The WNBA's Breakout Year: A 2024 Season of Records, Revenue, and the Caitlin Clark Effect
Fueled by rookie phenom Caitlin Clark, the WNBA shattered attendance and TV records in 2024 — and the momentum is just getting started.
Before a new WNBA season tips off on Friday, it’s a good time to reflect on 2024. I contributed three stories to Athlon Sports’ end-of-season commemorative magazine, which features Caitlin Clark — who else? — on the cover with the headline "American Icon.”
I hope you were able to pick up a copy last fall.
If not, I’ll be sharing all three stories here for paid subscribers — along with two more from the 2025 season preview edition, which hit stores two weeks ago.
Here’s a look at the state of the WNBA after the 2024 season. (Note: The 2025 campaign tips off Friday, May 16 with three games.)
The WNBA’s 28th season was a landmark year, with more attention and more excitement than ever before. Everything was on the rise and up significantly — from attendance to TV ratings, merchandise sales, and digital media consumption.
It is a summer league with a 40-game regular season spanning from May through September, and the playoffs continuing into October.
Nothing stood out more than game attendance, and Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark was the lead driver. Home and away, Clark’s games were the hottest ticket in the league.
Clark arrived in the league coming off back-to-back appearances in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament with the University of Iowa, and after becoming the all-time leading scorer in college. She’s known for her range, specifically 3-pointers from the logo.
According to league data, total attendance was up 48% from 2023. There were 154 sellouts and an average of 9,807 fans per game — up from 6,615 the previous season.
Indiana’s home and road combined attendance easily set a new single-season league record with 643,343 fans over 40 games as fans were eager to see Clark in the pros. (The next team was more than 200,000 below.)
After averaging about 4,000 fans at home games last summer, the Fever shot up to over 17,000 in 2024 thanks to selecting Clark No. 1 in the draft, their second consecutive year with the top selection.
The Fever’s regular-season finale at Washington, which was moved to Capital One Arena, hosted 20,711 fans — a new record for a regular-season WNBA game.
Four teams in all — Washington, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles — moved their home games with the Fever to a much larger NBA venue to accommodate the unprecedented ticket demands. And it still wasn’t enough.
Thanks to Clark, six networks recorded their most-watched WNBA game ever: ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, CBS, Ion, and NBA TV. Networks had 24 WNBA events top one million viewers — 22 games, the draft, and the All-Star Game — and all but three involved Clark.