Caitlin Clark playing Lynx at Target Center is a $1 million game

Every seat on Sunday at Target Center will be filled. And everybody knows why.

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are coming to town to play the Lynx. Some might frown at the way that was phrased. And yes, it evokes the memory of, way back in 1950, when the marquee at Madison Square Garden, promoting an upcoming game between the Minneapolis Lakers and New York, read. “Geo. Mikan vs. Knicks.”

But is it an exaggeration?

The season is more than halfway over and there are only two cities Clark, the Fever’s outstanding rookie guard out of Iowa, has yet to play in: Dallas and, finally, Minneapolis.

How much Hawkeye gold will we see Sunday afternoon? Good luck buying a ticket.

In the week leading up to the game Carley Knox, the Lynx’s president of business operations, was excited to wake up each day and see the numbers, look at the reports, see ticket sales going nearly through the Target Center roof.

“It is awesome,” Knox said.

As of Friday midday, there were fewer than 1,000 tickets left. By game time there will be an expected sellout of 18,978, the biggest regular-season crowd in franchise history. The team drew 19,423 to Game 5 of the 2016 WNBA finals, back before renovation when the arena’s capacity was a bit bigger.

But Sunday will mark the single biggest revenue day in Lynx history, the first time gate revenue will exceed $1 million.

“I understand it,” Lynx coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said. “I get the passion for Caitlin Clark, her game, that her fans have for her around the country. I watched it with Steph Curry. And now just Caitlin, the whole rookie class.”

The Clark effect is well-documented. According to a mid-June report by SportsCasting.com, average road attendance for WNBA games was 15,591 when the Fever were in town, 7,645 when she wasn’t. In a season where league viewership records are being crushed, nine of the top 10 watched games involved the Fever. An early July game at Las Vegas — which, like many teams, moved the game from their normal arena to a bigger one — drew 20,366, the fifth-largest crowd in league history and the biggest since 1999.

And now we’ll see it at Target Center. But then, we’ve seen it before.

If Iowa City was her college home and she now works in Indianapolis, Target Center has to be as close to a home game as possible for Clark, the 6-0 point guard taken with the first pick in the 2024 WNBA draft.

A Des Moines native, Clark’s dad used to take her north to watch Lynx games. Clark’s favorite player growing up was Maya Moore. The Lynx won four WNBA titles in Clark’s formative years.

“I grew up loving the Minnesota Lynx,” Clark said during her introductory press conference in Indiana. “I probably shouldn’t say that anymore.”

And then, of course, Target Center is where the Hawkeyes won the last two Big Ten Conference tournament titles. Remember when Minneapolis was invaded by folks from Iowa who waited hours in the skyway to gain entrance?

“Winning last year’s Big Ten title was one of the most memorable games of my college career,” Clark said. Unavailable for a one-on-one interview, Clark answered some questions about the upcoming game via email. “Looking back and seeing the long line of Iowa fans waiting to get into the arena proved how dedicated our fan base was. It turned out to be one of the best environments we played in away from Iowa City.”

A mixed reaction?

Has all the attention to the league’s highest-profile rookie rankled some?

That has been the perception, at least for some. They point to former long-time star Diana Taurasi talking about the learning curve Clark would have coming to the WNBA. “Reality is coming,” she said.

Much was made of a Reeve post on X as the preseason was getting underway, poking at the league for promoting Clark’s debut by noting that there are other teams in the league.

Reeve won’t comment on either the post or the reaction. But anyone who has followed Reeve online for any length of time knows her penchant for chiding the league on a number of issues. The post was clearly more about recognizing the entire league than it was about belittling Clark.

Actually, Reeve said she believes the 12-team WNBA has welcomed both Clark and the rookie class and everything they brought to the league from college.

Resentment? “That’s a false narrative,” Reeve said. “These days, false narratives are permitted and catch like wildfire.”

Reeve said she has never heard a player say anything derogatory about Clark.

“I can’t tell you how many players I’ve talked to, the way they talk about her,” Reeve said. “The smile on their faces. Them saying, ‘Damn she’s good.’ It’s fun. It’s great. And not just Caitlin, the entire rookie class.”

A surge in interest

There is no question the league has gone to a new level of interest. More eyes on the game will lead to more lucrative TV deals, which will lead to bigger salaries. It’s easy to connect these dots: A security issue with Clark and the Fever at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on May 2 was followed soon after by WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announcing that charter travel would come to the league.

Lynx guard Kayla McBride — who was just named to her fourth All-Star game — is in her 11th season. She spent a decade flying commercial. You think she doesn’t appreciate where the league is going?

“This whole narrative is just weird,” McBride said of the notion that the rookies are resented. “It’s never been about that. It’s never been about us vs. them. They came in with their own personalities, personas. They came in with more eyes on them than anyone else. That carries weight. But what we’ve already been able to do also carries weight.”

That may be the crux of it. Knox talked this week and Reeve has said all along that while this season has been an inflection point, the movement had already started. The league’s momentum was already building. That Clark, Angel Reese and other first-year players have helped put that pedal to the metal?

“It gives us more eyes to see what we’re doing, what we’ve been doing,” McBride said. “That’s the point of all of this. It’s not us vs. them, it’s us vs. everybody. It’s about continuing to grow women’s sports.”

That said, there is competition. There are just 144 jobs in the WNBA, and every veteran is going to want to test every rookie. There may be some pushing, physical play, trash talking.

“But us, as veterans, we’ve been here,” McBride said. “We understand what it was like to not have charters. When I started in this league [in San Antonio] we were playing where the rodeo was.

“This new wave is going to change everything for everyone. It’s never going back.”

Impressive on the court

McBride said she’s impressed with how the rookies handle the attention and pressure.

Clark? She endured a grueling start to the schedule, is emerging as a rookie of the year favorite and has performed under the hottest spotlight.

And that’s been hard at times. Earlier this season, Clark asked people not to use her to push their causes.

“I’m just trying to give myself as much grace as possible as well as rely on my teammates and my family,” she said. “This year was a tough start because of how many games we were playing in such a condensed time, but now our team has had time to get to know each other … and I think everyone is seeing the results for themselves as we have started winning a lot more recently.”

On the court, Clark’s play has steadily improved. She is averaging 16.7 points and is second in the league in assists (7.6) go to with 5.9 rebounds. She recently recorded the first rookie triple-double in league history.

As Reeve said, her players roots for Clark, except when they play against her.

McBride, for one, is looking forward to Sunday’s atmosphere, wishing every game would be like what she expects.

“We’re just going to play basketball in front of a bunch of fans,” she said. “And put on a show. Play a good game. Compete. Sometimes it becomes so much more to everybody else. We just want to play.”