Last Friday, 20,333 people attended the game, which was the most attended regular season game since 1999.
Last Friday, the Washington Mystics hosted the Indiana Fever at Capital One Arena. After the game, the Mystics announced that they set some major attendance marks. They include a sellout of 20,333 fans, the highest attended game since 1999 and that this mark was higher than any game since the 2007 WNBA Finals.
The numbers are in…
Friday’s game at @CapitalOneArena was:
The highest attendance (20,333) for a regular season @WNBA game since 1999
The most fans at any WNBA game since the 2007 Finals
The 7th highest attended WNBA game in history pic.twitter.com/8o5k1jbKRM— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) June 9, 2024
So in general, this game was the most attended regular season game in the current era.
Back in the 1990s, the Mystics and other WNBA teams subsidized attendance by giving free tickets away. Not this time. Washington was selling all of their seats at prices that were closer to the level of a Washington Wizards game against an opponent like the Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers.
According to sports business reporter Joe Pompliano, who has a Substack on sports business, the Mystics had over $1 million in gate receipts for the game, a team record.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever drew a sellout crowd of 20,333 fans for tonight’s game against the Washington Mystics — the WNBA’s most attended game in 17 years.
These teams have a combined record of 3-20 & it’s the first-ever $1 million-plus gate for the Mystics.
Crazy! pic.twitter.com/SEf12R06Sh
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 8, 2024
All of this is good for the WNBA. People will pay top dollar to watch a women’s professional basketball game. Of course, I have to point out some obvious points.
First, Capital One Arena is one of the largest arenas in the NBA, and that gave the Mystics an opportunity to set these records. And second, let’s be honest. Most of the people who bought tickets to last Friday’s game weren’t there to see the Mystics. Washington moved the game to Capital One Arena because of the interest that Fever rookie guard Caitlin Clark brought with her after her illustrious college career at Iowa.
Time will tell if Clark and the Fever can continue to sell out NBA and NBA-sized arenas, because they are 3-8 right now, second worst in the WNBA. And for the Mystics, while this is a good job for the business folks for one game, it’s more important that they are rebuilding their team right. A 0-11 record is NOT how a good rebuild starts, no matter the circumstance.