Caitlin Clark's injury impacting interest in Fever (but not the way you think)

While the Indiana Fever have been without Caitlin Clark over the last few games, the team has still gotten some decent fan support - in person, at least.

It was almost a foregone conclusion by some that no one would be interested in watching the team with Clark sidelined, but those people forget that the Fever have incredible talent aside from Clark like Aliyah Boston, Lexie Hull, and DeWanna Bonner, just to name a few key pieces of their roster.

However, her absence has impacted one area of "interest" in the Fever, according to ESPN - sports betting. People have bet far less on the Fever since she was injured, with the David Purdum reporting that the number of bets placed on their games was about 50 percent less than the average of what sports books were seeing prior to her injury.

"[Clark] began this season as the most popular selection for prop betting, before she was injured. There is no doubt about her popularity, but intense interest in the NBA Playoffs and the championship run of the Indiana Pacers, who play in the same state, probably have a lot to do with this momentary downturn," said Kevin Hennessy, vice president of communications for Fanatics Sportsbooks, to Purdum and ESPN.

Bettors not as tapped in to Fever games since Clark's injury

It's always just a bit ridiculous to base popularity or viewership on something that only a select few states can even participate in, let alone something that only folks over the age of 21 can partake in. Many of Clark's fans are younger fans of the game of basketball and her, and aren't thinking about something as trivial as sports betting when thinking of when they can catch her and the Fever playing next.

READ MORE: Damiris Dantas set to miss chemistry-building time with Fever, Caitlin Clark

Still, it's an interesting phenomenon, and speaks to how Clark has really impacted the way that the WNBA has been consumed over the last few years. Sports betting is a lot more visible in the MLB, where you get literal odds in the scorebug in-game, or even in the NBA, where sportsbooks are blasting their logos onto courts as advertisements.

We've already begun to see commercials and advertisements for sports books more frequently include lines for WNBA players and teams like Clark and the Fever - based on this ESPN report, it's clear that that trend isn't going away anytime soon.