Caitlin Clark’s second WNBA season is over.

She made the announcement on social media Thursday night.

The 2024 Rookie of the Year said that after “spending hours in the gym,” she would not return for the Indiana Fever’s three final regular-season games or any potential playoff series.

In just 13 games, Clark averaged 16.5 points and 8.8 assists. 

“Disappointed isn’t a big enough word to describe how I am feeling,” Clark said. “I want to thank everyone who had my back through all the uncertainty. This has been incredibly frustrating, but even in the bad, there is good.”

Clark was sidelined multiple times this season with injuries. The most recent—a right groin injury—was suffered during the Fever’s 87–77 win over the Connecticut Sun on July 15. During her recovery process, Clark suffered a bone bruise that further delayed her return to the court.

With Clark and others missing much of the season due to injuries, the Fever sit at 21–20, eighth place in the WNBA. They lead the Los Angeles Sparks by a game and a half for the final playoff spot.

Clark had also missed time earlier this season with injuries to her left quad and left groin.

Earlier Thursday, Fever coach Stephanie White told the media that the team used its recent road trip to evaluate Clark’s path forward. She continued saying the team had plans to “sit down after practice today and hopefully have a direction soon.” 

White said Clark had participated in 5-on-0 drills and some shooting, but had not been able to get much contact. 

“Caitlin has worked so hard throughout this time, doing everything possible to recover and return to the court but, ultimately, time is not on our side,” Indiana Fever COO and GM Amber Cox said in a statement. “While we will continue working with Caitlin and provide her with every resource we have available, there is not enough time left in our season for her to safely return, and her long-term health and well-being remains our top priority.” 

The Fever’s 2025 campaign, which opened with title hype, quickly devolved into serious injury trouble. 

Guards Sydney Colson, Aari McDonald, and Sophie Cunningham all suffered season-ending injuries after the All-Star break. The Fever have had 18 players under contract total this season due to the number of players signed via hardship waivers and seven-day contracts. Earlier Thursday morning, forward Chloe Bibby—whom the team signed first to a seven-day and then to a rest-of-season contract—was ruled out for the remainder of the season due to a left knee injury. 

Despite the injuries, the Fever are among the four teams fighting to claim the last three spots in the playoffs. They had a 1.5 game advantage over the Sparks for the eighth and final spot before Thursday’s slate of games concluded. 

Big Business Implications

The Fever made the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons during Clark’s rookie campaign. They were swept by the Sun in the first round, but their two playoff games reached 1.8 million viewers and 2.5 million viewers—blockbuster numbers for the league. Last year’s WNBA Finals averaged 1.57 million viewers, with Game 5 hitting a record 2.4 million.

As of Aug. 20, the league had already broken its season attendance record despite Clark barely playing. 

WNBA viewership was also up 21% through 56 nationally broadcast games this season compared to the entire 2024 season, with ratings for the non-Fever games up 37% from last year as of the end of last month. 

The Fever are still the league’s biggest draw when Clark plays, and her absence from the playoffs is a big hit with an uncertain offseason looming. The collective bargaining agreement is scheduled to expire at the end of next month.

This season’s most-watched WNBA game was the opener between the Fever and Chicago Sky on May 17, which drew 2.7 million viewers on ABC. It would be the only Fever–Sky game Clark would play all year.

“I am so proud of how this team has only gotten stronger through adversity this year,” Clark said. “Now it’s time to close out the season and claim our spot in the playoffs.”

With the 2025 NFL season officially underway, the league’s international expansion goals will be on full display this fall—particularly this weekend.

The Chiefs and Chargers will square off Friday night in the second NFL game in Brazil, and for Kansas City, it’s another step in the franchise’s goal of global dominance.

“We’ve been very transparent in our desire to become the world’s team,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said Thursday at a fan event in São Paulo. “And a big part of that is growing the Chiefs Kingdom all over the globe.”

Hunt has a good case. Kansas City is becoming the first NFL team to play in four different countries outside the U.S., having already played games in Mexico, the U.K., and Germany. As part of the league’s global markets program, the Chiefs have marketing rights in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.K. Those seven foreign markets are tied with the Rams for the most of any single club.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in Western Europe over the last decade, and now we get to come to South America, to the most important country in South America, that has a large fan base of American football already,” Hunt said.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who was speaking alongside Hunt, noted Brazil has an estimated 36 million fans out of its population of roughly 212 million. Goodell said Kansas City was chosen to play in this Brazil game in part because of Hunt and the team’s international ambitions. “The passion, desire, and objective to be a global team, and to help the NFL become a global sport,” Goodell said.

The NFL is playing a record seven international games this season, including debuts in Ireland and Spain, and wants to expand that number to 16 in the near future. Reaching that goal would likely mean every team would play one game outside the U.S. each season.

While the Ryder Cup is still several weeks away, its amateur equivalent is taking place this weekend, offering golf fans a rare glimpse at one of the world’s most famous and exclusive courses.

Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, Calif., is hosting its second Walker Cup (and first since 1981), a biennial team golf event featuring top amateurs from the U.S. competing against their peers from Great Britain and Ireland. (That was the original format of the Ryder Cup before it expanded to include players from continental Europe in 1979.)

The Walker Cup marks the biggest event at Cypress Point since the PGA Tour’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am last played there in 1990. Since then, the famed course—built in 1929 along the shores of the Pacific Ocean—has mostly stayed out of the national spotlight. 

“There’s an air of mystery to it,” says Golf Channel director Jeff Jastrow, who will be tasked with showcasing Cypress in prime time on Golf Channel on Saturday and Sunday evening. “A lot of people just hear about Cypress Point or see photos, but they don’t really understand how spectacular the place is.”

Eight of the top 10 ranked amateur golfers in the world will be participating in the Walker Cup, led by No. 1 American Jackson Koivun and 2025 U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell.

Welcome to the Show

Cypress Point has a small membership base of roughly 250 people, with members including celebrities from the sports world like Jim Nantz, Hollywood stars like Clint Eastwood, and billionaires like Charles Schwab. But the private club was extremely accommodating to Golf Channel, which plans on using drones along the ocean and a 150-foot crane between holes 16 and 17 to help capture the action.

“Your first reaction is just ‘wow.’ You can’t believe what you’re seeing,” says Golf Channel producer Chris Maguire. “It’s the same way the first time you go to Augusta [National Golf Club] and you see it with your own eyes. You’re just blown away.”

While the Walker Cup TV broadcast (including some exclusive streaming on Peacock) will have stiff competition from college football and NFL games this weekend, the allure of Cypress created a strong demand to see this Walker Cup in person. Tickets, which cost $200 at face value, have been reselling for roughly $800 on Saturday and $500 on Sunday on SeatGeek, the official ticketing provider of the USGA, which organizes the event when it’s played Stateside.

Attendance will be limited, though, as the USGA capped the number of tickets it sold (around 4,000 per day) because of high interest and the “unique terrain and architecture at Cypress Point,” the organization said.