Followers spoke, and the WNBA listened. After years of preseason video games not being accessible for the general public to observe except you have been there in individual, the WNBA introduced it is going to be streaming all 15 of this yr’s preseason video games.
This has been a difficulty amid the rising reputation of the WNBA. In 2023, when the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx got here to Toronto to play a preseason recreation, it was solely broadcast in Canada. Followers within the US couldn’t even watch the sport on the WNBA’s League Cross app.
Final season, when Caitlin Clark made her unofficial debut for the Indiana Fever within the preseason, the WNBA nonetheless was not making video games accessible on tv or streaming. Followers have been in uproar about Clark’s first video games not being streamed, particularly since tickets for them offered out quick.
NBA preseason video games are broadcast on tv, and it’s a great way for followers to get accustomed to the newer workforce members earlier than the season formally begins. With fan favorites like Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese and extra being welcomed into the league yearly, the WNBA has been dropping out on an opportunity to promote itself. Folks don’t care if it’s preseason; they wish to see these girls play.
One fan even took it to the subsequent degree to show as a lot final yr, livestreaming a Minnesota Lynx vs. Chicago Sky recreation on X from their cellphone. The stream garnered a complete of two million impressions and almost 175,000 dwell viewers all through the sport, regardless of simply being the followers’ view from the stands. Folks needed to observe Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso in motion, regardless of the video games not counting in the direction of their workforce’s document.
Plus, a stroll by the feedback of the unique stream tweet are entertaining to look by:
The league has now determined to satisfy that demand in 2025, saying on Monday that every one 15 preseason video games will likely be accessible for followers to observe at dwelling. WNBA League Cross will stream 14 of the 15, with the fifteenth being broadcast on ESPN. Ion and NBA TV will even have choose preseason video games accessible on their networks.
The Indiana Fever’s exhibition in opposition to Brazil’s Nationwide Group recreation on Could 4 will likely be broadcast on ESPN, as Caitlin Clark makes her return to Carver-Hawkeye Enviornment in Iowa. WNBA League Cross can be bringing again their promotion from final yr, airing just a few video games at no cost on League Cross to begin the season. All preseason video games are included on this promotion.
