Caitlin Clark played in her new home arena, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, for the first time Thursday night, as the Indiana Fever beat the Atlanta Dream 83-80 in their second and final preseason game before the WNBA season begins next week. The former Iowa superstar scored 12 points during her 32 minutes on the court in front of roughly 13,000 fans—that’s nearly double any one Fever game last season in which Indiana averaged a crowd of just over 4,000 per game.

The much-hyped matchup was originally scheduled for Friday night, but it was moved up one day due to the Pacers’ needing the venue to host the Knicks in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series in the NBA playoffs. There are no more schedule conflicts for the remainder of the Indiana–New York series, but if the Pacers are to rally from an early 2–0 deficit, a trip to the Eastern Conference finals could potentially disrupt Fever home games scheduled for May 28, May 30, and June 1. While bumping a preseason game up 24 hours didn’t appear to cause any big issues, interfering with regular-season games early into Clark’s rookie season would certainly create headaches for both the NBA and WNBA on a team and league level.

It’s all a sign that the continued rise of interest in the WNBA presents yet another wrinkle in the busy springtime happenings at arenas that are already juggling NBA and NHL postseason games on short notice, in addition to previously scheduled concerts and other events.

The Fever are one of six WNBA teams to share their full-time arena with an NBA or NHL team, and, this month, they have road games scheduled at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, and Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The NHL’s Kraken and Kings both made the playoffs but have since been eliminated. Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have each decided to move one home game against Indiana later this season into larger NHL and NBA arenas in their respective cities.

Game Time

Outside of the start of the WNBA season, four venues in particular are still juggling busy schedules in the second rounds of the NBA and NHL playoffs: Madison Square Garden, Boston’s TD Garden, American Airlines Arena in Dallas, and Denver’s Ball Arena. While operators are used to quick turnaround routinely during the regular season, the postseason presents a unique challenge as schedules aren’t officially set until teams advance to the next round.

With a little more than a month to go before Diamond Sports Group attempts to get legal confirmation of its bankruptcy reorganization plan, the company’s distribution dispute with Comcast is now taking a much more public and angry turn. 

Less than a week after the end of a prior DSG-Comcast carriage agreement and resulting blackout of those channels to consumers, the Bally Sports parent went on the offensive by issuing a lengthy statement and open letter to fans, all aimed at pointing blame at the No. 2 U.S. cable carrier. 

“[Comcast’s] Xfinity hasn’t been willing to engage in meaningful discussions, nor will they put the channels back on while we continue to work through this,” DSG’s letter read in part.

As DSG also prompted fans to send Comcast their own letter, prewritten by DSG, in protest of the blackout, the company went on to say that “Comcast Xfinity’s extreme stance is hurting fans, leagues, and teams.”

DSG went on to say that “the stakes are high” in the Comcast dispute, and there is little debate on that front. The company is due to bring that reorganization plan to the bankruptcy court for approval June 18. DSG has previously said that its prior deals with Charter, Comcast, and DirecTV collectively represent about 81% of its total distribution revenue, and that distribution revenue forms the vast majority of the entire Bally Sports business. Beyond those industry-leading carriers, DSG networks also are not carried on major entities such as YouTube TV, Dish Network, and Hulu Live. 

Comcast disputed many parts of DSG’s public statements, particularly the claim that it is unwilling to engage in talks. 

“Bally Sports chose not to exercise a right to extend their contract and they declined multiple offers, so now we no longer have the rights to their programming,” Comcast said in a statement provided to Front Office Sports. “Nearly 70% of our customers who received these networks didn’t watch them. We are moving forward with our plan to proactively credit millions of customers for the costs associated with them. Most will automatically receive $8 to $10 per month in credits.”

Broader Implications

The DSG-Comcast battle in part represents a particular flash point in an ongoing struggle for regional sports networks of all types to adapt to a rapidly changing media landscape that includes accelerating cord-cutting, as well as increasing pushback on many fronts to the costs associated with RSN programming. 

In the meantime, individual pro teams carried by the affected Bally Sports RSNs, and their fans, are directly impacted by a carriage battle in which they have no direct role. MLB’s Braves, Marlins, Tigers, and Twins are among those foremost feeling the initial brunt of the blackout. 

“We are disappointed in the stalled negotiation between Bally Sports Detroit and Comcast, and the inconvenience it may cause for Tigers fans,” the club said. “The Tigers have no voice in the matter, but are hopeful the two sides will come to an agreement as soon as possible.”