This game is both teams’ season finales.
Last Wednesday, the Washington Mystics announced that their Sept. 19 home game against the Indiana Fever will be held at Capital One Arena instead of the Entertainment and Sports Arena. This will be the fourth game that is scheduled in Chinatown instead of the Entertainment and Sports Arena.
It was so great twice, why not do it a third time?!
The September 19th @WashMystics’ matchup against Indy officially moved to @CapitalOneArena @Christy51WScott | @meghanmcpeak | #TheGamesOn pic.twitter.com/7IFO9Lf7l7
— Monumental Sports Network (@MonSportsNet) June 20, 2024
This announcement is not a surprise. Washington sold 20,333 seats, the most in the WNBA in over 20 years. While the Mystics set attendance records in their early history, They also subsidized and padded their attendance by having many fans go to games for free. Last June’s Fever game was anything but that. The June 7 Fever game also brought in over $1 million in gate receipts, a franchise record.
It wouldn’t shock me to see the Mystics get close to this again, though I’m not sure if they will match the mark from the June contest. This is because the game is the season finale and teams may be trying to rest star players. While Washington is likely lottery bound with a league-worst 2-13 record, the Fever are now 6-10, eighth in the standings if the season ended today. It wouldn’t be that surprising if Indiana makes the playoffs, perhaps with room to spare.
If the Fever continue to improve a little bit in the league standings, that COULD mean that their star point guard Caitlin Clark may sit the game out. If so, there could be some disappointed fans. And let’s be honest. Without Clark, the Mystics wouldn’t have made the kind of money they have in that June game.
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