Sky-Fever Once Again Draws Largest WNBA Regular-Season Audience in 23 Years

This is the third time this season a Caitlin Clark led Fever game brought in the largest viewership in 23 years.

Jun 23, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese (5) passes the ball against Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith (1) during the second half of a basketball game at Wintrust Arena. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky once again brought in historic viewership numbers for the WNBA, this time during Sunday's game.

Their matchup the previous week brought in the largest number of television viewers from any W regular-season game in 23 years. But this week's viewership surpassed even that number.

The Sky's 88–87 win capped at 2.302 million viewers on ESPN, which was a bit more than the previous 2.25 million viewers on CBS. This is the third time this season that a Caitlin Clark-led Fever game drew a record number of viewers in 23 years. Clark's WNBA debut game brought in 2.13 million viewers in May.

The all-time record for a WNBA game viewership is still led by the 2.44 million viewers who watched the Los Angeles Sparks and Houston Comets on NBC in 2001. Based on the trajectory of this season's viewership numbers, it's possible this record could be broken in 2024.

ESPN drew 2.302 million viewers for Indiana Fever-Chicago Sky on Sunday, again marking best WNBA game in 23 years (3rd time in 2024 to hit that superlative).

Passes CBS' 2.25 million two weekends ago for the same matchup

Topped 1.58 milion for Mets-Cubs on ESPN later that night pic.twitter.com/qkIdwWg2E6

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) June 25, 2024

The Sky and Fever will face each other for a fourth time this season on August 30. The Fever won the first two matchups, while the Sky captured the latest win.