The WNBA has surged in popularity in the last few years, but with that has come a rise in ticket prices.
The 2026 season is ongoing, but some teams are already starting to introduce season ticket renewal notices for the 2027 campaign.
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Among them is the Washington Mystics, where some fans have seen a price hike of nearly 50% upon the renewals being rolled out.
Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
WNBA’s rising ticket prices are a worry for supporters
Front Office Sports has since spoken to a number of fans about the rising prices, and they are concerned.
One unnamed Mystics fan has seen their ticket rise from $6,907.50 to $10,200, and in turn, they are no longer planning to renew it for next year.
They said: “As much as I love it, my love for it can’t sustain the pricing anymore.”
Meanwhile, another fan expressed worry that the league is going to end up just like the NBA: “Our biggest concern is that it’s going to end up like the NBA where it’s all corporations that have all the courtside seats and not real fans.
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“I don’t think it’s going to be better. It’s going to be worse, if anything. But I get it. There’s increased demand. There’s a lot more eyes on the league at this point and a lot more people trying to get seats.”
Another suggested that while player salaries are starting to go up amid the sport’s new popularity, it should not be on normal season-ticket holders to front the cost.
They said: “I don’t really think that I need to be the one that’s paying to keep the lights on when you have a billionaire sitting in a seat in front of me.”
While it is sad to see that some fans can no longer afford to, or are not willing to, spend that much money to watch the WNBA, the increase in ticket prices is probably not that shocking to non-WNBA fans.
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As we saw at the 2026 World Cup, the cost of watching sport in America is very high, and some from around Europe and elsewhere were shocked by how much soccer tickets cost in the US.
But paying high prices in the NBA, NFL and more is pretty normal, and it feels like the WNBA is now on a similar trajectory.
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