Fever, Sky matchup draws big viewership as an injured Caitlin Clark cheers from sidelines

The Indiana Fever were shorthanded entering their latest game against the Chicago Sky. 

But, Indiana cruised to a 79-52 victory — despite star guard Caitlin Clark sitting out on Saturday with a quad injury. The Sky also lost one of its star players during the game. Courtney Vandersloot suffered a devastating knee injury. A timetable for her return remains unclear.

More than 19,000 fans filled the United Center to watch the first WNBA game on record at the Chicago Bulls home arena. While thousands gathered to take in the action in person, many more fans tuned into the game.

On Tuesday, the WNBA announced the game drew an average of 1.92 million viewers. Those numbers reflect the third highest viewership for a game carried by CBS. It also was a big increase over the network’s average regular season game viewership.

“The game peaked at 2.16 million viewers,” the league said.

CAITLIN CLARK POKES FUN AT FEVER TEAMMATE LEXIE HULL OVER LOVE FOR THIS ‘WEIRD THING’

According to Front Office Sports, the United Center was operating at a slightly reduced capacity due to some construction.

“The Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever drew a sold out crowd of 19,496 fans to the first WNBA game in United Center. The arena normally fits close to 21,000, but there was ongoing construction that limited today’s capacity,” the outlet reported on Saturday.

The loss to the Fever dropped the Sky’s 2025 record to 2-5. Entering Tuesday’s action, only the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings sit below the Sky in the WNBA standings.

The Fever and the Sky previously met in May. The early season matchup drew a record 2.7 million viewers, making it the most-viewed WNBA regular season game in 25 years.

The Fever’s 93-58 victory peaked at 3.1 million viewers.

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