With two superteams contesting for the title, the 2023 WNBA Finals between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty is one of the hottest tickets in league history.
Game 3 at Barclays Center is outselling any single WNBA game ever — playoffs or regular season — on ticket reseller StubHub, according to data provided to Front Office Sports as of Friday.
The first WNBA Finals game in Barclays Center’s history is generating similar interest on the secondary marketplace: Vivid Seats reports its average sold price for the contest is $202 — the highest since 2015 — and TicketIQ is seeing average list prices of $242 and $294 for Games 3 and 4, respectively.
TicketIQ attributes the high demand to a championship-starved New York market, as does StubHub: “Fans are rallying around New York City’s most exciting team in hopes of the franchise’s first title,” company spokesperson Adam Budelli tells FOS.
Aces fans are just as hungry for a repeat championship: Vivid Seats is tracking it as the sixth-best-selling WNBA Finals game since 2015 ($108).
TicketIQ notes a $268 series average list price in Brooklyn versus $114 in Vegas — a 135% difference. The average ticket sold price on StubHub for Games 3 and 4 is $174 versus $100 for Games 1 and 2.
Overall, TicketIQ says the $178 series average price is 9% higher than last year’s Finals, and StubHub says it is its best-selling WNBA Finals ever, outpacing the 2022 championship by 30%.
“Women’s basketball has experienced remarkable momentum in demand this year, from the Final Four to the WNBA,” says Budelli. “The Liberty and Aces were the two highest-selling teams of the season, and as they prepare to face off, we’re seeing the most sales in StubHub history for the WNBA Finals.”
The Liberty attracted the hottest ticket in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs, with the first game of its series against the Washington Mystics earning a $100 average ticket price.
Aces-Liberty was anticipated as the championship matchup since the beginning of the season following New York’s acquisitions of stars Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Courtney Vandersloot.
If it goes to a decisive fifth game, the ticket prices could drive up even more: On Vivid Seats, the Game 5s in 2019 and 2016 were the second- and fourth-priciest Finals tickets since 2015, respectively.
