A surge in support, led in part by social media, has led to a larger-than-usual expected crowd for Friday's Lynx game.
A very limited number of tickets remain for the Lynx's home game Friday night vs. the New York Liberty — a matchup of two of the best teams in the WNBA and also the first home game for Minnesota since police walked off the job in protest of the team's warm-up shirts.
Lynx players at Saturday's game wore shirts that read, "Change starts with us, justice and accountability" and on the back had Philando Castile's and Alton Sterling's names along with "Black Lives Matter" and a Dallas Police Department emblem.
Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis Police Federation, supported the officers and made a comment to the Star Tribune about the team's attendance, saying "the Lynx have such a pathetic draw." Attendance for that game, a lopsided victory over Dallas, was 7,613.
That prompted a flurry of social media activity — including a Stand With the Minnesota Lynx Facebook page, which is not affiliated with the team – urging fans to buy tickets to Friday's game both in support of the stand that players took and in defiance of Kroll's comments.
The effort appears to be working. A search for tickets shows only scattered single tickets remaining for Friday's 7 p.m. start, and a team official confirmed there aren't many tickets left and that the Lynx are expecting a big crowd. The tickets sold so far have only been in the lower bowl at Target Center, as is typical during the regular season.
Police officers will be back on the job Friday after resolving their dispute with the team.
