Addison O’Grady #44 of the Iowa Hawkeyes rebounds against LaDazhia Williams #0 of the LSU Lady Tigers during the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament National Championship at American Airlines Center on April 2, 2023 in Dallas, Texas.
C. Morgan Engel | Ncaa Photos | Getty Images
Women’s sports had a banner year in 2023, according to a new report released by StubHub on Wednesday.
Ticket sales for women’s sports on the platform boomed to record growth, according to the resale site’s Year in Live Experiences report.
Nowhere was that more true than in college sports. Demand for women’s basketball Final Four tickets on StubHub was higher than it was for men’s basketball Final Four seats for the first time, as the LSU Lady Tigers went on to win their first NCAA championship. Total sales were six times higher than in last year’s women’s tournament, and ticket prices were 15% higher than in the 2023 men’s Final Four.
Football often dominates the U.S. sports landscape, but don’t tell that to Nebraska. The Nebraska Cornhuskers women’s volleyball team fetched a 60% higher average ticket price on StubHub than Cornhuskers football did this year.
Nebraska’s matchup against the University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks on Aug. 30 set the world record for women’s sports attendance with 92,003 fans. Stubhub said it was the site’s bestselling volleyball game ever.
“It doesn’t matter what sport, college sports have seen a massive uptick in demand across all live events, and certainly on the women’s side,” said Adam Budelli, a StubHub spokesperson.
The WNBA also scored big in 2023, as attendance rose 16% and viewership jumped 21% year over year, the league’s most-watched season in 21 years. Trends on StubHub mirrored the league’s broader success.
StubHub said overall ticket sales for the 2023 WNBA season more than doubled from the prior year. Sales for the Las Vegas Aces’ WNBA Finals victory over the New York Liberty were StubHub’s highest ever for the league’s championship series, tripling from the previous season.
Women’s soccer was also on a roll. As the National Women’s Soccer League breaks new milestones in areas from attendance to viewership and team valuations, Stubhub said ticket sales for the season doubled those from 2022. Angel City FC, the team owned by celebrities such as Natalie Portman and Serena Williams, was the highest-selling club on the platform, as sales spiked 62% compared with 2022.
Finally, sales for women’s tennis jumped 30% versus 2022, as the number of…
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