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ATLANTA -- Even though the Atlanta Dream have the worst record in the WNBA, the expansion team showed promise when it came to drawing fans to home games at Phillips Arena.

The Dream rank in the top six in three different key categories: average attendance, full season tickets, and individual game tickets. Not so bad for a that finished with a 1-16 record at home this season.

Atlanta averaged 8,500 tickets sold per game and had three sellouts. The league's last expansion team before Atlanta, the Chicago Sky, averaged 3,642 a game in 2006. The Sky play their home games at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion, which holds 6,958.

"That's huge for a brand new team," said Dream president Bill Bolen. "It speaks to the excitement of the players and just the whole experience of the games -- even when we were not winning."

Atlanta (4-30) set a WNBA record for losses in a season with a 77-72 defeat at playoff-bound Seattle on Friday. The Dream also set a record for losses to begin a season, losing 17 in a row to start the 2008 campaign.

Despite the nightmarish record, there is precedent for Atlanta's optimism. The Washington Mystics, who averaged 15,915 per game with three sell outs during their inaugural season when they had a 3-27 record in 1998, are in their 11th year in the league.

On the other side of the ledger, four WNBA teams have folded and two others have had to relocate to new cities. Bolen doesn't expect the Dream to have the same conclusion. He says many of the 2,500-plus season ticket holders have renewed.

Beth Schapiro, a Dream season-ticket holder, is one of them. She stayed at games until the clock struck zero -- even when the Dream fell behind by hefty margins.

"I'll absolutely be back," said Schapiro, president of strategic consulting firm, The Schapiro Group. "What will keep me here from year to year is their level of commitment. There's a determination in them. And they have connected so well with fans."

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press