From the first game of the 2024 Washington Mystics season to the last, every women's basketball contest played in Washington, D.C. was a sell-out. 

Whether it was the 16 games inside the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Southeast or one of the four games at Capital One Arena in Chinatown, the Mystics were a hot ticket. The franchise sold 130,830 tickets in 2024, the most since the 2017 season. 

Among those numbers are two games now chiseled in the WNBA's record book. The Mystics set a new record for the most-attended regular season game in WNBA history when they hosted Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on the last day of the season at 20,711. Played at Capital One Arena, ticket demand was so high the franchise opened up standing-room-only tickets to fill out the building beyond its usual seating capacity and break the record. 

That's on top of the previous Indiana-Washington game in June attended by 20,333 fans. Those two games give the 2024 Mystics two of the six highest-attended regular season games in WNBA history.

Looking at the top games in WNBA history, ten of the 11 most-attended games were at Capital One Arena (formerly known as the Verizon Center).

Setting these new records and the Mystics selling out all 20 home games further accentuates women's basketball's current growth. It's also a look at how the franchise is continuing to transform. 

"I think it's part our organization. I think it's part of the league, the rising tide we see across WNBA and women's sports," head coach Eric Thibault said prior to the final game of the season. "I think it's a good indication that this has been a very steady, intentional build with our franchise and our organization, going from the worst team in the league to a championship to, I think, people identifying us as a winning organization, a winning team. That's how we want to be known. I think our fans that have been with us for a long time have gone through that journey with us and now it feels like we're kind of at the start of, hopefully, a road back to being a contending, elite team in our league. And I'm glad that we've had so many people that have come on that journey with us, and I hope they stay with us. I think it's exciting to go along that ride, and we're going to need them."

This season, the WNBA had its highest total attendance in 22 years (2,353,735), up 48% from last season, according to a WNBA press release. The league’s 154 sellouts marked a 242% increase from last season (45), nearly half coming from the Mystics home games. The league averaged 9,807 fans per game, up 48% from last season (6,615 fans).

Washington has the second-smallest home arena in the WNBA with the Entertainment and Sports Arena holding 4,200 patrons (the Atlanta Dream's Gateway Center Arena only holds 3,500). But this is the first year since moving to the new location in 2019 where the Mystics have sold out every home game. The team currently has a 21-game sell-out streak, dating back to the 2023 season finale.

When Washington hosts select games at Capital One Arena, the organization can configure the arena in different ways to optimize the capacity from the standard 20,333 and create a more raucous environment. That was seen in their games against the Chicago Sky (10,000) where the upper bowl was closed off and the Phoenix Mercury for camp day (12,586). 

What perhaps is most impressive about selling out every ticket this season is that the Mystics had the lowest winning percentage (.350) since moving to ESA. Despite that, the fans showed out and almost willed them back into the playoffs.

"We appreciate it. We know how hard it is for fans to kind of stick beside teams that aren't winning," Ariel Atkins said in her exit interview. "And we had a few fans, trying to trickle here and there and get a little upset, but at the end of the day, we know that they support us and that they love us... But one thing about sports, tables always turn. So stay down with us. We'll pick you up."