Forget the hate on the internet; Caitlin Clark is helping the WNBA gain a following among fans of all ages.

ATLANTA — There are significant differences between following Caitlin Clark on the internet and actually seeing her play basketball.

She provides a blank canvas for dishonest people to further their objectives and sow division on social media platforms. However, when she is in person, she is doing what the majority of sports fans worldwide appear to detest the most.

More people are enjoying watching sports thanks to her.

She is really daring.

In Clark’s first trip with the Indiana Fever, which took place here in Atlanta on Friday night, nothing very unusual occurred during her maiden WNBA season. With her exciting 16-point, 7-assist effort, she sold out State Farm Arena, drawing in over 17,500 spectators and helping Indiana escape town with a 91-79 victory.

It was by far the largest attendance in a WNBA game in Atlanta sports history. Hopefully, for many of them, it won’t be the last time. And while Clark barnstorms from town to town in her freshman year, it’s occurring across the nation.

Atlanta’s seasoned forward Nia Coffey stated, “I always say if they come into at least one game, they usually come back.”

That’s the truth that astute WNBA observers see, despite all of the criticism and attention that Clark has gotten. She will open doors for others, and it is the responsibility of the others to transform their product from a curiosity into a mainstay. The real model for how Clark is transforming women’s basketball is so straightforward that the amount of time comment sections have spent debating it is almost hilarious.

And it’s there, in Atlanta on Friday, when a lot of real people paid real money to fill an arena that even some very good NBA teams have struggled to sell out in years past, that the gap between how people are experiencing the Clark phenomenon online and what’s actually happening arises.

The intense debate that surrounds everything that Clark does or does not do on the internet, most of it racially charged, could lead one to believe that her very existence is a ticking time bomb that her most ardent supporters and those who now detest her popularity are ready to explode at any time.

That absurdity is the furthest thing from what truly occurs when she enters an arena.

Friday’s audience, which included suburbanites mingling with rappers, socialites and former athletes, families, and young professionals, was a quintessential Atlanta melting pot. The bulk of those in attendance were Atlanta Dream supporters, but it looked like everyone in the state of Georgia with ties to Iowa was in the arena dressed in black and gold.

It’s possible that because these supporters are so fresh to the WNBA, they haven’t yet grown to detest other teams or players. Maybe they haven’t yet developed an emotional attachment to their own team. Whatever the case, the players genuinely valued the extremely good environment that pervaded the whole event.

It didn’t align with the idea that Clark is causing a significant amount of opposition. Everyone was having a great time, from 2 Chainz and Allen Iverson to a large group of young children sporting jerseys with the number 22 on the back.