Indianapolis, home to the league’s biggest draw in the Indiana Fever, will host the WNBA All-Star Game for the first time in 2025, ESPN reported Wednesday.
The WNBA is expected to make an announcement later this week, according to the report, with a Fever spokesperson telling the Indianapolis Star on Wednesday, “Indianapolis has a great history of hosting events.”
The city hosted the NBA All-Star Game this year at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and is also scheduled to host the 2026 men’s basketball Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium and the 2028 women’s Final Four, also at Gainbridge. The entire 2021 NCAA men’s tournament was played in Indiana with the Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Fever took off in popularity when they drafted No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark out of Iowa. An NCAA record-setting scorer whose Iowa games drew huge crowds, Clark has continued to be a sensation in her rookie season.
The Fever lead the league in attendance at home and when they’re away, with a 265 percent increase from 2023 by averaging 16,898 fans at 11 games at home (capacity 18,000).
They also top the league with 38 games on national television and have set viewership records for the WNBA.
Clark joined last year’s top pick, Aliyah Boston, and teammate Kelsey Mitchell for the 2024 All-Star Game in Phoenix, which drew a record number of viewers in crushing the old mark set 21 years earlier. A total of 3.44 million people watched the game on ABC, topping the previous record of 1.44 million viewers in 2003.
Last year’s game, also played in primetime and televised by ABC, drew an audience of 850,000.
–Field Level Media