In this 26th edition, we learn more about Kaitlyn’s experience attending the 2024 WNBA All-Star in Phoenix, Arizona. She speaks on her favourite moments, including the community feeling, the events and activations, the WNBA branding, and the All-Star game atmosphere. She also speaks on her wishes for future All-Star games, including fan accessibility, niche events, and more. 

The story of the week shows young girls in sport and physical activity that:

• The success and year-over-year growth of an event like WNBA All-Star show the importance of investing in women’s sporting events, aside from live women’s sports games. This entertainment event proves that many brands and sponsors are eager to buy in and put on a spectacle in the women’s sports space. On the other hand, fans are willing to spend their money and happily support the league.
• The WNBA All-Star sets an excellent precedent for proving how many connections women’s sports can have in the popular culture space and partnerships that align with the WNBA. For example, through a fashion lens with the Orange Carpet event or prioritizing health equity for women through a league partnership with Opill, a reproductive health brand.

I just returned from this year’s WNBA All-Star festivities hosted in Phoenix, Arizona! It’s always an amazing experience to be in a women’s sports/WNBA-specific bubble for a few days. I feel very fortunate and thankful to have been able to attend this year and experience the last two WNBA All-Star games. This type of women’s sports event has quickly become one of my favourites to be a part of and witness its progress each year in person. 

First, a few quick facts about this year’s All-Star game: 

• Since this year is an Olympic year, the format of the All-Star game involved the 2024 USA Olympic women’s basketball team, competing against the WNBA All-Star team.
• Phoenix has hosted the All-Star game three times now. There were previous Phoenix All-Star games hosted in 2000 and 2014. 
• The 2024 WNBA All-Star game was watched by 3.44 million viewers, the most in 27 years. This year’s game saw a 300% increase in viewership compared to last season.

Here are my top four favourite moments from this year’s WNBA All-Star:

The WNBA community

Women’s sports events generally have a consistent reputation for a feeling of being surrounded by like-minded and friendly people who share similar values, passions, etc. 

It was great to experience this last year at the WNBA 2023 All-Star in Las Vegas, Nevada. Early on in my arrival in Phoenix, Arizona, I was reminded this year of just how special the community aspect is around these events. 

Whether it was a conversation with customs workers, people at the hotel, Uber drivers, fellow fans in line at events, people working in the sports industry, etc. It feels like you could start up a conversation with any person around you with ease about women’s basketball/women’s sports while attending the All-Star festivities.

The variety of WNBA events and activations

This year went well when it came to finding events to attend. In particular, it’s worth mentioning that Bridget Pettis, a former WNBA player and WNBA coach, really showed up. She hosted her own All-Star Phoenix Experience over multiple days, which included a day retreat, basketball clinic, charity fundraiser, after-party, fashion show, and farm experience. She hosted so many events that you could have just attended hers throughout the weekend and felt plenty busy.

I attended a free t-shirt giveaway hosted by Unrivaled Basketball, the “A Touch More” live podcast recording hosted by Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, and a Queens of the Court panel hosted in partnership with Aflac and Togethxr. 

The WNBA branding around Phoenix

The WNBA did a good job on the branding side this year. There was WNBA All-Star branding throughout the airport, the light rail system in Phoenix had WNBA branding on its trams, and there were Nike and Adidas WNBA billboards near Footprint Center, the arena in downtown Phoenix, where the games were hosted.

 

The All-Star game atmosphere itself

While attending my first WNBA All-Star last year in Las Vegas, I realized one aspect I loved about this event was seeing multiple players in the same place and witnessing them interact. It felt like the equivalent of the Disney Channel Games back in the day, with all the superstars in the same spot simultaneously. 

The atmosphere of this game felt different than last year. It felt like a bigger-scale game in the best way possible. It felt like where women’s basketball should be in 2024. But at the same time, we’re only going up from here!

I loved that other women’s basketball players, including former WNBA players and current college players, were all highlighted on the jumbotron.

The All-Star games hosted in different cities always allow the opportunity to get a small feel for what it would be like to attend a game of that WNBA team, depending on the city hosting. This Phoenix All-Star game gave me little snippets of the game atmosphere during a Phoenix Mercury game and enticed me to visit again and attend a Mercury game.

Here are my four wishes for future WNBA All-Star games:

Merchandise

It felt challenging to track down certain merchandise items depending on the merchandise location around the city. In the future, I would love to see the same brands of All-Star merchandise consistently available at many merchandise spots around the city.

Fan accessibility

I’d love it if there were an opportunity for the Orange Carpet to be a fan-accessible event, obviously also with all the proper security measures in place for the safety of the players. I’m confident there would be an overwhelming demand from WNBA fans for this type of All-Star event, even if it were a ticketed event.

Niche events and activations

The sky’s the limit for options for WNBA All-Star events and activations. I’d love to see future events such as a vintage merchandise trade and swap with fellow WNBA fans, a movie screening of a women’s sports or women’s basketball movie, and WNBA food-related activations, for example, latte art, drinks named after the WNBA, and smoothies that are the colour of the WNBA.  

Individual team and league representation

I’d love to see team-specific fan meetups hosted, with these events being easy to discover and attend. I’d also love to see some aspect of next year’s All-Star game host location included, even if it’s just the option to submit your contact information to be notified when the host location is finalized. 

 

Kaitlyn’s Sport Stories Recap are written by Kaitlyn Lehbert, a passionate and driven sport advocate for girls and women. Kaitlyn holds her Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from Brock University. Learn more about Kaitlyn by clicking here!

Have a sport story you want to share? Contact info@fastandfemale.com and it may get featured in Kaitlyn’s next feature.