Fans in Montreal showed up in record numbers to support the WNBA Friday night.
An announced crowd of 20,996 fans watched as the Toronto Tempo took on the Dallas Wings at the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens.
That set a new bar for attendance at a WNBA regular-season game.
The previous record for a regular-season game was 20,711 fans, set in 2024 in a game between the Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., during Caitlin Clark’s rookie season.
”Tonight was about so much more than breaking a record”, said Tempo president Teresa Resch 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. From day one, we’ve believed this team could unite fans across the country, and tonight they showed the world what’s possible. This moment belongs to every fan who filled the Bell Centre, every player who inspired the next generation, and everyone who believed Canada was ready for this. We’re incredibly proud, deeply grateful, and even more excited about what’s ahead.”
The overall record for a playoff game is 22,076, which was hit twice in Finals games involving the now-defunct Detroit Shock in 2003 and 2007 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the former home of the Detroit Pistons.
The Tempo will be back at the Bell Centre on Sunday for a game against the New York Liberty.