The WNBA Lynx “have become the darlings of the local sports scene with their run to the WNBA Finals,” according to Rachel Blount of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The team "drew an announced crowd of 15,258" for Sunday's WNBA Finals Game One against the Dream, with the line "to buy tickets stretching out the Target Center doors.” The supply of 1,000 playoff T-shirts also "were sold out by halftime.” Lynx COO Conrad Smith said that the team “has been swamped with phone orders for tickets” for tonight's Game Two. The Lynx' first appearance in the Finals “attracted the second-largest crowd in franchise history.” The team “averaged 8,447 fans during the regular season and a league-high 11,199 during four home playoff games, with the lower level selling out for Game 1 in two days.” Smith said that since the playoffs began, the Lynx “have sold more than 600 new season tickets for 2012 -- with 30 to 40 now being purchased every day.” New sponsors “have come on board, too; two of them, including Medica, signed deals during the regular season, which Smith said is rare.” The Twins, Wild, Vikings and T'Wolves have “shown support by buying blocks of tickets to give away.” Smith said that the team “is trying to replenish playoff merchandise before Game 2,” and Huberts Sports Bar & Grill at Target Center “is preparing for a Game 3 viewing party expected to draw as many as 300 fans” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/5).
