Five years ago, the New York Liberty played their games in a deserted 2,100-seat arena in the suburbs, a world away from the bright lights of the Big Apple.
But when the star-studded WNBA team comes to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Tuesday, it will do so as one of the hottest tickets in town, as the surge in interest in women’s basketball this season ushers in a new era for the sport.
“I go to a lot of sporting events, and there’s nothing like the energy here,” longtime Liberty season ticket holder Lolita Beckwith told AFP.
Beckwith, a professional photographer, has followed the team since the WNBA’s launch in 1997.
His 27-year loyalty to the Liberty spanned the team’s early days, when it played games at the legendary Madison Square Garden, to the dark days when the team was exiled to the suburban city of White Plains, closer to Connecticut than Brooklyn.
“It’s just awesome because for 27 years it’s been looked down upon,” Beckwith said, reflecting on the sea of green-shirted Liberty fans who filled the arena.
“No one was watching, there weren’t many fans. It was mostly women and children. So to see what happened is absolutely incredible,” she added.
“I wish I had a daughter so I could take her to games.”
While the Liberty’s success on the field has undoubtedly boosted the team’s appeal, the increase in attendance is part of a larger trend in a league that has seen growing interest since the arrival of rookie phenom Caitlin Clark.
Indiana Fever star Clark took the WNBA by storm this year after a record-breaking college career.
This season, the Liberty rewarded the loyalty of fans like Beckwith with the best regular season in franchise history.
The team, led by Olympic gold medalists Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart, finished atop the WNBA’s Eastern Conference with 32 wins and just eight losses.
With the playoffs underway, the team is perfectly positioned to end its long wait to win its first-ever WNBA championship.
On Sunday, the Liberty demolished the Atlanta Dream 83-69 in the first game of their first playoff series.
“Having the crowd that we had here definitely made it a lot easier,” Stewart, the U.S. Olympic team star, said after the victory.
– Attendance increases –
During the regular season, New York averaged more than 12,000 fans per game, a whopping 64% increase over the 2023 average, which itself was up 45% from the 2022 campaign.
Those kinds of ticket sales will be music to the ears of owner Joe Tsai, the Taiwanese-Canadian billionaire co-founder and chairman of Chinese multinational Alibaba, who bought the team in 2019 with his wife Clara Wu Tsai, and who also owns the Brooklyn Nets NBA team and the Barclays Center itself.
“Two years ago, we could barely fill the bottom bowl,” said Liberty fan Justin Tartamella, 27.
These days, thousands of fans flock to the arena wearing Liberty-coloured sneakers and T-shirts bearing the slogan ‘Everyone’s watching women’s sport’.
Meanwhile, other fans line up to take selfies with the team’s mascot, Ellie the elephant, whose TikTok account has nearly 180,000 followers.
For some fans, Liberty games are an increasingly attractive option in a New York sports landscape already dotted with iconic men’s franchises. Baseball features the New York Yankees and Mets, the NBA features the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, and the NFL features the New York Giants and New York Jets.
Adam Reid, a 35-year-old computer programmer who recently opted for a Liberty game over a Mets game, explained the team’s appeal.
“You can get really close seats for a low price, compared to a high seat at a baseball game,” Reid told AFP. “And it was great.”
The WNBA’s inclusive nature has also attracted fans.
“Historically, it’s been very LGBTQ+-friendly, which is very important,” said David Smith, a 51-year-old consultant. “As a gay man, that’s where I feel most welcome.”
Meanwhile, Indiana’s Clark helped boost the Fever’s average attendance this season to more than 17,000 per game, with a record 20,000 fans in attendance for a game.
Those numbers translate into big deals off the court: In late July, the WNBA announced a new 11-year broadcast contract worth an estimated $200 million per season, more than triple the previous amount.
The WNBA is also preparing to expand the league, with three new franchises joining the competition in the coming seasons.
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