WNBA Attendance Up 17% for 2024 Season amid Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese's Rookie Year

WNBA game attendance and television ratings are spiking amid hype around the 2024 rookie class headlined by the Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky's Angel Reese, the league announced.

Arenas were filled to 94 percent capacity through the first month of the WNBA season, a 17 percent spike over last season, according to the league.

More than 400,000 fans in total have so far attended WNBA games, marking the best-attended first month in league history.

Over half of those games were sellouts, marking a 156 percent increase over the beginning of the 2023 season, the league said.

The WNBA is also recording the best television ratings in league history. The league said games are drawing an average 1.32 million viewers on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS, nearly tripling last season's average of 462,000 viewers per contest.

Broadcast highlights listed by the WNBA included Clark's regular-season debut on May 14 in the Fever's opening-night matchup against the Connecticut Sun, which peaked at 2.34 million viewers.

The WNBA also highlighted the Fever's May 18 game against Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty, which averaged 1.71 million viewers and set a record for a WNBA game on ABC. The Liberty's May 25 game against the Minnesota Lynx averaged 704,000 viewers and set a similar record for CBS.

The WNBA has also already broken its single-season record for merchandise sales, recording a 756 percent increase in transactions when compared to the first month of the 2023 season, according to the league.

Clark, Reese and Los Angeles Sparks rookie Cameron Brink ranked in the top five most-purchased jerseys amid this spike in sales, the league noted.

The WNBA's increased attendance numbers have driven the league to seek out larger venues for marquee matchups.

The Washington Mystics hosted Clark and the Fever Friday at Capital One Arena, rather than the Mystics' usual 4,200-seat Entertainment and Sports Arena.

The game sold out to 20,333 fans, marking the best-attended WNBA contest since 2007 and one of the league's ten largest crowds of all time, according to acrossthetimeline.com.

The WNBA's attendance and viewership growth could eventually help commissioner Cathy Engelbert achieve her goal of expanding the league to 16 teams.

The Golden State Valkyries, the first WNBA expansion team since 2008, are set to join the league in 2025, and ESPN's Alexa Philippou reported that Engelbert hopes to add three more by 2028 if the league is "in the right financial position."