WNBA Attendance Stats Completely Unravel Angel Reese’s Claim That Fans Are Coming To See Her As Much As Caitlin Clark

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Caitlin Clark’s arrival in the WNBA has seemingly caused both those in and outside of the sport to lose their minds, as evidenced by both the way Clark has been treated by her peers and the way sports media has covered the story.

Clark’s former college rival Angel Reese was the latest to contribute to the collective delusion when she claimed that she, too, is a reason that people are now tuning into the WNBA and not just Caitlin Clark.

“People are pulling up to games, we got celebrities coming to games sold out arenas, like, just because of one single game,” Reese told reporters earlier this week.

“And just looking at that, like, I’ll take that role. I’ll take the bad guy role, and I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates, and if I want to be that and I know I’ll go down in history, I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, ‘Yeah, the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person.’ It’s because of me too, and I want you to realize that.”

Reese’s claims are people paying attention to the WNBA because of her aren’t backed by the data, however, as the attendance of Caitlin Clark’s games is absolutely dwarfing the league’s other games.

As pointed out by a writer at Sports Illustrated, Caitlin Clark games over the weekend of June 1 had 10,000-15,000 more people at them than non-Caitlin Clark games.

Reese herself experienced that phenomenon: when her Chicago Sky played the Los Angeles Sparks on May 30, around 7,000 people were in the crowd. Two days later, when the Sky took on Clark’s Indiana Fever, the attendance was north of 17,000.

Clark’s arrival to the WNBA has already had a massive tangible impact on the team that drafted her, as the Indiana Fever has already broken its franchise attendance record that it set last season after just five games. They also have the highest average attendance in the WNBA this season both home and away.

So far during her rookie season in the WNBA, Reese, the 7th overall pick in the WNBA Draft, is averaging 10.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. Clark, who was named Rookie of the Month for May, is averaging 15.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game.