Caitlin Clark's Fever to Host 2025 WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis
Indianapolis has been a major focal point during the 2024 WNBA season as the home of Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever, and the city will be the center of the WNBA world for the 2025 All-Star Weekend.
The WNBA announced Thursday that 2025 All-Star Game will be in Indianapolis after ESPN's Alexa Philippou first reported the decision on Wednesday.
While this will be the first time Indianapolis has hosted the WNBA All-Star Game, the city is no stranger to having such events.
In fact, last season's NBA All-Star Game took place at the home of the league's Indiana Pacers. The city hosts the Big Ten Championship Game in football among a number of collegiate events and is scheduled to host the 2026 men's Final Four and 2028 women's Final Four.
It also makes sense that the league would look to capitalize on the popularity of Clark and the Fever.
After all, Indiana leads the WNBA in attendance for home and away games after selecting Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. Philippou noted it has seen a head-turning 265% jump in attendance from last season.
The Fever have also enjoyed incredible increases in jersey sales, online interactions and much more:
Much of that can be attributed to the Clark effect, as she was a household name before she even entered the league thanks to her collegiate career at Iowa that saw her become the NCAA's all-time leading scorer.
The 2024 WNBA draft set viewership records, and she has continued to dominate headlines during her rookie season.
Clark made the All-Star Game in her first season and helped lead Team WNBA to a 117-109 victory over Team USA with 10 assists. It was something of a preparation game for Team USA ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, but Clark and Co. did not take it easy on the Americans.
Fortunately for the Red, White and Blue, Team USA shook off the defeat and took home gold at the Games.
Next year's All-Star Game format will likely return to a more traditional one since there will be no Olympics in 2025. A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart captained the two All-Star teams in 2022 and 2023.