Clark could bring more than points, assists to Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS – Rebecca Lobo has been around the WNBA a long time – really, since the league started in 1996.
Lobo started at UConn in 1991. She was the only college player on the 1996 Olympic Team, and was part of the WNBA’s first draft in 1997. She played in the WNBA for six years and has been a commentator on ESPN and other platforms.
And through her multiple-decade career in women’s basketball, she’s never seen anything like the draw that Iowa superstar (and likely Indiana Fever No. 1 draft pick) Caitlin Clark has been.
“We haven’t seen a player drive ticket sales like this,” Lobo said. “We haven’t seen a player drive ratings like this. I mean, look at the ratings. The last four or five games she played, I mean, and it’s something that she’d been doing all season long.
“I’ve never seen anything to this degree.”
Clark hasn’t even been officially drafted to the Indiana Fever yet, but people are buying tickets in droves. There was a spike in season-ticket requests following Clark’s announcement she was entering the draft Feb. 29, and the team introduced a new approach to single-game ticket sales last week because of the demand. According to Stubhub, resale tickets for the Indiana Fever are up 13 times the number seen during the same time last year.
“We had a lot of excitement last year when we had the No. 1 pick and selected Aliyah Boston, and of course there’s a tremendous amount of excitement now with having back-to-back picks,” Indiana general manager Lin Dunn said. “And I think you’ve seen a great deal of interest in ticket sales around this pick, and I think we’re all excited about adding another top pick to this young team. So, is there a lot going on? Is there a lot of noise? Is there a lot of excitement? Absolutely.”
Clark is also expected to bring some economic prosperity to the Central Indiana region. She generated $82.5 million of economic revenue in her home state throughout her four-year collegiate career, according to a study from the Common Sense Institute in Iowa, and a study from Ball State University projects her to do the same in Indianapolis.
BSU projects Clark to bring in 26,000 fans over the course of the Fever’s season, including 100,000 from out of the region that will also spend money on restaurants and hotels.
And by playing for the Fever, Clark will stay in the Midwest – a region where she’s spent her entire life. Indianapolis is about seven hours from her hometown of West Des Moines, Iowa, and five hours from Iowa City.
Hawkeye fans have proven that they will travel to see Clark – they sold out the Target Center in Minneapolis for the
Big Ten Tournament, as well as arenas in Albany, New York, and Cleveland for the NCAA Tournament.
Suffice it to say, Iowa fans (and Clark fans) travel well.
“One of the things that’s kind of special about it is that she’s staying in the Midwest, going to Indiana,” Lobo said. “It’s such a perfect fit in terms of that. Would she have done great no matter where she goes? Of course, but the fit in Indiana … it just seems kind of perfect. The hero of the heartland is going to be staying there and leading this team. In terms of attention, we’ve never ever, ever seen anything like this.”
Clark’s fit is not only perfect locationwise, but also for the Fever’s current structure. The missing piece of the puzzle in Indiana’s starting lineup is a point guard that has strong court vision and can dish out assists through traffic while also creating scoring opportunities for herself.
Clark checks all of those boxes, and she will likely join the Fever’s core of Boston, NaLyssa Smith and Kelsey Mitchell to play in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in May.
“I’m really excited to see Caitlin surrounded by the players that are already on the Indiana team,” Lobo said. “Her vision is next-level, and I’m eager to see players around her who can consistently see what she sees and finish what she delivers to them.”