The Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky are set to open the WNBA season against each other on Saturday at 3 PM at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. So that brought reporters to begin to ask questions on the popularity spike and how it’s just not one player causing that. One of the reporters was about to ask about Angel Reese’s statement last year. Before the reporter could finish, Reese cut her off, saying, “Next question.” Let’s dive into this rivalry a little bit more.
Fever and Sky’s Attendance
The WNBA has grown in popularity over the past few seasons, with women coming into the league who have huge followings on social media. When Catlin Clark was drafted in 2024, she came into the league with more than a million followers across her social media platforms.
As of right, Reese has 4.8 million followers on Instagram while Clark has only 3.1 million. Reese has her beat with 1.7 million more followers. You can now see why Reese was vocal about why more than one woman is causing the popularity increase. Those are not the only two women with millions of followers either.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, Paige Bueckers, has over 2.5 million followers on Instagram. The WNBA averaged 1.19 million viewers across its partner ESPN platforms during the 2024 regular season, which is a significant jump from 2023, were it was 462,000.
The only way anyone in the league should look at this is positively. Everybody knows that it was a combination of reasons for the popularity spike. The good news is that it looks like the 2025 WNBA season will be a historic one in terms of popularity.
Final Thoughts
The good news for the Chicago Sky is that Reese looks to be focused on her game and not on off-court drama. She did the right thing by saying next question and just talking about what she can control as a WNBA star. The Fever and Sky face each other today. That game tips off at 3 PM. Stay tuned to Total Apex Sports for my game recap later tonight.
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