Bulging-at-seams crowd for WNBA show; new attendance records set

Article posted by Coliseum, November 9^th, 2026

Image: Chase Center, Willowcharter, CC BY-SA 4.0

The recently concluded Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) finals between the Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream set new records for viewership and attendance.

Most-Watched

‘foxsports1070.iheart.com’ stated that the series was the most-watched since 1999 thus averaging 1.88 million viewers. The decisive Game Seven drew an all-time high of 3.3 million viewers.

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women’s professional basketball league in North America composed of 15 teams (14 in the United States and one in Canada) and is scheduled to expand to 18 by 2030. The WNBA is one of the professional women’s sports leagues in North America. The league is headquartered in New York City.

Breaking Attendance Records

‘foxsports1070.iheart.com’ further stated that the finals also broke the attendance records with the seven games drawing 123,553 fans and averaging 17,650 per game. This year’s WNBA postseason was the most-watched since the league’s inaugural season in 1997 averaging 1.49 million viewers.

Record Merchandise Sales

The Golden State Valkyries’ championship win also led to record merchandise sales with sales exceeding those from the 30 days following last year’s championship by 42 percent. The Valkyries became the best-selling WNBA champion within 48 hours of their victory.

Extraordinary Fan Engagement

The WNBA’s 30^th season saw extraordinary fan engagement with more than 90 million unique viewers across all the national networks during the regular season.

‘Greater Excitement’

The WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert highlighted the league’s growth stating, “There is tremendous pride in what we’ve accomplished together and even greater excitement for all that lies ahead.”

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