Alana Glass at Forbes writes about the WNBA and provides some more interesting numbers. From the article:



Game 2 of the WNBA Finals between the Indiana Fever and Minnesota Lynx on October 17 was the most viewed and highest rated WNBA Playoff game on ESPN since 1999. The previous record is the 1999 WNBA Western Conference Finals (Houston Comets vs. Los Angeles Sparks) that had 1,052,000 viewers and 1.1 household rating. Overall, the game generated 778,000 viewers and .6 household rating, according to Nielsen. Game 2 peaked with 1,011,000 viewers (9:15 – 9:30 pm ET) and .8 rating (9:30 – 9:45 pm ET).

The WNBA Draft Lottery drew 700,000 viewers, appearing for the first time on ESPN’s signature show SportsCenter.

Within 48 hours of the WNBA Draft Lottery, the Phoenix Mercury has sold over 150 season tickets.

Season Ticket Renewals (across the league) for 2013 are already up 10% versus this time last year.

In 2012, partial plan ticket sales increased by 6% and group ticket sales increased by 7%.

Anheuser‑Busch and SAP joined the WNBA as two new sponsors. (SAP is a German software company.)

But the money quote of the article comes from Thomas Anderson, a fan from Indianapolis, IN who was asked by Glass what it would take to get more sports fans to support the WNBA. "“More people like you reporting and talking about it," was his straight-on answer.