The NFL Couldn't Stop Caitlin Clark and Fever

Even the return of the NFL couldn't slow down the viewership numbers for Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) goes up for a shot Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Atlanta Dream at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Fever defeated the Dream in overtime, 104-100. / Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

The latest test of Caitlin Clark's popularity came in the form of the most popular sport in the United States. Football.

The return of the NFL could have caused reasonable worry that interest in the Indiana Favor might wane. However, the first test, on a Friday nonetheless, showed so far that isn't the case.

The Philadelphia Eagles game against the Green Bay Packers from Brazil on Peacock aired head-to-head with the Fever's contest against the Minnesota Lynx on ION last Friday night.

The NFL, as always, did a monster number. But the bigger story may be that it didn't diminish the viewership for the WNBA game.

According to Sports Media Watch, basketball still averaged 1.26 million viewers on ION.

Making it the 22nd WNBA game to top a million this year, with the vast majority of those 22 featuring number 22 for the Fever. No game since 2008 had drawn a million viewers prior to this season.

Caitlin Clark and the Fever were still able to generate over a million viewers for Friday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx on ION, even while the NFL was on, per @paulsen_smw

Insane 🤯 pic.twitter.com/nEoWRYh1dX

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 9, 2024

The Fever-Lynx contest was also the most watched WNBA game to go head-to-head with the NFL in over two decades, per Sports Media Watch on X.

It is hard to keep a sports audience when football can deliver an average number of 14 million viewers, even on a streaming service. Which was the case for the Eagles-Packers game.

But in this instance that didn't really impact the interest in the WNBA and the Fever.

Some were surely faced with a decision about which event they wanted to watch. And well over a million people still chose to tune in to see Caitlin Clark and company.