How did the Dallas Wings grab Caitlin Clark’s first WNBA game? They had a plan.
Fans who want to watch Caitlin Clark make her WNBA debut in Arlington, Texas, may be a bit miffed to learn they can’t buy tickets.
On Monday night, the Indiana Fever selected Clark with the first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. The Fever’s first preseason game is Friday, May 3 in Arlington, Texas against the Dallas Wings.
Clark’s appearance should mean the Wings break their single-game attendance record for a home game at the College Park Center in Arlington. Capacity is 6,251.
There is just one, small, tiny hitch.
As of Tuesday morning, there is no link on the Wings’ website to buy a ticket to see Clark make her preseason WNBA debut. A fan could easily buy tickets for the regular season games, including the Wings’ home dates against the Fever on July 17, and again on Sept. 1.
No link to buy a single-game ticket for the Wings’ lone preseason home game. There is a reason.
“It’s coming,” Wings president Greg Bibb said in a phone interview on Tuesday morning.
Try Thursday at 10 a.m.; that is when a fan can buy a single-game ticket to see Clark make her pro debut. ‘Til then, all ticket sales for the Wings are part of a season-ticket package, which are available now.
The team has fielded a lot of phone calls over the last several weeks from fans who recognized what Bibb planned on for several months.
On Dec. 10, 2023, the Indiana Fever won the WNBA’s lottery for the top pick in its 2024 draft.
Bibb called the Fever about scheduling a preseason game against the Wings in Arlington, and it agreed. WNBA teams play two preseason games, one home and away. He called the league, and all parties said sure.
The Wings’ 2024 preseason home game against the Fever had been on the schedule for months, and a few people knew what could be.
On Feb. 29, 2024, Clark announced she would turn professional rather than return to Iowa for an additional season.
“We couldn’t say any of it. Couldn’t sell a ticket. We had to wait,” Bibb said. “We had some fans calling about it because they could see that the Fever’s first game was going to be against us, but we couldn’t do anything.”
This will by far be the most anticipated WNBA game ever, regular season or postseason included.
The funny part, among many:
“Typically our preseason games are free of charge; they’re a thank you. We don’t sell it. It’s a bonus for the season ticket package,” he said. “We really use our preseason game for game operations and to get everything ready for the regular season. For the team, they use it for a few personnel decisions.”
Do not expect Fever at Wings on May 3 to be free. Expect “dynamic pricing” to be used for this game. And expect this preseason game to be carried on Bally Sports Southwest.
Women’s basketball has had it share of stars before - Lisa Leslie, Sue Bird, Cheryl Swoopes, and so many others - but nothing like this one.
Caitlin Clark is a movement, an organic creation from the heavens that networks, corporate sponsors and leagues all crave to land. Whether her arrival to a league that has existed on the fringe for two decades, and is subsidized by the NBA as a marketing write-off, can spark this “boom” for women’s sports is not a slam dunk.
For the last several years people have projected that women’s sports is getting ready to “boom.” A boom is an explosion.
Clark, and her class of talented players going to the WNBA, will be a growth spurt in what continues to be a slow, and steady, fire for this league, and women’s sports.
Her presence over the last two years has eclipsed that of many male players, and leagues.
Her arrival to the WNBA only lifts the league, and the visibility of women’s sports, to places it’s never previously enjoyed. Whether it explodes ... that’s a lot to put on one person.
The comparisons are there that Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese to the WNBA could do for that league what Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did for the NBA, 40 years ago. So many things have to go right for those sorts of developments to happen, starting with both have to be Hall of Fame players almost immediately.
Forecasting for an explosion is like predicting an earthquake.
Just go with that the WNBA, and women’s sports, are all growing. They’re all improving. It is all better than it’s ever been before.
“I have been in this game since 2007, and it’s been growing steadily,” Bibb said. “This year we have done more in season ticket revenue than we have done in total ticket revenue than any year other than last year. We are going to crush all of our previous records.
“It is a lot of fun to have people calling us rather than us calling them.”
Expect more phone calls Thursday morning.
