WNBA Enjoying Historic Attendance, Television Viewership to Start 2024 Season

The WNBA is seeing a tremendous increase in attendance and television viewership this year. For the month of May, the league enjoyed the best attendance in 26 years and one of the most-watched opening months in history.

Wilson official basketball with WNBA logo goes through the net / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The WNBA enjoyed one of the strongest starts in league history in terms of attendance and television viewership. Monday, the WNBA released information highlighting the new level of interest from fans to start the 2024 season.

Per the league's release, the WNBA ended May with the highest attendance numbers in 26 years. The first regular season game of the 2024 campaign was on May 14. It's also the most-watched start to a season.

"Approximately 400,000 fans attended WNBA games since the tip of the season through the end of May, the most through the first month of the season in 26 years," the league's release stated. "More than half of all WNBA games were sellouts, which is a 156% increase from last year. Additionally, WNBA arenas were filled to a 94% capacity, up 17% from last year."

The WNBA's inaugural season was in 1997.

A lot of credit for the league's growth this year is going to the incoming rookie class. Players like Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso and Kate Martin have generated plenty of interest from fans across the country.

The WNBA also revealed that games are averaging 1.32 million television viewers per game across ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2 and CBS networks. That figure almost triples last year's number of 462,000.

"What's happening now in women's basketball is confirmation of what we've always known: The demand is there, and women's sports is a valuable investment," said WNBA chief growth officer Colie Edison. "We're encouraged by growing engagement across all our verticals, especailly as we welcome new and diverse audiences into our fandom. The WNBA continues to experience sustained growth as our league embraces this heightened momentum."

The WNBA has acknowledged that merchandise sales are up 756% and there's a 335% increase in WNBA League Pass subscriptions from last year.