The 2026 WNBA weekend’s All-Star Game saw viewership rise by a whopping 44%. The landmark added a highlight to the league’s 30th anniversary year, with the numbers indirectly coming down to the presence of one name. This player has been a constant in two of the W’s most-viewed All-Star Games.

“The 2026 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game on ABC was the most-viewed telecast on Saturday night and the second most-viewed WNBA All-Star game ever, averaging 3.2 million viewers and peaking at 3.3 million!” wrote the WNBA Communications’s X handle, in response to a post from ESPN PR which highlighted the accomplishment.

This year’s game in Chicago just missed out on the historical record of 3.44 million viewers by just 240,000. That game in 2024 saw a rise of 304.7% compared to the previous season’s All-Star Game average viewership of 850,000.

A key reason for this was the All-Star debuts of both of the most talked-about players of the 2024 draft class: Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese.

Clark’s absence in 2025 due to injury coincided with the dip in numbers, with that season’s All-Star Game drawing in 2.2 million average viewers on ABC, per The Athletic. Despite the Fever player’s absence and the fall in viewership from 2024, it became the second most-watched at the time. Now, it sits in third place, having been replaced by Saturday’s edition.

It wasn’t just the game, with even the pre-show seeing a healthy growth in viewers. According to the ESPN PR post, WNBA Countdown on ESPN averaged 1.8 million viewers and witnessed a healthy 21% growth from last year.

While viewership records were set, there were a few in-person moments as well, with the WNBA breaking one record that stood for 19 years. United Center had 19,783 fans in attendance to watch Team Spoon take on Team Coop. This was 296 more than the attendance for the East vs West 2007 WNBA All-Star Game at the Verizon Center.

That’s not all, as the WNBA’s game featuring Team Spoon and Team Coop even managed to outdraw the NBA’s All-Star Game for the first time ever.

15,973 people watched the NBA’s All-Star Game at the Intuit Dome, which was less than the attendance at the United Center. Yes, the capacity of the venue in Chicago (approximately 20,000-21,000) exceeds that of the Inglewood venue (approximately 18,000-19,000), but the WNBA ultimately managed to fill out their arena better than the NBA.

The 2026 game saw Team Spoon edge out Team Coop 129-122, with Nneka Ogwumike making history of her own

Veteran Nneka Ogwumike also made history of her own, becoming the WNBA All-Star Game’s all-time leading scorer. She surpassed Maya Moore, who had held the record since 2018.

On game night, Jonquel Jones finished as the top scorer for Team Spoon, with 22 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists, eventually being named the MVP of the game.

Despite players like Jones and Ogwumike dominating the game, it seems like Clark and company are still the league’s primary crowd pullers.

Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever continue to be the main attraction for the League

It’s no secret that Clark and Co. are drawing the masses into the arenas. The difference in average viewership for games she is part of when compared to the game she wasn’t part of is quite telling. The same viewership record pattern even holds for her regular season games with the Indiana Fever.

Indiana Fever remain the only team with all of its 44 games on national TV, a WNBA record. According to a report by USA Sports PR, Indiana Fever’s game against the Golden State Valkyries on July 15 averaged 1.14 million viewers, breaking records to become the most-watched WNBA game in USA Sports’ WNBA history. Interestingly, the record it broke was also set by the Indiana Fever a week prior, on July 8.

As if this was not enough, the Fever’s game against the Liberty on July 18 averaged 2.579 million viewers, as per CBS. This made it the most-watched WNBA game on any network this season, and the second most-watched since 2000.

Even last June, Clark drove viewership in a big way. Her return against Liberty became ESPN’s third-most-watched WNBA game ever on ABC, a testament to her appeal with the fans.

The league will hope to continue with this momentum as the action resumes after the All-Star week on July 28.