Westchester County Center is decorated with a more Liberty-centric theme than previously seen at MSGNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
The WNBA Liberty are attempting to "create a professional sports atmosphere" at Westchester County Center in their first season there, even though it has only a "sliver of the resources and reputation" of their old home at MSG, according to Seth Berkman of the N.Y. TIMES. The new venue is "not ideally laid out to accommodate basketball," which is "evident from the limited sightlines from the upper deck and from the elevated wooden stage and maroon curtains behind one of the baskets." Liberty COO Keia Clarke said that one of the reasons Westchester was chosen was that it "presented a more feasible long-term business model for the franchise." Clarke: "Playing in an NBA-sized building is a challenge in itself. Even when we had dynamic nights and it was loud and strong, you get this sense it wasn’t 20,000 people." Berkman notes attendance for Liberty games at MSG was around 50% of the arena’s 20,000-seat capacity, and ownership said that "half of those tickets were given away." In Westchester, the seating configuration "allows about 2,300 spectators, with an option to expand to accommodate as many as 4,500." The new venue also is "decorated with a more Liberty-centric theme." Large murals of players "adorn the center’s lobby." But Clarke said that if Westchester "became the Liberty's permanent home, upgrades would be necessary" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/18).
IDENTITY CRISIS: In Las Vegas, Alan Snel noted the WNBA Aces are "still trying to figure out" their identity "amid a group" of new local teams. The in-game entertainment product also is "trying to figure out its identity." Mandalay Bay Events Center received a $10M makeover "complete with new seats and scoreboard and is a class-one basketball setting for about 7,500 fans." But it is "difficult to identify a theme linking all the entertainment components to the game experience." While the game "could use more live fan interaction features and more close-up, mobile camera work of fans, friends and families" (LVSPORTSBIZ.com, 6/17).
