DiJonai Carrington Seems to Call Out WNBA For Promotional Neglect of Historic Game
While half of the WNBA's 12 teams are playing on Tuesday, only one of these games is set to make history.
Tuesday's game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Connecticut Sun is taking place at Boston's TD Garden, which is home of the 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics.
This Sparks vs. Sun contest marks the first time that TD Garden has hosted a WNBA game. And the venue already selling out shows that there's a lot of hype about this history being made.
Despite this game's historic nature, the WNBA isn't broadcasting it on live TV. Instead, it's being shown on X; which, while great for getting the game in front of a massive audience, doesn't convey the same prestige and significance that a national TV broadcast would.
Sun star guard DiJonai Carrington took to X on Tuesday to not-so-subtly express her frustration about the WNBA not getting this game on live TV.
"Since we gotta do our own promo…
We’re playing at the @tdgarden tonight & it’s SOLD OUT 19k+. First W game here ever. Historic. Not on tv, but you can catch it right here on twitter. @WNBA," Carrington wrote, along with an upside-down smiling emoji.
Since we gotta do our own promo…
— dιjonaι carrιngтon♛ (@DijonaiVictoria) August 20, 2024
We’re playing at the @tdgarden tonight & it’s SOLD OUT 19k+. First W game here ever. Historic. Not on tv, but you can catch it right here on twitter. 🙃 @WNBA
Carrington's post already amassed over 285,000 views in two hours. And fans agree that the WNBA fumbled the bag in not making this game a priority, in terms of TV viewership.
Despite her disappointment with the WNBA, Carrington made it clear how impressed she is with TD Garden selling out for the game when speaking with SB Nation's Noa Dalzell on Tuesday.
"We don't have any... media superstars, and we're still able to garner this type of attention," Carrington said about the sellout. "LA is a great team, but you wouldn't expect this type of crowd for a game against them right now. So I'm just really excited."
Carrington is alluding to the fact that Los Angeles is 6-20 this season.
"It really just shows how much this city loves sports, and it doesn't matter what sport, what gender, they're going to show up and show out for sports teams. And I think it's super exciting," she added.
DiJonai Carrington was surprised that TD Garden sold out:
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) August 20, 2024
“It really just shows how much this city loves sports. It doesn’t matter what sport, what gender — they’re going to show up and show out.”
“I thought we were going to cover up the whole top part above the boxes.” pic.twitter.com/1focoEykbg
Carrington also noted that she didn't expect the game to sell out.
While the game may not be getting the love it deserves in terms of TV time, at least TD Garden's live audience is showing this WNBA game its due respect.
GRANT YOUNG
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.