The WNBA and its decision-makers got another clear sign of the league’s rapid growth and the fan’s demands not being properly met.
Friday night’s preseason opener featuring Chicago Sky rookies Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso and Minnesota Lynx rookie Alissa Pili was vastly watched on a fan’s social media livestream after the WNBA app couldn’t showcase the matchup.
Initially, the app listed the game, which featured three of this year’s top-8 draft picks, as available to watch. Later, the league clarified that only Caitlin Clark’s debut with the Indiana Fever against the Dallas Wings was being broadcasted.
“Would y’all want me to try and stream the game on here??” X user @heyheyitsalli asked on the platform after the league’s clarification. “No promises on the quality but i can try.”
Indeed, she tried. And fans tuned in.
Viewership numbers fluctuated throughout the 92-81 Lynx win, but the livestream video showed about 434,000 total views at a point.
“I mean, it means people want to watch,” Liberty star Breanna Stewart said during Saturday’s media day at Barclays Center.
Stewart emphasized the need of an easy app viewing experience and the league should be “putting us in as many national televised channels that like everyone gets, not the ones you have to pay for…”
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said postgame that Friday night’s livestream host should’ve been paid.
“Anybody that watched it should send three bucks to the person, I don’t even know who it is,” Reeve said. “I think that what I would say is that the growth is happening so fast. It’s so accelerated. And I’ve been saying this in our own organization — that business as usual isn’t going to work anymore.”