‘A rising tide lifts all boats‘ — That was literally one of the first few things said about Caitlin Clark when she joined the Indiana Fever in 2024. With Clarkonomics working its magic, changes did occur, and this season, the Fever will have all 44 games available on broadcast. Little did they know that this very popularity would make them the biggest target for the other 14 teams in the league, as Sophie Cunningham recently confessed.

“First of all, we are circled on everyone’s roster, right? Or like everyone’s game schedule, we are the one circled. We are the only team that has all nationally televised games,” Cunningham said on her “Show Me Something” podcast. “People hate us, and I get that. I hate other teams, too.”

Even though the attention on the entire league is on the rise, the Indiana Fever are just one level above the rest. This year, the league has a record of 216 games telecast nationally under its new 11-year, $3.1 billion media rights deal. Yet, only the Indiana Fever has all of their 44 games telecast; the next highest are Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings with 36 games. The defending champion, featuring one of the GOATs in the Las Vegas Aces, has only 33 games under the spotlight.

But here’s the thing: the WNBA is a business. And what does a business want? Get success.

Recently, Lisa Leslie and Stephen A. Smith put it correctly after a GM poll put Paige Bueckers over Clark to start a new franchise. Considering the playing style, Bueckers might come at the top in many categories. However, as a GM, what you want is to bring in the money. And as Leslie pointed out, in the entire 30-year history of the league, there has been no player to push teams to bigger arenas as Clark has. That’s exactly what the league did, too, when pushing all of the Fever’s games to TV. But that is exactly how any small mishap draws a target on Indiana’s team, too.

“I just think that we just have gotten so much attention drawn to us. I understand it. When I wasn’t on Indiana, it was like, ‘You guys get all the attention, so we’ll prove to you that you don’t deserve the attention.’ That type of stuff.”

In her defense, Cunningham did try. When she was in Phoenix in 2024, a lot was made about Diana Taurasi and Clark’s ‘GOAT’ moment, and that brought even more attention to the Fever. But once she realized fighting the reality is not the solution, Cunningham herself joined the team and became the enforcer. In fact, today, she is also a big reason why Indiana continues to gain attention. The negative reporting, however, gets too much.

And that’s exactly what happened when the Fever were on a two-game losing streak before winning against the Atlanta Dream.

The Fever has certainly grown and developed over the last three years with coaching swaps, player trades, and injury bugs. But the popularity doesn’t only have a bad side.

Fever games averaged much more views than the non-Fever games last year. On Ion, their games averaged 954,000 viewers even without Clark. While the 22 non-Fever games averaged 505,000 viewers.

The Indiana Fever’s average attendance of 15,867.67 ranks third. According to a survey from STN Digital and Zoomph released back in November 2025, the Fever had a social value of more than $55M. And according to sports outfitter Fanatics, Caitlin Clark’s No. 22 kit outsold the jerseys of major NBA titans like LeBron James, Luka Dončić, and even Michael Jordan.

This disparity causes some degree of friction.

In the Mercury locker room, she observed that there was “just more for her,” with regard to the “welcome to the W” for rookies. Last year, the players voted Clark the ninth-best guard by the WNBA players, despite breaking the assist record the season before. She also faced multiple physical plays, including the Jacy Sheldon incident and Chennedy Carter’s flagrant fouls. But beyond that, teams try to bring their absolute best against the Fever because of the spotlight.

If a player or a team performs against the Fever, their stock skyrockets. From Fever and Caitlin Clark’s perspective, they just have to deal with it.

Clark admitted after the overwhelming criticism over the two lost games that this is “her life” and that she is just used to it at this point. Regardless, the focus now turns inward as the Indiana Fever wants to improve beyond their 5-4 record. Sophie Cunningham admitted to going through a tough time, but explained a positive aspect to it as well. 

Sophie Cunningham Recognizes Silver Lining To The Early Troubles

The Indiana Fever dominated the Atlanta Dream, and the mood was a mix of celebration and relief. A two-game skid had added to the pressure on the Fever, who were expected to be championship contenders.

“It’s about dang time!” Sophie Cunningham shouted to the crowd after the 83-71 win yesterday.

The win drowned out all the noise around the squad. But the fact remains that a 5-4 record is still an underwhelming one for the Indiana Fever. Yet, Cunningham would rather face difficulty now than later on in the season. 

“I’d much rather be going through the trenches right now than in September and October. It’s part of the season,” Cunningham said. “Everything we do is just highlighted on a microscope. Everyone’s watching every little thing we do.

“I think there’s some moments I see in our rundown that we wanna talk about that’s kinda being blown out of proportion, you know, with stuff going on with our team during timeouts and whatnot. But these are all learning lessons. It’s an opportunity to grow and get better. Sometimes you just need the ickiness in order to build that chemistry and trust.”

Every team has its ups and downs. Last year, the Aces started poorly but went on to win the championship. Now, it’s the Fever’s turn to fix their mistakes as they did against the Dream with a complete game. If they can build some momentum and maintain a good form, you’ll see a much better Fever when the business end of the season comes.