The WNBA Finals for this year is the perfect conclusion to an amazing 2024 season for the league, and Game 3 on Wednesday night was the highlight. It was considered one of the best WNBA Finals games in history based on the ratings.
ESPN announced that Game 3, where the New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx 80-77, had an average of 1.4 million viewers and peaked at two million. This makes it the most-viewed WNBA Finals game in over 20 years on any network, and the most-viewed game of all-time on cable.
Wednesday night’s Game 3 matchup on ESPN between #LIGHTITUPNYL & #LynxRecognize was the most-viewed #WNBAFinals game EVER on cable
More: https://t.co/H5QqNHgkPO pic.twitter.com/5XyHkwQIRH
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 17, 2024
While it’s not the highest-rated WNBA Finals game of all time, the 1999 Game 5 between the Houston Comets and Liberty holds that title with 3.25 million viewers on NBC.
Nevertheless, the viewership for this Finals is impressive and well-deserved. Sabrina Ionescu’s incredible three-point shot from the logo to put New York in the lead with one second left is now part of WNBA playoff history.
The Liberty are now ahead 2-1 and are one win away from their first franchise title. The decisive game will be on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
