Follow along here at Beyond Women’s Sports for the weekly attendance updates in the WNBA. New updates will be published every Monday. The numbers reported below are up to and including games through Aug. 20.
WNBA Attendance: Week in review
This attendance report spanned the week of Aug. 14 through Aug. 20. For this one-week span; the league had a total of 12 games. However, one of these games was the league’s Commissioner’s Cup Game on Aug. 15. This game drew 8,967 fans but is not counted toward the Aces’ average or the league’s overall average. Overall, this week saw a solid uptick in attendance, with several crowds of over 10,000. Furthermore, league attendance is up slightly to 18.4% compared to 2022’s final average. The largest crowd for the week was the Phoenix Mercury’s Aug. 20 game, which drew 11,807. The smallest crowd for the week belongs to the Atlanta Dream, which drew 2,957 on Aug. 18.
Currently, eleven teams are now up from their 2022 final average, with the Seattle Storm, the lone team below their 2022 final average. Moreover, the largest increase by one team is currently the Las Vegas Aces (+3,551). The largest decrease by one team from 2022 is the Seattle Storm (-1,856). Finally, the league is shy of topping its 2018 final average of 6,779 and has surpassed its 2019 average (6,528).
Below is the graphic comparing the 2022 season’s final averages. The reported capacity numbers for each arena are based on the team’s arena being fully open. Half of the league’s teams play in NBA-sized arenas that unless needed, close off their upper bowl sections*.
Capacity numbers are provided by each team’s individual arena’s website. Also reported are each team’s individual high and low games for the season. Finally, all attendance numbers are provided through Acrossthetimeline.com.
Attendance Report
Hall of Fame Game was a sellout ‼️ pic.twitter.com/Lo3EJI26Fq
— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) August 21, 2023
The league may no longer be on pace to reach an average of 7,000 fans per game. The league would need to average 8,268 fans per game for the remainder of the season to hit a final average of 7,000. There are now only three weeks left remaining in the regular season and a total of 48 games remaining. Finally, this upcoming week will see a total of 16 games played. Play-off bound teams will likely see the largest crowds in these final weeks.
Todd Roman is on Twitter too. Follow Todd @TBRBWAY.
