Mystics Capitalize on WNBA Surge, Move 4 Games to Larger Arenas

The Washington Mystics showed the growing appetite audiences have for the WNBA once again.

The team announced Thursday that four of its home games for the 2025 season will be moved from its usual home, CareFirst Arena, which has a capacity of 4,200, to two different arenas outside of Washington, D.C. Both venues have more than double the capacity of the team’s home venue.

Washington will play two games against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Md., which has a 14,000 seating maximum capacity. It will also face off against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky as well as A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces at EagleBank Arena, home of the George Mason men’s and women’s basketball teams, which has a 10,000-seat capacity. The maximum seating capacity of both arenas is expected to be slightly lower for basketball games, but is still being finalized, MS&E told Front Office Sports. 

The schedule of the moved games is as follows:

EagleBank Arena 

• July 8 vs. Chicago Sky 
• July 10 vs. Las Vegas Aces

CFG Bank Arena 

• May 28 vs. Indiana Fever
• Sept. 7 vs. Indiana Fever

However, despite the announcement, Mystics chief business officer Alycen McAuley told FOS the team is not exploring a permanent move to a larger home venue. “Right now, we’re not contemplating [a move],” McAuley said. 

What About Capital One Arena?

Last season, the Mystics moved four of their home games to Capital One Arena, the home of the NBA’s Wizards, also owned by MS&E, which pushed its final year average home attendance to more than 6,500, nearly 50% more than the previous year. The Sept. 19 game against the Fever drew 20,711 fans—a WNBA attendance record. 

However, despite selling out every home game last year, the team still finished third to last in attendance, per Across the Timeline, due to the limited capacity of CareFirst Arena.

McAuley told FOS the team will not be able to use Capital One Arena in the 2025 season due to renovations. Last March, after teasing a potential move to Virginia, MS&E CEO Ted Leonsis agreed to a deal to keep the Wizards, Mystics, and NHL’s Capitals in D.C., which included a $515 million renovation of Capital One Arena.

But Thursday’s announcement shows that MS&E is still looking to integrate D.C.’s surrounding cities, which aligns with Leonsis’s desire for Baltimore, Richmond, and D.C., to turn into a “supercity.” In an interview with Bloomberg Business, earlier this month, Leonsis said supercities are economic hubs, have top universities, and major sports teams.

McAuley said that because Capital One Arena is unavailable, the Mystics explored other options in the area, reiterating that the team is positioned for fans in the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia).

“That really presented an opportunity, truthfully, for us to start to think about the broader market area that the Mystics have support from,” McAuley said. “[And] the Mystics are the team of the DMV.”