Tempo, Wings set new WNBA attendance record with 20,996 fans in Montreal

The WNBA has a new regular-season attendance record after the Dallas Wings and Toronto Tempo played in front of 20,996 fans on Friday at Montreal’s Bell Centre, home of the NHL’s Canadiens.

Paige Bueckers scored 34 points with 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals to lead the Wings to a 108-95 win over the Tempo. Arike Ogunbowale added 20 points with 7 assists, while Jessica Shepard also scored 20 and grabbed 17 rebounds.

Dallas trailed 85-84 after the third quarter, following a 3-pointer by the Wings; Odyssey Sims. But the Tempo only scored 10 points in the fourth quarter while Dallas put up 24. Alysha Clark scored all 10 of her points for the Wings in the final 10 minutes.

The win improved Dallas’ record to 15-8, maintaining the No. 4 seed in the WNBA playoff standings. The Wings have won four consecutive games and seven of their past 10.

Toronto was led by Marina Mabrey, who also scored 34 points while shooting 6-for-9 on 3-pointers and 8-for-8 at the free-throw line. Laura Juskaite added 25 points and Isabella Harrison tallied 18 points and 8 rebounds.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to win before a record crowd in Canada’s second-largest city. The expansion Tempo dropped to 9-13 with the defeat, two games back from the WNBA’s final playoff spot.

Friday’s attendance in Montreal topped the previous record of 20,711 fans, set on Sept. 19, 2024 at Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena for a matchup between the Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever that finished off Caitlin Clark’s rookie season.

The league’s all-time attendance record of 22,076 fans was set twice by the Detroit Shock during the 2003 and 2007 WNBA Finals. The 3-on-3 women’s league Unrivaled drew 21,490 fans for a January doubleheader at Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Tempo play in Montreal and Vancouver for Cross-Canada Series

The Tempo will play one more game in Montreal this weekend, hosting the New York Liberty on Sunday.

"Tonight was about so much more than breaking a record", Tempo president Teresa Resch said in a statement.

"Seeing more than 20,000 fans come together in Montreal to set a new WNBA regular-season attendance record is a powerful statement about the future of women's basketball in Canada,” she added. “From day one, we've believed this team could unite fans across the country, and tonight they showed the world what's possible.”

As Resch mentioned, the Tempo are attempting to bring professional women’s basketball throughout Canada. The team will also play two regular-season games in Vancouver at the end of August against the Portland Fire and Las Vegas Aces.