Opinion: Phoenix Mercury arena situation for WNBA playoffs is embarrassing; we all need to do better
PHOENIX — Let’s call this “poetic injustice.”
The Phoenix Mercury have reached the Women’s National Basketball Association’s final four in the league’s silver anniversary season, behind two of the greatest players in the history of their sport, following a year of turmoil in which an outsized share of players became leading voices in the fight for equality.
Yet, somehow, they are visitors in their own city after being bumped from their home arena, a venue known as the Footprint Center, in a double-scheduling fiasco that has the Mercury playing on college campuses, far from luxuries that any other big-time professional athlete might take for granted, extravagances such as their own lockers or familiar training and rehabilitation equipment, perhaps.
It happened first on Sept. 23.
'They wouldn't move the Suns'
Brittney Griner, a finalist in recent voting to determine the greatest player in league history, and her teammates were running the floor at Grand Canyon University Arena, a small-college facility that seats about 7,000 fans.
By contrast, the Mercury’s home arena, the Footprint Center, holds more than double that number.
The only saving grace was that Diana Taurasi, another greatest of all-time finalist, didn’t take the court and her team still won. (Taurasi is so popular that she recently had a role in the animated basketball monster movie “Space Jam 2,” a star-affirming Hollywood franchise so potent that it’s been reserved for icons including Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and LeBron James.)
Taurasi, at GCU, was on the sidelines wearing a huge, immobilizing boot on her left foot to protect an ankle she had injured several weeks earlier. It saved her from an indignity on the level of Muhammad Ali struggling through his last bout as the ringside timekeeper banged a cowbell to signal breaks in the fight.
But they’re about to be displaced again.
When the Phoenix Mercury are scheduled to play the third game in a best-of-five series against the Las Vegas Aces, it would be in Tempe’s Desert Financial Arena, home of the Arizona State University Sun Devils. A fourth game might meet a similar fate.
“We're going to be the ones that have to move around,” Brittney Griner said ahead of the 83-82 victory over the New York Liberty at GCU Arena. “It's our season, we've got to do the moving. It's sad to say but unless you've got something between your legs, you're not a high priority. They wouldn't move the Suns to GCU for a playoff game. They would figure out a way to move that concert.”
Griner added, “I'm not saying we can't adapt.”
But why should they have to?
They play for one of the WNBA’s model franchises, a three-time champion, looking to expand its legacy in the league’s 25th anniversary season.
Seems like that ought to count for something.
Too bad it doesn’t.
What does it cost to do the right thing?
I write basketball. I write NBA. I write colleges. I write WNBA. I also write social justice. I was at the Mercury’s GCU game, but did I mention the arena conflict?
Of course not.
My publication covers basketball. We cover the NBA. We cover colleges. We cover the WNBA. Do we have someone on the road as the Mercury push for a championship?
Of course not.
We have our reasons, and some of them are even good. But ultimately, we’re not there. We need to do better.
The WNBA could do better, as well.
The league could give teams exact potential dates for playoff games with far greater notice, as is the practice in the NBA. This year’s scheduling was complicated by COVID-19 and the Olympics. And, unfortunately, this type of logistical logjam isn’t unique. There have been similar conflicts over the years, though perhaps none as high-profile as this.
It’s creates an opportunity for sweeping changes in the name of equality.
The September game was bumped in a conflict with one of pop music’s biggest stars, Maluma, a heartthrob who sings in Spanish and has been linked romantically to Kim Kardashian.
A game Oct. 3 will be relocated in favor of a production of "Disney on Ice."
A game Oct. 6 will be in conflict with the Mercury’s roommate in the Footprint Center, the Phoenix Suns.
Financially, it all makes sense. There would be a huge liability in cancelling the shows, for instance.
But can we aim higher?
Can we accept a short-term financial loss for the long-term gain associated with doing the right thing for equality? Could the multibillion-dollar NBA subsidize teams to make sure conflicts like this don’t happen?
Could the team stop the shows and eat the costs?
My publication might lose money sending someone to cover the team, initially. But wouldn’t it gain far more in having the best coverage of a team with an intense — and intensely loyal — fanbase?
As for me, maybe I just need to cover less Arizona State football to create room in my schedule?
'Exactly the worst-case scenario'
Jason Rowley, president and CEO of both the Suns and Mercury, wants to see improvements.
“Our first choice is to have the Mercury playing here at Footprint Center, not somewhere else,” he said. “This year, we had a perfect storm happen … that set us up to fall into exactly the worst-case scenario.”
He’s exploring his options.
“We are very much committed to the Mercury … this is obviously an unfortunate situation that none of us are happy about, but it does give us the opportunity to try to make resolutions moving forward,” he said. “It gives us the ability to maybe come up with some solutions. Like any other negative, you want to find ways to try to take a positive out of it.”
One idea would be to reschedule the Sunday, Oct. 3, game to Monday, Oct. 4, when no events are booked at the Footprint Center. There are TV broadcast obligations that would interfere such a move, however.
A potentially more viable option would be for a double-header on Oct. 6, if the series goes that far.
The Suns are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Lakers that day. Perhaps the Suns’ preseason game could serve as a prelude to the Mercury’s continued championship push?
This is what real support looks like.
It goes further than NBA players wearing WNBA logo hoodies. It goes further than NBA players attending WNBA games. It would show that the calls for diversity and equality, from players to executives, were more than just trendy posturing by #FakeWoke social justice posers.
But something needs to change.
It’s abominable that we’re in this position just a year after the 2020 Summer of Social Justice, when throngs of protesters around the world took to the streets demanding equality, often led in spirit or in deed by WNBA players.
The reality that the Mercury are only a few wins away from a championship in the league’s silver anniversary season, yet are visitors in their own city can be called “poetic injustice.”
Though, if we just call it for what it is, it’s called “inequality.”
Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @SayingMoore.