Caitlin Clark and Fever take Chicago Sky rivalry to TV heights unseen in 29 years without Angel Reese

For years, it was almost impossible to separate Caitlin Clark from Angel Reese whenever the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky met. Their rivalry followed them from college into the WNBA , turning games between two rebuilding franchises into must-see television. Then Reese left Chicago, and there was an obvious question: would people still care quite as much?

Sunday night provided a remarkable answer. Fever-Sky averaged 3.31 million viewers across NBC and Peacock and peaked at 3.82 million , making it the most-watched WNBA regular-season game since the league's opening weekend in 1997.

Only two regular-season games in WNBA history have drawn larger audiences: New York Liberty-Los Angeles Sparks with 5.04 million on June 21, 1997, and Charlotte Sting-Phoenix Mercury with 3.59 million one day later. Twenty-nine years and thousands of WNBA games passed before anyone came this close again.

And Clark gave those millions a reason to keep watching. She exploded for 37 points and 10 assists, buried a career-high eight three-pointers and helped Indiana crush Chicago 113-90. Kelsey Mitchell poured in another 30 points as the Fever hit a franchise-record 18 threes.

Clark and Mitchell have now produced three games in which both scored at least 30 points , another WNBA record.

Caitlin Clark and Fever-Sky no longer need Angel Reese to fill the screen

What makes the number particularly striking is who wasn't there. Reese, whose battles with Clark helped turn Fever-Sky into one of the league's signature rivalries, was traded to the Atlanta Dream in April. But the emotion surrounding these teams didn't disappear with her.

This was their first meeting since DiJonai Carrington was ejected for a Flagrant 2 after taking down Sophie Cunningham on a breakaway on Aug. 8.

Yet the bigger story may now extend beyond Chicago altogether. Indiana has been involved in four of the 10 most-watched regular-season games in WNBA history , all this season: Sunday's 3.31 million against Chicago, 2.64 million against Las Vegas, 2.60 million against Atlanta and 2.50 million against Minnesota.

The Fever have also set viewing records this season on CBS, ESPN and Amazon Prime Video . Different opponents, different storylines, but the same team and the same No. 22 at the center of it.

For a rivalry that became famous because Clark and Reese seemed destined to be linked forever, perhaps Sunday's audience revealed something neither the Fever nor the WNBA could have known when it began . Angel Reese was no longer wearing a Sky uniform and there was no Clark-Reese showdown to sell, yet 3.82 million people were watching at the game's peak.

Fever-Sky may have started as a rivalry between two stars, but Caitlin Clark and Indiana are beginning to look like a television event all by themselves.