The Phoenix Mercury’s Spin On How Much Business Caitlin Clark Did For Them Is A Mental Gymnastics Masterclass

Matt Fitzgerald·
CULTURESPORTS
·
Caitlin Clark
@WNBA

This purported narrative may come across as a little harsh, and it’s not meant to be an insult to the Phoenix Mercury fan base. It’s not necessarily their fault that their franchise’s PhoeniX-centric catchphrase/namesake for season ticket holders is “X-Factor.”

More a case of comical situational irony than anything else when it comes to the point I’m making about Caitlin Clark. It might be selling the Indiana Fever phenom short to call her an “X-factor.” She’s THE factor behind the exploding popularity of women’s basketball and expanded visibility of the WNBA.

You just wouldn’t know it by the way the Mercury — never mind others around the sport — are trying to frame what happened over the weekend. Life is short. Celebrate your victories big and small, I say.

But let’s call a spade a spade. Phoenix framing its attendance this way is just a tad disingenuous.

Hmm. Women’s basketball is in good hands, yes. Is it because of any of your players or fans? Not necessarily. Brittney Griner, Kahleah Cooper and Diana Taurasi are stars. No doubt about that. However, were they the reason Phoenix Suns superstar and fellow 2024 Olympian Devin Booker pulled up to check out Sunday’s matchup?

That’d be a no. Caitlin Clark is the reason. And Clark delivered with a near triple-double in the Fever’s 88-82 win, where they trailed by as many as 15 points. Another bit of irony, in case you forgot: Clark is not on Team USA for the Summer Games in Paris.

The Mercury boast of eight sellouts in 10 home games. Cool. Of course they never drew over 17,000 this year until Clark came to town. I went back and checked to see how their other “sellouts” compared to what happened Sunday. Prior to then, their home opener was the peak attendance at 10,251 — except for Friday’s blowout of the LA Sparks (14,363)!

While it’s not a terribly far trip from LA to the desert, you can’t convince me that a good chunk of these spectators were just making a weekend out of it on their trip to Phoenix. Why not go for a WNBA doubleheader while you’re there? The Sparks are a 4-14 team with one road win on the season. Going out on a limb here: All due respect to them, Sparks fans aren’t traveling in those types of numbers.

I mean, the 14-4 Connecticut Sun are coming to town to face the Mercury on Monday. StubHub is promoting that as, and I quote, the “cheapest event in Phoenix.” You can get damn good seats for $9. So again, I deem it not unreasonable to infer that Clark’s star power had a ripple effect that drove up the Mercury’s attendance for the Sparks game.

Not that I’m expecting or asking the Mercury to tweet out, “Thank you, Caitlin — you’re the greatest!” but it’s more funny to me than anything else how everyone’s pretending/spinning reality as anyone or anything other than Clark’s presence is why business is booming. Sure doesn’t sound like a road game for the Fever when Clark is involved.

Speaking of reality, at least Taurasi has come around on Clark in a big way. You’d think someone who’s been around the WNBA long enough would recognize Clark’s significance. To her credit, Taurasi is far removed from her initial comments on how Clark would handle her transition to the pros.

Didn’t stop the Fever from ribbing Taurasi a little bit, though. Burn!

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