{"id":611429,"date":"2026-04-18T01:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T01:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/611429\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T01:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T01:51:10","slug":"indiana-fever-make-request-before-caitlin-clarks-3rd-wnba-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/611429\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Fever Make Request Before Caitlin Clark\u2019s 3rd WNBA Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indiana Fever<\/a> are gearing up for the 2026 WNBA<\/a> season, and anticipation is already building around Caitlin Clark<\/a> and the team\u2019s return to the court. Following last year\u2019s impressive run to the playoff semi-finals, fans have been waiting all offseason for opening night, which is set for May 9 at home against the Dallas Wings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The matchup is expected to draw major attention, and will feature four recent No. 1 overall draft picks. Two-time All-Star Caitlin Clark and three-time All-Star Aliyah Boston<\/a> will match up against the 2025 Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers<\/a> and the 2026 No. 1 overall pick Azzi Fudd.<\/p>\n

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\"Indiana<\/p>\n

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22).Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Ahead of the highly anticipated opener, the Fever sent a clear message to fans about the atmosphere they want inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n

The team shared a countdown photo of Clark showing the back of her No. 22 jersey, along with the caption: \u201cCaitlin Clark days away from the regular season \ud83d\ude0f let\u2019s pack the house on May 9.\u201d<\/p>\n

The excitement around Clark has already transformed attendance in Indiana. During her rookie season in 2024, the Fever drew 340,715 fans at home, setting a new WNBA single-season attendance record and leading the league. Multiple home games sold out, and the energy around the franchise reached levels the organization had not seen.<\/p>\n

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The buzz carried into 2025, even with Clark limited to just 13 games because of injuries. Despite her absence for much of the season, Indiana still ranked second in home attendance behind the Golden State Valkyries<\/a>, drawing 364,325 fans across 22 home games: an average of 16,560 per game (h\/t Across The Timeline<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Whether the Fever can set another attendance mark in 2026 remains to be seen, but the early signs suggest fan enthusiasm remains as strong as ever. The May 9 opener against the Wings will offer the first glimpse of that support in action.<\/p>\n

Related: Caitlin Clark Reacts to Indiana Fever\u2019s $78 Million Decision Before WNBA Season<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the WNBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Indiana Fever are gearing up for the 2026 WNBA season, and anticipation is already building around Caitlin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[4655,49,735,48,3459,1612,2803,4658,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-611429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-aliyah-boston","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-caitlin-clark","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-dallas-wings","13":"tag-golden-state-valkyries","14":"tag-indiana-fever","15":"tag-paige-bueckers","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}