A Betrayal to the Star? The WNBA is set to make live TV history on Monday, but the milestone is overshadowed by the heartbreaking reality that the league’s biggest attraction, Caitlin Clark, will be absent due to a season-ending injury. Fans are calling this a missed opportunity. Click the link to see details.
CAITLIN Clark’s injury troubles have proved no issue for the WNBA as the league continues to smash records.
The 23-year-old Indiana Fever star has missed large portions of the 2025 season through injury.
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Caitlin Clark has missed most of the 2025 WNBA season
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Indiana Fever’s Clark is the WNBA’s biggest starCredit: Getty
Clark has suffered a season-ending injury and will not play a part for the Fever as they push for the WNBA title.
Despite her absence, the league is breaking viewership records.
Figures released on Monday by the Sports Business Journal show that an average of 1.3 million people have tuned in for coverage of the WNBA on ABC and ESPN.
This is a six percent increase on that of 2024.
A network record of 2.7 million viewers watched the ABC’s opening game as the Fever faced the Chicago Sky.
This has highlighted the draw of Clark, who did feature in this game.
A staggering eight of the top ten most-watched games have been on ESPN this season.
ESPN’s WNBA Countdown studio show has also seen a seven percent rise from last year.
Games on NBA TV have received an impressive 16 percent bump this season.
Viewership on NBA TV has now risen to 283,000 per game.
Only one network has failed to see an increase in viewers this year.
Ion has suffered a slight decrease in viewers for its Friday night doubleheader slot.
Slipping by six percent, Ion has averaged 627,000 viewers.
The network has suffered as Clark has been absent for seven of Ion’s eight Fever games.
This is evident as the one game that Clark did participate in caught the attention of 1.25 million fans.
Even without Clark, the Fever clocked an impressive average of 954,000 viewers per game on Ion.
The Fever have made history as they have reached the WNBA play-offs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2015-16.
They must now defeat the Atlanta Dream tonight in Game 2 if they are to progress to the semi-finals.
Clark has featured just 13 times for the Indiana side this season.
Despite this absence, the WNBA continues to break new ground as new audiences are reached.
