WNBA doesn’t broadcast Angel Reese preseason game; 200K fans watch fan’s stream

Hundreds of thousands of fans watched Angel Reese‘s first WNBA preseason game through fan-perspective live streams on May 3. Reese and the Chicago Sky kicked off the exhibition season in Minnesota against the Lynx.

The game was not broadcast on WNBA League Pass for the masses to see, so a fan broadcasted the game from their phone on X, formerly known as Twitter. User @heyheyitsalli’s stream of the game from her seat brought in over 175,000 viewers during the game. As of the morning of May 4, the stream has over 370,000 views. The post itself has been viewed over 1.6 million times, as well.

lynx vs sky preseason game!! https://t.co/fOHriWWcVV

— alli (@heyheyitsalli) May 4, 2024

She then posted her Cash App so people could donate to her for her service.

hi new friends, everyone has been asking for a cashapp

it’s the same as my username on here: $heyheyitsalli

let’s keep growing women’s sports any way we can 🫶 pic.twitter.com/DAHpFSELRk

— alli (@heyheyitsalli) May 4, 2024

For the record, Caitlin Clark played her first preseason game with the Indiana Fever at the same time and that game was on WNBA League Pass. Many fans were upset about the coverage inconsistency.

“It’s wild they didn’t have this game on League Pass!” Brittney Griner posted on her Instagram story. “But they did what they wanted! In no world does it make sense not to have these young ladies’ game on the app!”

The Chicago Sky also have rookie center Kamilla Cardoso, the Brazilian native who has nearly 500,000 Instagram followers from her international and University of South Carolina following, was also a big draw for preseason game.

Dawn Staley and Flau’Jae watched the game from another fan’s stream on Instagram, and Staley said she donated $100 to the fan for their coverage.