WNBA Attendance Up 2.7%; Mystics, Mercury Shows Good Growth
Fueled by a league record 46 sellouts, the WNBA averaged 7,949 fans per game this season, up 2.7% from a year ago. The Shock edged out the Sparks for the attendance title with 9,569 fans per game, which was off 1.8% from '07. The Sparks saw a 9.4% jump in attendance during F Candace Parker's rookie campaign. The Mystics saw the biggest jump in average attendance this season, up 16.8% at Verizon Center. The Comets, who made the move from the Toyota Center to Reliant Arena for the '08 season, saw the sharpest drop among WNBA franchises, off 19.4%. In their inaugural season, the Dream finished sixth in the league in average attendance, despite finishing the season with only four wins and 30 losses. The following lists WNBA team-by-team attendance for the '08 season, with comparisons to last year (THE DAILY).
|
WNBA REGULAR-SEASON ATTENDANCE
|
|
HOME TEAM
|
GMS
|
TOTAL
|
AVG.
|
% CAP.
|
PREV.
|
% +/-
|
GMS ('07)
|
|
Shock
|
17
|
162,669
|
9,569
|
84.9%
|
9,749
|
-1.8%
|
17
|
| Sparks |
17
|
161,639
|
9,508
|
72.4%
|
8,695
|
9.4%
|
17
|
| Mystics |
17
|
154,637
|
9,096
|
88.3%
|
7,788
|
16.8%
|
17
|
| Liberty (b) |
17
|
153,772
|
9,045
|
45.3%
|
8,698
|
4.0%
|
17
|
| Mercury |
17
|
144,867
|
8,522
|
89.6%
|
7,711
|
10.5%
|
17
|
| Dream* |
17
|
143,950
|
8,468
|
84.3%
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
| Storm |
17
|
140,503
|
8,265
|
85.3%
|
7,974
|
3.6%
|
17
|
| Monarchs |
17
|
139,072
|
8,181
|
47.2%
|
8,413
|
-2.8%
|
17
|
| Silver Stars |
17
|
135,722
|
7,984
|
80.8%
|
7,569
|
5.5%
|
17
|
| Fever |
17
|
130,941
|
7,702
|
83.6%
|
7,227
|
6.6%
|
17
|
| Sun |
17
|
129,951
|
7,644
|
76.4%
|
7,970
|
-4.1%
|
17
|
| Lynx |
17
|
119,972
|
7,057
|
76.9%
|
6,971
|
1.2%
|
17
|
| Comets (a) |
17
|
111,951
|
6,585
|
90.7%
|
8,166
|
-19.4%
|
17
|
| Sky |
17
|
62,146
|
3,656
|
56.2%
|
3,710
|
-1.5%
|
17
|
| TOTALS |
238
|
1,891,792
|
7,949
|
72.6%
|
7,742
|
2.7%
|
221
|
NOTES: * = expansion team. (a) = Team moved from Toyota Center to Reliant Arena this year. Attendance also includes a home game played at Texas State Univ.'s Strahan Coliseum in September. (b) = Includes a home game played outdoors at Arthur Ashe Stadium in July.
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