Indiana’s most celebrated athlete was at Sunday’s Colts-Raiders game in Indianapolis, where she received her own replica jersey alongside her WNBA teammates.
Caitlin Clark and boyfriend Connor McCaffery were joined on the sidelines by her fellow Indiana Fever stars Natasha Howard and Makayla Timpson.
Clark’s season was cut short by a groin injury, but the Fever still managed to reach the WNBA playoff semifinals, where they fell to the Las Vegas Aces last week.
Native Hoosiers were naturally thrilled to see the WNBA sensation cheering on a Colts team that stunned experts by going 3-1 over the season’s first four weeks.
‘Caitlin and Daniel will bring multiple championships to Indianapolis,’ one fan wrote, referring to Clark and Colts quarterback Daniel Jones.
Another added: ‘love the love for all Indy teams.’
Caitlin Clark is seen at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, where the Colts hosted the Raiders
Clark is pictured alongside her Fever teammate, Makayla Timpson, at Sunday’s Colts game
Others simply professed their feelings for Clark.
‘I LOVE YOU CAITLIN,’ one wrote.
‘It would be my dream to meet you if you ever see this I’m the biggest cold fan and I love basketball,’ one fan wrote to Clark on TikTok. ‘I play football and it would be my dream.’
Later the Fever players got a round of applause as they were shown on the Lucas Oil scoreboard.
Although Clark hasn’t been playing, her name has been in the news, thanks to a bombshell press conference from Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier.
Speaking from a prepared statement for over four minutes last week, Collier sharply criticized WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert for being ‘negligent’ and also called out the league’s officiating.
‘We have the best league in the world,’ Collier told reporters days after Minnesota fell to the Phoenix Mercury in the semifinals. ‘We have the best fans in the world. But we have the worst leadership in the world.’
‘Year after year, the only thing that remains consistent is the lack of accountability from our leaders.’
Clark looks on from the sideline during warmups before Sunday’s game at Lucas Oil Stadium
In addition to blasting the league’s officiating, Collier also revealed a private conversation between herself and Engelbert about Clark’s five-figure salary.
‘Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16million off the court, because without the platform that WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything,’ Collier alleged Engelbert as saying.
‘Players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them,’ Engelbert added, according to Collier.
Despite her enormous impact on the league and women’s basketball, Clark made just $78,066 this year from her WNBA salary.
The maximum salary, still, is just short of $250,000, which led Collier and Breanna Stewart to co-found the Unrivaled league, which promised players a minimum six-figure salary during a nine-week winter season upon its launch this year.
Collier was expected to meet with Engelbert this week to discuss their issues, but The Associated Press is now reporting the meeting has been cancelled.
Engelbert said before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals that Collier’s claims contained “inaccuracies,” including the detail about Clark.
“Caitlin has been a transformational player in this league,’ Engelbert told reporters. She’s been a great representative of the game. She’s brought in tens of millions of new fans to the game.”
