Closing thoughts from a Westchester-native
The elephant in the room is the relocation of the Liberty from Madison Square Garden to White Plains.
On May 20, the Lynx sold out their home opener and celebrated their banner raising with 13,302 fans at the Target Center. On May 25, the Liberty sold out their new venue with 2,315 loud fans in an intimate arena. That is a difference of 10,987 fans. For more context, the Liberty reported an average attendance of 9,889 last season. The move from MSG to the WCC comes one season after the WNBA reported its best attendance numbers since 2010.
The Liberty team, as well as opposing players and coaches, have been asked about the move. As WNBA players often do (because who else will), comments focused on the positives. Players have also made a point to urge fans to still #ShowUp and support the Liberty more than ever.
The real problem
Just a month removed from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver comments about the perplexity over the WNBA “marketing problem”, I can’t help but wonder if the Commissioner has accurately identified the problem, problems at all.
Although she originally promised not to comment, Cheryl Reeve likely gave the most real comment on the matter I have heard to-date. At the pregame shootaround, Reeve summed up the situation like this:
"“I’m not even going to comment on the facility. It’s beyond everyone’s control. It’s like everything that women do; we’re resilient. Regardless of what we think of it. We’re going to do what we always do. I know that the liberty, hopefully their fans will get behind them and support them. This is a time that they need them the most. You know. They’ll go just don’t play hard they’ll play their games and they’ll control what they can control and that’s what that’s what we’re we’re trained to do. And just because we’re resilient doesn’t mean that you should do it to us.”"
Some fans will, and some won’t. Those are the facts. Yes, new fans will emerge without a doubt. However, by the math of the move alone, the Liberty will not truly build off 22 seasons of history. Instead, the franchise is forced to hold on and survive this move until it’s time for the next.