‘Move every game’ – Caitlin Clark makes Paige Bueckers’ WNBA prediction as she eyes similar financial impact
Caitlin Clark knows a star when she sees one. The Indiana Fever guard has hailed her soon to be WNBA peer Paige Bueckers as she claimed the recent national champion has the appeal of a superstar. Caitlin Clark was full of praise for BueckersGetty Fresh off winning her first NCAA championship with UConn, Bueckers has her sights on the WNBA. The 23-year-old is expected to be taken first by the Dallas Wings as she begins her professional career in basketball. Bueckers, like Clark in 2024, has a huge weight of expectation on her shoulders as she enters the league with an incredible amount of hype. She has already established herself as a star within basketball and Clark believes she will seamlessly transition into the WNBA. “I think she’ll honestly fit right in,” Clark told WNBA icons Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi on ESPN alternate broadcast of the NCAA title game. “[College Park Center] is fun to play in, too. It’s a small place, it’s loud. “You know honestly, they should move every game to American Airlines because I think Paige has that type of draw. “She’ll be able to bring those types of fans in.” Clark’s Fever will play the Wings four times next season, and the franchise has already moved one of its two home matchups against Indiana to American Airlines Center. This is to accommodate up to 20,000 fans with the College Park Center only able to host 7000. Paige Bueckers could be the latest rookie to have a sensational impact on the WNBAGetty Dallas hold the top pick and will welcome Bueckers with open arms when the draft takes place on April 14th in New York City. Bueckers could have a transformational impact on the Wings like Clark did on the Fever. If Bueckers is able to replicate Clark’s effect, we could see another record-breaking season in 2025 in a financial and basketball sense. Clark saw her team’s attendance rise by 320 percent to a league-leading average of 17,000 per game in her rookie season. 31 WNBA matches last season averaged over one million viewers and 22 of them involved Clark, with almost every fixture she played in broadcast on national television. Such unprecedented success also paved the way for Fever’s new $78 million training center in downtown Indianapolis. The facility will open in two years and features two full-size courts, strength and conditioning facilities, along with podcast and content production studios. The Wings will be hoping Bueckers can do the same and lift their franchise to new heights.
Caitlin Clark knows a star when she sees one.
The Indiana Fever guard has hailed her soon to be WNBA peer Paige Bueckers as she claimed the recent national champion has the appeal of a superstar.
Fresh off winning her first NCAA championship with UConn, Bueckers has her sights on the WNBA.
The 23-year-old is expected to be taken first by the Dallas Wings as she begins her professional career in basketball.
Bueckers, like Clark in 2024, has a huge weight of expectation on her shoulders as she enters the league with an incredible amount of hype.
She has already established herself as a star within basketball and Clark believes she will seamlessly transition into the WNBA.
“I think she’ll honestly fit right in,” Clark told WNBA icons Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi on ESPN alternate broadcast of the NCAA title game.
“[College Park Center] is fun to play in, too. It’s a small place, it’s loud.
“You know honestly, they should move every game to American Airlines because I think Paige has that type of draw.
“She’ll be able to bring those types of fans in.”
Clark’s Fever will play the Wings four times next season, and the franchise has already moved one of its two home matchups against Indiana to American Airlines Center.
This is to accommodate up to 20,000 fans with the College Park Center only able to host 7000.
Dallas hold the top pick and will welcome Bueckers with open arms when the draft takes place on April 14th in New York City.
Bueckers could have a transformational impact on the Wings like Clark did on the Fever.
If Bueckers is able to replicate Clark’s effect, we could see another record-breaking season in 2025 in a financial and basketball sense.
Clark saw her team’s attendance rise by 320 percent to a league-leading average of 17,000 per game in her rookie season.
31 WNBA matches last season averaged over one million viewers and 22 of them involved Clark, with almost every fixture she played in broadcast on national television.
Such unprecedented success also paved the way for Fever’s new $78 million training center in downtown Indianapolis.
The facility will open in two years and features two full-size courts, strength and conditioning facilities, along with podcast and content production studios.
The Wings will be hoping Bueckers can do the same and lift their franchise to new heights.
