{"id":173996,"date":"2025-09-22T13:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/173996\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T13:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:05:10","slug":"bandwagoners-welcome-as-lynx-wnba-team-lures-fans-who-crave-an-inclusive-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/173996\/","title":{"rendered":"Bandwagoners welcome as Lynx WNBA team lures fans who crave an inclusive community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allison Broeren was never a sports fan, but she\u2019s found community in the Lynx.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t very athletic as a kid. I\u2019m an artist, and so sports weren\u2019t really my thing, but everyone was just so welcoming … so full of joy,\u201d Broeren said at Sunday\u2019s Lynx game, donning a giant pink bow, sequin dress and handmade purse made out of a basketball. \u201cThe world\u2019s hard, and to get to come here for a couple hours and just celebrate with the community around us is so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the team competes in the WNBA playoff semifinals against the Phoenix Mercury this week, fans new and old are flocking to Target Center to cheer on a team that represents more than just a game.<\/p>\n

This is Broeren\u2019s second season following the Lynx. Broeren and her husband, Marlow, like to sit courtside at Target Center, where they\u2019ve formed bonds with other fans, who taught the basketball newbies the rules of the game and even connected with players\u2019 parents. Broeren, 44, said she\u2019s been to dinner with Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman\u2019s father. She chatted with him after Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that access and feeling of a family where everyone is welcome that keeps the Lynx fan base growing each season. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Allison Broeren is one of several Lynx fans cheering for the team this semifinals series. (Kim Hyatt)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been to a more diverse or inclusive crowd at any concert, any sporting event of any kind,\u201c said Justin Vernon, the Grammy-award winning frontman of Bon Iver who launched a philanthropic partnership with the Lynx this season<\/a>. \u201cThere\u2019s so much love in the crowd. There\u2019s love for the team. There\u2019s love for the players, and there\u2019s love for everybody else. And nobody looks like each other, there\u2019s every walk of life in this building. And I just think that\u2019s part of why I keep coming back.\u201c<\/p>\n

Vernon told the Minnesota Star Tribune at Sunday\u2019s game that the community and culture surrounding the Lynx is also why there are so many new fans jumping aboard. A dozen of his friends got lottery game tickets last weekend, he said, drawn to the energy and atmosphere of the team that he\u2019s been a longtime fan of. Now more of his friends, including famous musicians like Daniel Caesar, are becoming Lynx fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t need much convincing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Allison Broeren was never a sports fan, but she\u2019s found community in the Lynx. \u201cI wasn\u2019t very athletic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-173996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}