The Caitlin Clark effect: Indiana Fever led WNBA searches in 42 states | Sports

The WNBA and NWSL are both toward the business end of their respective seasons.

In the WNBA, the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries are facing off in the best-of-seven Finals. In the NWSL, the regular season is winding down, with Decision Day slated for Nov. 1.

With both leagues at key decision points, USA TODAY wanted to know which teams are the most popular in every state. We used historical Google Trends data, which allowed us to track the search interest for teams across every state.

Because both leagues are dealing with expansion, we only looked back at the last year of data. While it’s not a one-to-one representation of popularity within each state, search data does provide one indicator because it tracks which teams fans most frequently Google.

The two maps are starkly different: In the WNBA, Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever wound up as the most frequently searched team in 42 different states. The NWSL, meanwhile, saw 14 of its 16 clubs lead at least one state.

USA TODAY also investigated PWHL data. However, that league only had four U.S.-based teams during the 2025-26 season, and several states lacked enough search data to have a most popular team. As such, we decided against drawing up a PWHL map.

Most-searched WNBA teams by state

In total, nine different WNBA teams ranked as the No. 1 most searched team in a state over the past 12 months. However, much of the map is dominated by the Fever, which, as mentioned above, led 42 different states.

Here’s the full map:

Most-searched NWSL teams by state

The NWSL is more geographically varied, with nearly the entire league ranked atop at least one state. The only two clubs that didn’t? Bay FC and the San Diego Wave, which lost California to Angel City.

Every state with a single NWSL club ranked that club No. 1 in searches.

Here’s the full NWSL map:

Which teams have the widest reach?

When it comes to cross-state dominance, 10 different teams ranked No. 1 across multiple states.

None more so than the Fever’s 42-state dominance. In fact, Indiana is the only WNBA team to rank atop multiple states.

The other nine multi-state leaders include the Washington Spirit – who have a superstar of their own in Trinity Rodman – and the Kansas City Current, led by single-season assist-record holder Croix Bethune.

Which WNBA and NWSL teams lead in your state?

Curious how the two leagues vary across the same states? Use the interactive map below to switch between the WNBA and NWSL, then tap or hover over a state to see which team leads in search volume.

The rankings were calculated separately for each league.

Can’t see the interactive map? Click here to view.

Most-searched WNBA and NWSL teams by state

Below is the most-searched team in every state for both leagues. We’ve listed the WNBA team first, followed by the NWSL club.

Alabama: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritAlaska: Indiana Fever, Portland Thorns FCArizona: Indiana Fever, Portland Thorns FCArkansas: Indiana Fever, Kansas City CurrentCalifornia: Golden State Valkyries, Angel City FCColorado: Indiana Fever, Denver Summit FCConnecticut: Dallas Wings, Gotham FCDelaware: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritFlorida: Indiana Fever, Orlando PrideGeorgia: Atlanta Dream, Washington SpiritHawaii: Indiana Fever, Portland Thorns FCIdaho: Indiana Fever, Portland Thorns FCIllinois: Indiana Fever, Chicago Stars FCIndiana: Indiana Fever, Racing Louisville FCIowa: Indiana Fever, Kansas City CurrentKansas: Indiana Fever, Kansas City CurrentKentucky: Indiana Fever, Racing Louisville FCLouisiana: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritMaine: Indiana Fever, Boston Legacy FCMaryland: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritMassachusetts: Indiana Fever, Boston Legacy FCMichigan: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritMinnesota: Minnesota Lynx, Kansas City CurrentMississippi: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritMissouri: Indiana Fever, Kansas City CurrentMontana: Indiana Fever, Portland Thorns FCNebraska: Indiana Fever, Kansas City CurrentNevada: Las Vegas Aces, Angel City FCNew Hampshire: Indiana Fever, Boston Legacy FCNew Jersey: Indiana Fever, Gotham FCNew Mexico: Indiana Fever, Denver Summit FCNew York: New York Liberty, Gotham FCNorth Carolina: Indiana Fever, North Carolina CourageNorth Dakota: Indiana Fever, Portland Thorns FCOhio: Indiana Fever, Gotham FCOklahoma: Indiana Fever, Kansas City CurrentOregon: Portland Fire, Portland Thorns FCPennsylvania: Indiana Fever, Gotham FCRhode Island: Indiana Fever, Boston Legacy FCSouth Carolina: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritSouth Dakota: Indiana Fever, Kansas City CurrentTennessee: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritTexas: Indiana Fever, Houston DashUtah: Indiana Fever, Utah Royals FCVermont: Indiana Fever, Gotham FCVirginia: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritWashington: Seattle Storm, Seattle Reign FCWest Virginia: Indiana Fever, Washington SpiritWisconsin: Indiana Fever, Chicago Stars FCWyoming: Indiana Fever, Denver Summit FC

Methodology: USA TODAY analyzed Google Trends data for WNBA and NWSL teams in all 50 states, using web search across all categories from Oct. 24, 2025, through Oct. 23, 2026. Because Google Trends normalizes results within each comparison, we used overlapping groups of teams to estimate relative search interest separately for each state and league. Google Trends provides sampled, normalized search data rather than total search counts, so the rankings are not a direct measure of fan popularity and some low-volume results carry uncertainty.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Caitlin Clark effect: Indiana Fever led WNBA searches in 42 states

Reporting by Jared Beilby, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect