The WNBA’s popularity skyrocketed with the start of the 2024 season. As the league’s most popular teams like the Indiana Fever continue to sell out arenas and TV ratings climb, demand for tickets has reached a level not seen before. However, for many loyal fans, the growth has also brought an unwelcome rise in ticket prices. Now, with ticket reps addressing the surge, the WNBPA has provided its own side of the story.

“If fans are being told that ticket price increases are because of the new CBA, that is inaccurate,” WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson said in a statement to Front Office Sports.

“Ticket pricing is a business decision made by individual teams and their ownership groups. The WNBPA and its members are neither consulted on nor involved in those decisions.”

The official response came after a Washington Mystics season-ticket holder revealed they would not renew their floor seats following a steep price increase. The fan, who has held season tickets since 2021, told Front Office Sports their annual cost had jumped from $6,907.50 to $10,200.

“As much as I love it, my love for it can’t sustain the pricing anymore,” the fan, who requested anonymity, told Front Office Sports.

As concerns grew, a Mystics ticket representative told season-ticket holders that the nearly 70% jump in renewal prices was necessary because of the WNBA’s new CBA and the significant increase in player salaries.

According to FOS’s report, season-ticket holders for the Phoenix Mercury have received season-ticket renewal emails with higher prices. These emails also cite the same CBA and increased salaries as the reason.

The average salary in the WNBA has risen dramatically under the new agreement ($120,000 to $600,000). Besides revealing that’s not the case with the price hikes, Jackson also urged ticket sellers to be transparent.

“WNBA fans have been instrumental in the game’s extraordinary growth, and they deserve transparency about pricing decisions. A healthy league is one where players receive a meaningful share of the revenues they help generate and every fan enjoys an affordable, first-class experience. Those goals are not mutually exclusive.”

Additionally, the Washington Mystics have denied that player salary is behind the increase. The organization released its own statement clarifying that the ticket reps who cited the CBA and salaries as a reason for the hike had made an error.

“Our pricing decisions are based on a broad range of business considerations, including the overall cost of operating our organization and our continued investment in delivering a high-quality experience for our fans.”

To an extent, the teams’ reasoning isn’t hard to understand. The Mystics play at CareFirst Arena, one of the smallest venues in the WNBA. At a time when the league is averaging a record 11,255 fans per game, according to Across the Timeline, the Mystics can only accommodate around 4,200 fans.

With demand at an all-time high and only a limited number of seats available, ticket prices were always likely to rise.

The Mystics also defended the pricing without elaborating on why they’ve increased, saying that their ticket prices remain among the most affordable in the league.

The increase is a rising pattern in the WNBA, with the impact of increased viewership already noticeable. For instance, the ticket price for the All-Star Game this year rose from $74 in June to nearly $120 in July, and then to over $340 the day before the game.

Season-ticket holders fear the WNBA’s growth coming at their expense

Regardless of how the ticket reps or the WNBPA have tried to explain the ticket price jumps, fans remain frustrated by the scale of the increase.

As mentioned above, one Mystics season-ticket holder told FOS that their floor-seating ticket had gone from about $6,900 to $10,200, an increase of nearly 48%, while another fan reported a jump of nearly 70% for renewal.

Over in Phoenix, one court-side seat ticket holder saw prices jump from $9,100 to $14,600, while another fan reported an increase from $3,900 to $5,600.

Teams have highlighted the expanded schedule of the season, with teams hosting 25 home games compared to this season’s 22, but the report highlights that those additional games only account for some of the costs, with per-game costs on Mystics tickets in particular rising between 22-50% based on location.

With league attendance climbing to record highs this season, smaller arenas in cities like Atlanta and Washington have created intense demand. Several ticket holders have expressed concern that these high costs can drive out longtime supporters.

“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,” one Mercury season-ticket holder told FOS.

As the WNBA continues celebrating unprecedented growth and long-awaited salary increases for its players, one question remains: will longtime fans be able to afford to stay along for the ride?