The WNBA surpassed its total regular-season attendance record Friday, another showcase of the league’s continued growth in 2025.
The WNBA’s previous record of 2,364,736 fans was set in 2002, according to data from Across the Timeline. It took 215 games to break the mark this season—41 fewer than were played in the entire 2002 season.
The Golden State Valkyries are the biggest drivers of the attendance increase, as they have sold out all 16 home games at Chase Center in their inaugural season (289,024 total attendees).
The Indiana Fever have continued to attract fans—both at home and on the road—and lead the league in total attendance so far with more than 300,000 fans through 18 home games.
The New York Liberty are also a growth driver, averaging 29% more fans per game this year. They have already surpassed their total attendance from last season by nearly 25,000 fans despite playing three fewer games so far.
Up and Up
The WNBA is averaging more than 11,000 fans per game this year, which would also be a record if the season ended today. However, the season ends Sept. 11, giving the WNBA nearly a full month to significantly increase its record-setting attendance figure.
Ahead of Tuesday’s games, the WNBA has amassed 2,431,739 fans with 65 games left. (The league will finish with 286 games this year, following an increase from 40 to 44 games per team, a league high.)
The WNBA will need to average about 8,750 fans per game for the remainder of the season to pass 3 million attendees. If it can continue its pace of about 11,000 fans per game, the league will finish the 2025 season with nearly 3.15 million attendees—a 33% increase from last season.
Several of the positive attendance anomalies around the league have come when teams move games to arenas with larger capacities—usually when facing the Fever. There are still a few moved games remaining.
The Washington Mystics host the Fever at CFG Bank Arena, which seats about 14,000 fans, on Sept. 7. The Las Vegas Aces host three games at T-Mobile Arena, which seats about 18,000, in September: one against the Minnesota Lynx and two against the Chicago Sky.
