One of the defining characteristics of Minor Sports Leagues is that they play to smaller crowds of fans. Minor-Leagues.com has compiled a series of posts that provides details of attendance figures.
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a professional women’s basketball league in the United States that started play in 1997. Many WNBA teams have direct NBA counterparts and play in the same arena. Four teams of the twelve do not share an arena with a direct NBA counterpart, while only two do not share a market with an NBA counterpart.
Below is the fan attendance for the entire league from 2006 to 2013.
| League | Sport | Season | # of Teams | Team Change | Games | Games Change | Total Attendance | TA Change | Average Attendance | AA Change | Source |
| WNBA (Womens National Basketball Association) | Basketball Women | 2006 | 14 USA | untracked | 238 | untracked | 1,782,620 | untracked | 7,490 | untracked | wikipedia |
| WNBA (Womens National Basketball Association) | Basketball Women | 2007 | 13 USA | -7.69% | 221 | -7.14% | 1,727,999 | -3.06% | 7,819 | 4.39% | wikipedia |
| WNBA (Womens National Basketball Association) | Basketball Women | 2008 | 14 USA | 7.69% | 238 | 7.69% | 1,891,624 | 9.47% | 7,948 | 1.65% | wikipedia |
| WNBA (Womens National Basketball Association) | Basketball Women | 2009 | 13 USA | -7.14% | 221 | -7.14% | 1,776,619 | -6.08% | 8,039 | 1.14% | wikipedia |
| WNBA (Womens National Basketball Association) | Basketball Women | 2010 | 12 USA | -7.69% | 204 | -7.69% | 1,598,136 | -10.05% | 7,834 | -2.55% | wikipedia |
| WNBA (Womens National Basketball Association) | Basketball Women | 2011 | 12 USA | 0.00% | 204 | 0.00% | 1,622,616 | 1.53% | 7,954 | 1.53% | wikipedia |
| WNBA (Womens National Basketball Association) | Basketball Women | 2012 | 12 USA | 0.00% | 204 | 0.00% | 1,520,208 | -6.31% | 7,452 | -6.31% | wikipedia |
| WNBA (Womens National Basketball Association) | Basketball Women | 2013 | 12 USA | 0.00% | 204 | 0.00% | 1,536,324 | 1.06% | 7,531 | 1.06% | wikipedia |
The creation of the WNBA was officially approved by the NBA Board of Governors in 1996. While not the first major women’s professional basketball league in the United States (a distinction held by the defunct WBL), the WNBA is the only league to receive full backing of the NBA.