Caitlin Clark Pushes WNBA to Move Future Sky–Fever Game to United Center
The Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky have formed a fun rivalry in the early portion of the 2024 WNBA season as rookie phenoms Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese launch their professional careers.
Indiana and Chicago are slated to match up for a third time this season Sunday at Wintrust Arena—the Sky’s home court which holds just over 10,000 fans. But Fever star Clark would love to see the matchup one day played at the much larger United Center, the arena where the Chicago Bulls play that has a capacity of nearly 21,000 fans.
“I’m surprised we’re not playing at the United Center,” Clark told reporters Friday night following the Fever’s 91–79 win over the Atlanta Dream. “I thought that would’ve been really good for the game and really good for all the women’s basketball fans in Chicago. Maybe there’s a conflict of some sort that I don’t know about—obviously that’s a little above my pay grade.”
The Fever and Sky first clashed June 1 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where 17,274 fans watched Indiana win 71–70 in a nail-biter. Indiana beat the Sky again June 16 by a score of 91–83, once again in front of a sellout crowd of 17,274 in Indianapolis.
But now as the season series heads to Chicago for the first time, only 10,000 or so fans will be able to watch the at Wintrust Arena. In order to witness the developing rivalry, game tickets are selling for record highs—an average of $358 per ticket on Vivid Seats as of Friday.
Is there a rivalry, perhaps?
“I’m pretty sure the only people that view this as a rivalry is all of you [media],” Clark stated. It’s simply a basketball game to us. That’s the reality. It’s fantastic and rightful if it will aid with the progression of the game.
Following their matchup on Sunday, Indiana and Chicago will play one other one more time in the regular season on August 30. Unless the WNBA takes Clark’s proposal to heart and shifts the game to United Center, that game’s current kickoff time is set for Wintrust Arena.
