$100 a ticket for Sparks game? Caitlin Clark, NCAA tournament ratings drive up WNBA prices
Not including taxes and fees, it cost less than $16 for a family of four to watch the Sparks play the Indiana Fever at Crypto.com Arena last July.
Next month those WNBA teams will compete again in Long Beach, and this time four tickets will set a family back between $448 to $560.
For the record:
5:47 p.m. April 5, 2024An earlier version of this story said the Los Angeles Sparks and the Indiana Fever will play at Crypto.com Arena in May. The game will be played at the Walter Pyramid arena in Long Beach.
StubHub has the price of admission to the May 24 Fever-Sparks game at about $112 to $140 per person, and ticket prices have increased due to University of Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark and other standout college players heading to the WNBA after the NCAA women’s basketball tournament ends this weekend. (The smaller Long Beach arena may also play a factor in the higher prices.)
The Fever are expected to select Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft on April 15. She’s not only considered the best college player, she’s the top draw.
Fans are tuning in to watch the guard play, evident from the 12.3 million viewers across the United States who saw Clark and the Hawkeyes beat Angel Reese and Louisiana State in the Elite Eight during ESPN’s telecast on Monday.
On Friday, Clark has Iowa in a Final Four matchup against powerhouse Connecticut.
Iowa star Caitlin Clark wasn’t recruited by her beloved Connecticut Huskies, whose legendary coach, Geno Auriemma, said he had already committed to Paige Bueckers.
Ticket sales ahead of the highly anticipated start of next month’s WNBA season have shot up over last year, and many are pointing to the talent expected to join the league.
It’s no surprise that women’s pro teams are anticipating bigger crowds. Women’s college basketball has exploded in popularity this year.
The 60 women’s tournament games have averaged a viewership of 1.5 million, a 127% increase over last year, according to ESPN.
In-person attendance has varied, as women’s tournament venues had a lot fewer seats than the arenas for the men’s games. That, combined with increased demand, pushed ticket prices for the women’s games higher compared with the men’s tournament.
Higher ticket prices for women’s Final Four games is a continuing trend from last year, according to StubHub.
“Ticket sales for the women’s semifinal has seen the biggest jump in sales for any ticket type among both the men’s and women’s games since Monday, more than doubling sales from last year, showing the continued momentum for women’s basketball,” Adam Budelli, spokesperson for StubHub, told CNN.
Ice Cube says that his BIG3 basketball league has offered to make Caitlin Clark its first woman player. She’s in the NCAA tournament with Iowa and has declared for the WNBA draft.
“Right now, women’s basketball is a movement,” broadcaster and analyst Isis Young told ESPN. “And the movement is really riding on the back of these players that we’re watching.”
The women’s tournament is generating as much or more enthusiasm than the men’s, and “unlikely sources like crowd sizes, ticket prices and gushing sports announcers prove it,” Susan Shaw, a women’s and gender studies professor at Oregon State University, wrote in Forbes.
The teams’ investment in their rosters and the dedicated fan bases that are flocking to arenas are pushing ticket demand.
Almost immediately after Clark announced her plans to enter the WNBA draft, the Fever ticket offices got busier, the Associated Press reported. The Fever wouldn’t disclose how many tickets have been sold, but the likelihood of signing Clark is already boosting the franchise and in turn attendance.
The ripple effect is expected to be felt across the WNBA, including in L.A.
With a new documentary out Friday, during the NCAA tournament she once ruled, the former WNBA great wants you to know she has no plans to stop holding court.
Sparks fans can expect to pay more to attend marquee games, such as a home matchup against the Fever. L.A. also has two early first-round picks, so it most likely will add a star college player or two. Do the Sparks draft Reese at No. 2, or take Stanford’s Cameron Brink and hope they can get Reese at No. 4?
Prices for Sparks tickets on StubHub for next season are comparable to, and in some cases higher than, prices for current Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers tickets.
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