their first-ever game in 2008, when 11,609 fans filled then-Philips Arena. The Dream’s usual home of Gateway Center Arena seats 3,500, so the game was moved to State Farm Arena to “accommodate the large crowd.” Clark, who had 16 points, said, “I’ve never played in Atlanta before. It’s fun going to all these different cities as a rookie and getting to play in front of the crowds.” The crowd “roared when Clark ran to the court before the game” and it “barely stopped through out the game” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 6/21).

There were “hundreds of young girls … decked out in Clark jerseys from the Fever and the Iowa Hawkeyes.” But it was “hardly only pigtailed girls coming to pay homage to the great Clark.” It was “clear that citizenship in Caitlin Clark nation crosses boundaries of age, gender and race.” According to a fan survey, there were “young boys and girls, men and women, people of all pigments, in Clark gear.” Something happened at State Farm Arena Friday night that “maybe has never happened before in Atlanta — a lone female athlete drawing a wide swath of fans” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 6/22).

USA TODAY’s Dan Wolken wrote for all the “backlash to Clark and the attention she has received,” that is the “reality smart people in the WNBA understand.” She is going to “get people in the door,” and it is “up to everyone else to turn their product from a novelty into a staple.” A lot of “real human beings paid real money” in Atlanta to “fill an arena that even some very good NBA teams have struggled to sell out in years past” (USA TODAY, 6/21).