The Chicago Sky announced Sunday’s game against the Indiana Fever drew a sellout crowd of 19,601 fans, the second time this season the WNBA franchise sold out the United Center, home of the NBA’s Bulls and NHL’s Blackhawks.
The sellout came despite the absence of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, both of whom were unavailable because of injury.
Clark, who was also out for the Fever’s first game in Chicago on June 7, missed Sunday’s matchup due to a right groin injury she sustained days before WNBA All-Star weekend. It was the 13th game of the season that the 2024 Rookie of the Year missed—exactly half of Indiana’s games this season. Reese missed her second straight game due to a back injury.
Reese and Clark were still present at the United Center despite not taking the court.
The Fever defeated the Sky, 93–78. Indiana has blown out Chicago in all three meetings this year—despite Clark playing in only one of the three meetings—with an average margin of victory of 25.7 points.
Viewership numbers for the game have yet to be released, but it’s likely the absence of the two stars was a blow for the game that tipped off at 3 p.m. ET on ABC. The two drew 2.7 million viewers on ABC on May 17, the first game of the season, when both were available. They drew 1.92 million on June 7, when Clark was out.
The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game, which Clark missed, drew 2.19 million viewers, the second-most-watched WNBA All-Star Game—but also down 36% from last year.
One Away From Suspension
Reese missed Sunday’s game due to injury, but she’s also in jeopardy of being suspended because of technical fouls. The two-time All-Star leads the WNBA with seven technical fouls and is one away from receiving an automatic one-game suspension. The Sky have 19 regular-season games remaining.
Chicago head coach Tyler Marsh said Sunday that Reese’s technical fouls are a “product of passion,” and he doesn’t want his star to lose that passion. He said they’ve tried to talk to the league about overturning some of the technical foul calls.
“We’ve done our work on our side to try to get a couple of those rescinded in the moment and beyond. It’s up to the league’s discretion,” Marsh said.
