The Minnesota Lynx took on Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky in their preseason opener on Friday night, but due to an error with the WNBA Pass application, a limited number of fans could see the action until one social media user stepped in.
A fan identified as “alli” (@heyheyitsalli) livestreamed Minnesota’s 92-81 win over the Sky, and the stream generated over 100,000 live viewers at one point during the game and had 1.9 million views on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, as of Saturday afternoon.
lynx vs sky preseason game!! https://t.co/fOHriWWcVV
— alli (@heyheyitsalli) May 4, 2024
The WNBA offers all out-of-market games on its League Pass app for $34.99 a year or $12.99 a month, but the games featuring Reese and former Iowa star Caitlin Clark were unavailable as they made their unofficial debuts on Friday night.
The absence of both games triggered fans on social media, who likely stumbled upon “allie’s” live stream. Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve shouted out the user and suggested viewers send her three bucks for working around the problem.
“Anybody that watched it should send three bucks to the person,” Reeve said. “I don’t even know who it is. What I would say is that the growth is happening so fast, it’s so accelerated, business as usual isn’t going to work anymore. They have to weigh production cost for preseason games. That’s what’s in the way, where are you going to spend your money?”
Reeve went on to acknowledge the hype around Clark’s first game with the Indiana Fever, but also noted the league’s rise in popularity as a whole.
“Certainly Caitlin’s first game they were going to value, I’m all for that, I get it,” Reeve said. “It’s not just about Caitlin, there’s general excitement about the WNBA in ways that we haven’t seen before. We have to capitalize on these things.”
A season preview report from StubHub showed ticket sales across the WNBA are up 93% from this time last year. Sales for the Fever have spiked 13 times the rate they went for this time a year ago after selecting Clark No. 1 overall in this year’s draft.
Last year also notched a 21% increase in television audience compared to 2022, according to BusinessInsider.com, and SportsPro Media reported a 36% increase in viewership for the WNBA Finals between the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces.
The Lynx’s second and final preseason game is not televised and will be played against the Washington Mystics at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday before Minnesota opens the regular season at the Seattle Storm on May 14.
