<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers flexes on the bench as she celebrates a basket by Li Yueru during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Phoenix Mercury at College Park Center on Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Before\u00a0Dallas Wings<\/a> home games, you might find Andrew Zimmermann sporting a rather conspicuous piece of head gear.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a big hat that I had made. It says #WingsUp,\u201d \u00a0Zimmermann said. \u201cWhen the black lights go on at the game and you see a hat shining, that\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n Zimmermann, a Richardson native, started attending Wings games with his wife and two daughters in 2024, after the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>\u2019 NBA Finals run.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Mavericks games had become a favorite family outing, and the Zimmermanns craved more hoops. Avery and Parker, now 13 and 11, quickly became enamored with the Wings, who moved to North Texas from Tulsa ahead of the 2016 season.<\/p>\n The girls started playing basketball and signed up for camps hosted by the Wings and Mavericks. The Zimmermanns rarely miss Wings home games, and they have at least one more to look forward to in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas (27-17) has made the playoffs for the first time since 2023<\/a>, playing Game 1 of its first round series against the Golden State Valkyries on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s exploding for sure. There are people asking us a lot about what it\u2019s like going to the games,\u201d Zimmermann said. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken friends and they\u2019ve all become fans.\u201d<\/p>\n Avery (top left), Andrew, Sara and Parker\u00a0Zimmermann (center) are pictured at a Dallas Wings game at College Park Center in Arlington.<\/p>\n Andrew\u00a0Zimmermann\/Courtesy<\/p>\n Women\u2019s basketball has been on the rise, and the boom has reached North Texas. Attendance, viewership, community engagement and nearly every other metric has skyrocketed for the Wings over the last several years, thanks in part to the arrival of superstar Paige Bueckers<\/a> in 2025.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s walking down the street, at the airport, at a grocery store, I see more people with Wings gear,\u201d Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb told The Dallas Morning News. \u201cYou feel it everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n The growth of the women\u2019s game was born out of a collection of watershed moments.<\/p>\n Locked inside with little to do, sports fans started tuning in to the WNBA more during the days of the pandemic in 2020. The following year, NIL hit the NCAA<\/a>, giving women\u2019s basketball players more visibility than ever. Brittney Griner\u2019s Russian detainment brought more eyes to the league in 2022, and the Caitlin Clark phenomenon of 2024 catapulted the WNBA into the mainstream. But the growth isn\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n Zimmermann admits many North Texans still don\u2019t know about the Wings, be it because they haven\u2019t seen the team on TV or haven\u2019t been to a game at UT-Arlington\u2019s College Park Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n But as the Wings thrive on the court and prepare for their move to American Airlines Center in 2027<\/a>, maybe that\u2019s about to change.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Business is booming\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0The Wings expect to play at AAC only temporarily. In April 2024, the team signed a 15-year, $19 million use agreement with the city<\/a> to move to a renovated Memorial Auditorium by the start of the 2026 season. Construction delays resulting from the city\u2019s bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup\u2019s International Broadcast Center at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center set up a 2027 move-in date that city officials have pushed to 2028.<\/p>\n Hosting games at AAC was always a contingency plan under the 2024 agreement with Dallas, which guaranteed use of the venue if the city couldn\u2019t deliver a renovated Memorial Auditorium<\/a> in time for the start of the 2026 season.\u00a0The team played three games at American Airlines Center this summer, an increase from two last year, and averaged 16,659 fans. Dallas\u2019 last of three games at\u00a0AAC, a 91-85 win over the Indiana Fever on Aug. 20<\/a>, drew a sold-out crowd of 20,297.<\/p>\n Avery and Parker\u00a0Zimmermann (from left) pose outside of American Airlines Center before a Dallas Wings game.<\/p>\n Andrew\u00a0Zimmermann\/Courtesy<\/p>\n Bibb said he expects the Wings to sell out targeted games at the venue next summer, with an average crowd of 12,500.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Since 2016, the Wings have played the bulk of their home games at College Park Center, which seats about 7,000. Bibb said the Wings sold out 18 of the team\u2019s 19 regular-season home games at the venue in 2026. The Wings have sold out season ticket memberships for the last three seasons, and since 2023, the organization is up 285% in total ticket revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Through Aug. 31, average WNBA game attendance was up 20% from the 2025 WNBA regular season and more than doubled the figure from just four years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n Merchandise sales have also grown for the league and the Wings, with the team being up 258% as of Sept. 21 in that category since 2023, when it sold merchandise in five different countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis year, 33 countries and all 50 states,\u201d Bibb said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Wings brand partnerships are up 234% since 2024 and 71.3% since 2025. Impressions across social media platforms are up 778% since 2024. Engagements are up 1,087%.<\/p>\n WNBA viewership also went up, with the 2026 regular season averaging 793,485 viewers and the telecast count totaling 164 through Aug. 30. The league averaged 168,815 viewers and had just 73 telecasts in 2022.<\/p>\n The Wings ranked second in the WNBA behind the Fever in nationally televised games this season with 36, and averaged over 1.5 million viewers on ABC and CBS per broadcast.<\/p>\n During a fireside chat with outgoing WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert last month, Bibb highlighted that national visibility and said, \u201cThank you, Paige.\u201d<\/p>\n The Paige\u00a0Bueckers effect<\/p>\n Bueckers, the UConn product picked No. 1 overall by the Wings in 2025<\/a>, has probably never heard of Gasp\u00e9, a coastal community in eastern Quebec.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But Axelle Ste-Croix, a 12-year-old who hails from the small city in the Canadian province, has heard all about Bueckers.<\/p>\n On The Sports Network, Canada\u2019s version of ESPN, she started coming across Wings games.<\/p>\n \u201cShe really somehow was drawn to Paige,\u201d said Nancy Ste-Croix, Axelle\u2019s great-aunt. \u201cAs far as her star power, her tenacity, her work ethic. Her whole image really drew Axelle in.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers slipped hands with teammates as she\u2019s introducted at College Park Center in Arlington, May 28, 2026. The Wings were facing the Las Vegas Aces.<\/p>\n Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Axelle\u2019s admiration for Bueckers opened her up to the world of the WNBA, which expanded to Canada this year and hosted a game between the Wings and the Toronto Tempo in Montreal this past July<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her parents looked for basketball camps nearby but couldn\u2019t find a suitable one.\u00a0Nancy saw the perfect opportunity for her niece\u2019s 12th birthday: a trip to the Wings\u2019 summer camp in Texas.<\/p>\n After signing Axelle up, Nancy put together an AI video and presented it to her niece.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s Paige talking and naming her, saying \u2018Hey Axelle, for your birthday, you\u2019re coming down to my summer camp,\u2019\u201d Nancy said.<\/p>\n Bueckers, 24, has not only been key to the rise of the Wings in North Texas, but also women\u2019s basketball as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n