WNBA Finals Game 1 draws record audience as Dream, Valkyries chase first title
· Yahoo Sports
Game 1 of the WNBA Finals between the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries averaged 2.1 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, making it the most-watched Game 1 in WNBA Finals history, the network announced Wednesday.
Viewership of Golden State’s 68-64 win Saturday, led by Gabby Williams’ 26 points, was up 11 percent from last year’s Game 1 and peaked at 3 million viewers from 5:45 p.m. to 5:55 p.m. ET as the game wound down.
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The record came in a finals without many of the league’s biggest names and teams. The top-seeded Minnesota Lynx, featuring Napheesa Collier and Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles, and the Indiana Fever, with Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, lost in the first round. The Las Vegas Aces, with A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd, and the New York Liberty, with Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones, were swept in the semifinals. The Aces and Liberty have won the last four championships combined, with the Aces winning three and the Liberty winning one.
This year, the Valkyries, a second-year expansion team, and a Dream franchise making its first finals appearance since 2013, are in their place.
The finals feature Dream forward Angel Reese, one of the league’s most recognizable players. As a Chicago Sky rookie in 2024, Reese said: “The reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person. It’s because of me, too.”
Reese’s star power likely helped. But a record Game 1 audience for a finals without the WNBA’s recent champions points to broader interest in the league, driven by the basketball on the court rather than off-court storylines.
The Dream evened the series with a 79-65 Game 2 win Monday. Reese led Atlanta with 30 points and 16 rebounds in a win that snapped the Dream’s 10-game losing streak in the finals, the most of any team in the WNBA or NBA Finals.
Game 3 is Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET in Atlanta on USA Network, with a simulcast on Peacock. NBC and Peacock will carry Game 4 from State Farm Arena on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Atlanta Dream, Golden State Valkyries, WNBA
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