CareFirst Arena

CareFirst Arena in the Washington, D.C. area is the home of the WNBA's Mystics, a compact, modern venue built for intimate women's basketball rather than cavernous concert scale. Its steep lower bowl keeps fans close to the floor, and Mystics game nights carry a community-driven energy rooted in the DMV's strong youth and AAU basketball culture. The building sits in the St. Elizabeths East campus redevelopment, giving the franchise a dedicated home after years of arena-hopping around the region. On game days the crowd feels personal and loud, with a core of season-ticket holders who know every player by first name.

The arena opened in 2018 as the Entertainment and Sports Arena before CareFirst secured naming rights, giving Washington its first basketball-specific home since the Mystics' early days at Capital Centre and Verizon Center. It has hosted WNBA playoff basketball and become a symbol of the league's investment in standalone markets rather than NBA tenant arrangements. The Mystics' 2019 championship run gave the building its defining early-era memory, with Elena Delle Donne and Natasha Cloud turning it into one of the league's toughest road environments. Renamed CareFirst Arena in 2021, it remains the anchor of the franchise's long-term commitment to the District.