heard the news. For a preseason game, it was better than most of the teams in the league. To add more context, the attendance for the Chicago Sky vs. Brazil was 6,373, with the Pete Maravich Assembly Center having a capacity of more than 13,000.

She further pointed out the worrying part for the Fever going forward, saying, “Now, something I did think was interesting was that a lot of people left in the fourth quarter and the game was really close, and it went into overtime. And I have never witnessed people leaving during overtime. Even if at that time neither of their teams were playing their starters. It was rookies and a few of the bench players who were playing during overtime. But still, it’s overtime; I don’t know why people won’t stay for that. I did notice during overtime that it was getting pretty empty.”

The fact that people are not willing to sit through the game and watch a match that was not one-sided is definitely a red flag for the Indiana Fever. In such a close game, the home fans are usually in the face of the away team, heavily cheering their team. But the fans seem uninterested in this game, as the one player they had initially come to watch was stuck on the bench. The Fever could have this problem going forward; in a scenario where Caitlin Clark gets injured, not only will their on-court performance be affected, but their attendance numbers will be affected too.

via Imago

The same goes for social media interactions. The majority of their social media success comes from posts involving Clark. The management will have to focus on building a brand around their team, not on the back of a single player. As more and more fans get associated with the team, names like Sophie Cunningham, Natasha Howard, and Sophie Mitchell will also get their share of popularity. As of now, without Caitlin Clark, the numbers shrink to match the average WNBA team. Clark is the X-factor; she is the one people want to watch.

And she proved why in the game against Brazil, back from an injury, she played like the regular CC we know, driving to the basket whenever she got the chance, quickly shelling out those trademark threes. It was like an artist painting his masterpiece. Even mic’d up during the game and had an exchange with the Brazil coach during the game.

Caitlin Clark gets heavy praise from Brazil coach

Can we have more players mic’d up during games, please? That’s what most fans must be craving for! Clark was on during their preseason game against Brazil, and it was top-tier entertainment. Especially after that beyond-the-logo three-pointer, which left me and many fans speechless. Clark was joking around with her teammates and enjoying herself. The ‘it’ girl was the center of attention, but that did not stop her from greeting the Brazilian coach Leo Figueiro, and their interaction was just too cute.

“You’re an amazing player, congratulations,” Figueiro said to Clark, who went up to him to see how he was. “You’ve changed the history in basketball.” She most certainly has; 17,000+ people at a WNBA game would have been unthinkable before Clark. But now, they fill the stadium even in preseason games. The humble star thanked the coach for making the trip to the US and further asked a cheeky question.

“I appreciate it. Thanks for coming here and playing us,” she responded before asking, “Most people you’ve played in front of?” “Yeah,” Figueiro chuckled. The interaction was just really cool, to see Clark giving the credits where due and not just being within herself. It’s very easy to just soak in the attention and importance for a player like Clark, but to go out of your way to interact with your opponent shows how Clark approaches the game.

Brazil was the Fever’s second of three preseason games before kicking off the 2025 regular season. They have the Atlanta Dream next weekend before they open their campaign on May 17 with a matchup against Clark’s personal rival Angel Reese, Hailey Van Lith, and the Chicago Sky at Indiana’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse.