Aces' thrilling win gives WNBA most-watched Finals Game 4 ever

An incredible night for the Las Vegas Aces was witnessed by a record audience on television for the WNBA. Wednesday's Game 4 of the WNBA Finals had 889,000 total viewers, according to Doug Greenburg's report at Front Office Sports. That represents the most-watched Game 4 in the Finals in league history. Notable is that 12 Finals series have gone at least four games since the WNBA adopted a best-of-five format in 2005, including the last three and four of the last five.

While Game 4 wasn't the only sporting event that evening, it certainly pulled in a great number going against the MLB postseason and AEW, the popular wrestling promotion that has a strong following most Wednesday nights. In the Nielsen ratings listed by SportsTVRatings's Robert Seidman, Game 3 of the ALCS between Houston and Texas reigned supreme on TV with 4.64 million viewers, but the WNBA was barely bested by AEW Dynamite with its 901.000 viewers.

Viewership for the full series was the highest in 20 years as the Aces and New York Liberty's battle averaged 728,000 viewers per game between ESPN and ABC, according to Jon Lewis at Sports Media Watch.

All of this underscores the continued rise of the W and women's sports as a whole. As Lewis noted:

"Overall, 15 WNBA games this season averaged at least 600,000 viewers, more-than-double last year’s total of seven. All four Finals games topped the 600,000 viewer mark, the first Finals since 2000 in which that was the case. The complete WNBA Playoffs averaged 470,000 viewers, up 3% from last year (456K) and the most-watched postseason in 16 years. The full season averaged 454,000 viewers across the ESPN networks, up 10% from last year and an 18-year high."

Though the Liberty's second-half collapse gave A'ja Wilson and the shorthanded Aces all the runway needed to complete the comeback, the back-and-forth both teams provided against one another all season appears to suggest that the WNBA's next great rivalry is well underway. Between championship celebration trash talking and the desire of the franchises' owners to provide best-in-class resources, the Aces and Liberty are expected to spar for the title for quite a while. 

Of course, with the Bay Area joining the league in 2025 and expansion interest continuing to grow around North America, the W has a lot of positive momentum going into their upcoming discussions over new media rights deals.