Fever vs. Aces Does Better TV Ratings Than Most MLB Broadcasts
The WNBA drew considerable ratings in a time slot typically devoted to MLB.
NBC didn't broadcast its usual Sunday Night Baseball game before the All-Star break, instead airing a showdown between the Indiana Fever and Las Vegas Aces. The pivot helped the network score a big audience.
According to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, 2.64 million average viewers watched the Fever cruise to a 109-75 win on NBC and Peacock. It marked the WNBA's second-most-watched regular-season game since 2000 and a major boost over the average 1.5 million viewers NBC has netted in four WNBA games this season.
Awful Announcing's Manny Soloway noted that the shift hardly hurt NBC. The game drew higher ratings than six of the eight Sunday Night Baseball games aired on NBC this season.
Three million viewers saw the Philadelphia Phillies defeat the New York Mets on June 21, and 4 million watched the Boston Red Sox complete a four-game sweep over the New York Yankees the following Sunday.
Fever trounce Aces
Fans weren't treated to a close contest on Sunday. Indiana dominated the defending champions on the road, marking its second double-digit win over Las Vegas this month.
Kelsey Mitchell led the way with 27 points on just 16 field-goal attempts. Sophie Cunningham scored 20 points with a plus-30 net rating off the bench, and Aliyah Boston tallied her seventh double-double of the season.
In her second game since returning from a back injury, Caitlin Clark recorded 12 points, seven rebounds, and six assists in 24 minutes. A'ja Wilson offered 20 points and 12 boards, but the Aces shot just 39 percent from the floor (27-of-69) and made only four of their 17 attempts from 3-point range.
The Fever improved to 14-9 before losing to the Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday. The Aces have a long layaway before playing the Toronto Tempo next Monday night on Peacock.
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This story was originally published July 16, 2026 at 2:22 PM.