New Aces-Mercury WNBA Finals ESPN Ratings Confirm Clear Narrative
The Phoenix Mercury have their backs firmly against the wall on October 10, as they're set to host the Las Vegas Aces in Game 4 of the 2025 WNBA Finals after having lost the first three games of the series.
There has never been a best-of-seven series in WNBA history before this year, which means there is no precedent about whether a team is capable of crawling out of such a large hole and winning four straight games. But given that this happens in other major sports close to 0% of the time, it's clear that the Mercury have their work cut out for them.
While the Aces have emerged victorious in each of the first three games, that doesn't tell this series' entire story. There's a case to be made that Phoenix should have won Game 1 if star forward Alyssa Thomas hadn't missed two free throws that would have all but secured the Mercury's win. The Aces won Game 2 with ease, but Game 3 was another tightly contested affair that either team could have won.
But that doesn't matter now, as all Phoenix is focused on is winning Game 4 and living to fight another day.
Updated WNBA Finals Ratings From ESPN Speak Volumes
There was a lot of intrigue about how much viewership these WNBA Finals would have after a historic season of viewership to this point. The ratings for Game 1 were released on October 7 and didn't disappoint, as the contest (which was broadcast on ESPN) averaged 1.9 million viewers and peaked at 2.5 million, making it the most-watched WNBA Finals Game 1 in 28 years.
While this was impressive, Game 1 of a seven-game series isn't subject to being influenced by how competitive the series turns out, so it was going to be interesting to see how the subsequent games would fare in terms of ratings.
And Front Office Sports' Margaret Fleming the Game 2 and 3 ratings with an X post on October 10 that read, "The WNBA is seeing its best Finals viewership through 3 games in 25 years.
"Game 1: 1.9 million viewers
"Game 2: 1.2 million viewers
"Game 3: 1.3 million viewers".
The WNBA is seeing its best Finals viewership through 3 games in 25 years.
— Margaret Fleming (@mgfleming12) October 10, 2025
Game 1: 1.9 million viewers
Game 2: 1.2 million viewers
Game 3: 1.3 million viewershttps://t.co/F2VgTOqXq4
While these ratings show a distinct drop, it still confirms the narrative that the WNBA is on fire right now (despite all the controversy and tumult surrounding the league's ongoing CBA negotiations).
And if Phoenix can emerge from the fire and make this a competitive series, ratings in the final few games will surely show an additional increase.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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