Fans hoping to catch rookie stars Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso make their WNBA preseason debuts Friday night were dismayed to find the game unavailable through the WNBA League Pass, but fans from around the country found a quirky alternative way to watch: through a fan’s livestream on X filmed on her cellphone.
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Alli Schneider, the woman behind the X account @heyheyitsalli, shared a post before the game started about the league angering fans by not showing the game through YouTube as was originally announced, and then asked in a follow-up post if she should try to stream the game from the stands.
The result was a two-hour video that totaled over 2 million views come Saturday, numbers which left her “flabbergasted.” But it actually wasn’t the first time Schneider had live streamed a Lynx game.
“I actually did it last year too because the Lynx had a preseason game that was again not selected for any sort of coverage,” she told The Athletic. “So I did it last year for a couple of friends and I had maybe 80 people total watch, so I figured I’d try again this year and see if maybe that’s something people want. And apparently it was.”
The video post was viewed over 800,000 times by midnight Friday and was reposted over 2,300 times. Among the nearly 400 replies was WNBA legend Sue Bird.
This is amazing 🤩😄. I hope you got that mophie! https://t.co/Ng5GuV6JEH
— Sue Bird (@S10Bird) May 4, 2024
“I was just flabbergasted,” Schneider said. “We were watching the numbers climb while the game went on, but I couldn’t look at Twitter while the livestream was happening, so I just saw all of it afterward. I had no idea that it had been retweeted that many times or that Sue Bird had quote-tweeted me. I had to slowly catch up to so many people reaching out to me in my DMs, there were so many notifications.”
Before the game, the league incorrectly displayed on the League Pass app that the game would be available to watch. After fans were left frustrated by the unavailability, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve spoke after the game about the livestream.
“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,” Reeve said about the league’s broadcasting limitations. “This is an example. … We have to capitalize on those things.”
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Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon echoed those sentiments, and said she was glad so many tuned in to watch her Chicago team, which fell to Minnesota 92-81.
“We would love for us to be on and for everyone to take a look, especially for this team, you have a great group of young women who are exciting to watch play. Tonight we had an opportunity to kind of get a feel for where we are and what we need to do. It’s awesome to know that a lot of people really tuned in.”
Reese played over 24 minutes in the loss, scoring 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Cardoso played 13 minutes and tallied six points with four rebounds off the bench.
The WNBA apologized for the mistake in a later post, urging fans to watch Caitlin Clark make her preseason debut for the Indiana Fever against the Dallas Wings. The league’s post drew hundreds of replies, many of which came from angry fans.
Earlier in the day, Reeve published a post encouraging fans to watch the Lynx and Sky game despite the league not including either team in its social media post or on the League Pass app. Reeve’s hashtag #theWismorethanoneplayer was interpreted by many to be a comment on the league’s heavy marketing of Clark at the expense of other players and teams.
ALSO in action tonight – @minnesotalynx vs @chicagosky 7pm CST. Though fans won't be able to watch, #Lynx fans can go to the Lynx app to follow along via play by play. Or if you are in market, come to the game…as we start the season off right ✅#12teams #theWismorethanoneplayer https://t.co/Wp5vwt8ucK
— Cheryl Reeve (@LynxCoachReeve) May 3, 2024
“[The WNBA] has really been just growing so much in the last couple of years,” Schneider said. “They have always deserved this kind of coverage and this kind of support, but to see it actually happening, seeing the numbers for attendance and everything grow really warms my heart because they’ve always deserved it. It just has taken a long time for people to acknowledge that as well as invest in it.”
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(Photo: David Sherman / NBAE via Getty Images)
