200,000 fans stream WNBA preseason game through X
Photo credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
By Christan Braswell
The WNBA is entering one of its most anticipated seasons in league history. After successful college careers, stars Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso, and Angel Reese led the first pair of preseason games as they made their professional debuts. The only thing is that the Indiana Fever versus Dallas Wings game was made available to fans via WNBA League Pass while the Sky versus Lynx game wasn’t.
Among the legitimate gripes of fans on social media is that the option to watch Cardoso and Reese wasn’t available at all, yet was prominently displayed in marketing leading up to the day of the game. Left with no choice but to see their favorite players, a fan in attendance in Minneapolis took to X to save the day.
Using their smartphone, X user Alli, @heyheyitsalli, gave hundreds of thousands of intrigued fans a live look into the action.
It doesn’t take long for good news to spread on social media. Topping out at 203,800+ viewers, WNBA fans proved yet again that if you build it, they will come. This isn’t the first instance of a WNBA game being streamed on social media through the lens of a camera that wasn’t on television.
Women’s basketball content creator Janaé Sims, affectionately known as Auntie Nae, live-streamed a Chicago Sky preseason game last in 2023 because it wasn’t available yet. She even reached out to Chicagoans to see if anyone could lend her a charger to stream the second half of the game.
With so many eyes following college stars in the WNBA, it’s awfully unfortunate that fans who are new to the league are left to see their favorite players on the professional stage through a social media livestream for the first time.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve spoke out on X earlier Friday afternoon about the grievance of many.
She also had this to say postgame about the live stream:
“The growth is happening so fast, it’s so accelerated. Business as usual isn’t going to work anymore, you’re going to get left behind. This is an example. We have to capitalize on those things.”
The league does deserve some credit. Last year, they announced a deal with Scripps to televise Friday night games on ION for three years, from 2023-25, at $39 million total, for an average of $13 million annually. In addition, games can viewed across a variety of platforms from traditional brick-and-mortar like ESPN/ABC/Disney+ or streaming options in Prime/YouTube TV/Paramount+.
Still, something like this happening is a simple swing-and-miss that didn’t have to be.
The WNBA has never seen a stronger negotiating position in its future with a historic increase in viewership at every turn, ticket sales, and general interest in the league. Encroaching an unprecedented leap in rookie talent this season and in the following years with an influx from powerhouse programs, casual eyes will be looking to get a foothold in W fandom. Not having a single option to see two of the biggest college stars in recent years while showing favoritism in the process is a blatant mistake that can’t happen again.
Check out our previous articles written by Christan Braswell here, and follow Christan on Twitter.
Support the work of Circling Seattle Sports by checking out our merchandise!