The WNBA reported that the 2024 playoffs have generated the highest ratings in a quarter-century as the WNBA Finals between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx is set to tip off Thursday night.

According to Nielsen ratings, the average of 970,000 viewers across the first 17 playoff games represented a 142 percent increase over 2023. It also made this season the most-viewed playoffs across ESPN networks since the inaugural season in 1997.

Caitlin Clark has help drive record ratings on several occasions this season, but the WNBA’s popularity continued to carry on past the Indiana Fever being eliminated. The two semifinal series averaged 850,000 viewers across nine games, up 99 percent over last year’s semifinals and making 2024 the most-watched semifinals across ESPN networks in 25 years.

Game 1 of the finals begins at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and pits the top-seeded Liberty playing host to the second-seeded Lynx. The series boasts plenty of star appeal, including the Liberty’s Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu going up against the Lynx’s MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier.

–Field Level Media