New data underscores a record-breaking regular season for the WNBA

September 17, 2026

Over 1.2M people watched Team USA win its fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup despite competing with the US Open men’s final and the NFL’s first Sunday of the season. Needless to say, fans are ready for more hoops.

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New data underscores a record-breaking regular season for the WNBA

Source: Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The GIST: Over 1.2M people watched Team USA win its fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup despite competing with the US Open men’s final and the NFL’s first Sunday of the season. Needless to say, fans are ready for more hoops.

Each WNBA team has four regular-season games left and with the playoffs positioned to set even more records, let’s look back on the league’s historic year.

📺 The viewership: In 2026, the WNBA reached over 88.5M unique viewers to date to mark the most-watched season in its 30-year history. In fact, the W passed its 2025 number all the way before the All-Star break in June — which boasted a 44% YoY increase in viewership.

On top of that, 47 different games averaged over 1M viewers, more than the last 21 seasons combined, and national networks saw a 23% YoY viewership increase. Hats off to the media deal negotiators.

📱 The engagement: The W is already the most-followed women’s sports league in the world with over 10M followers across socials, but it continues to optimize how it’s engaging with fans. This has resulted in over 3.5B social media views this season, nearly 20% more than last year.

With WNBA League Pass subscriptions growing 520% since 2024, WNBA ID — the league’s new global account system that allows fans to personalize their digital experience — has also seen over 2M sign-ups since launching less than six months ago.

🎟️ The attendance: The success extends far beyond fans’ screens, with the league on pace for the most-attended regular season ever. Average attendance is up 21% YoY, coming in at over 11K per game, a remarkable feat considering WNBA arenas range between 3K and 20K seats.

Overall, there have been 180 sold-out games this season and total attendance is sitting at 3.24M. Well-dressed butts in seats.

Zooming out: There’s 30 games left before the postseason begins on September 27th, and with playoff seeding still TBD, expect these numbers to grow. Thirty, flirty, and absolutely thriving.