Mark Madden: Attendance doesn't lie when it comes to Brittney Griner's return to WNBA

Brittney Griner made her return to the WNBA on Friday when her Phoenix team visited Los Angeles. Griner missed the 2022 season while she was imprisoned 10 months in Russia for carrying a controlled substance (cannabis vape cartridges) through a Moscow airport.

Vice President Kamala Harris attended. So did tennis legend Billie Jean King and men’s basketball great Magic Johnson.

Eight thousand, six hundred and eighty-three didn’t.

Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena holds 19,079 for basketball. Friday’s reported attendance was 10,396.

Phoenix head coach Vanessa Nygaard was appalled: “How was it not a sellout?”

Allow me to answer, but first preface: Attendance and TV ratings never lie. (No word on how many watched Friday’s game on ESPN.)

It wasn’t a sellout because: A) there’s very limited interest in the WNBA, and B) few see Griner as a national hero.

You can argue both, but, again, that attendance doesn’t lie.

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The average attendance for WNBA games in 2022 was just 5,679. American Hockey League games this past season averaged 5,651.

Minor-league hockey with teams in podunk towns like Bakersfield, Grand Rapids, Hershey, Utica and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton drew almost identically to the world’s top league for women’s basketball, which has franchises in major markets and big-time arenas. A national TV contract, too.

The WNBA reportedly lost $12 million last season. But that’s no biggie because the WNBA is subsidized by the NBA. Men’s basketball.

WNBA players make a fraction of what NBA players do, but that’s because their league draws a fraction of the NBA’s revenue. (Economics don’t lie, either.)

The WNBA is not a success. It has minimal interest. Media outlets cover it out of perceived obligation.

The other reason Friday’s game at Los Angeles wasn’t sold out is because the number of Americans who see Griner as a national hero is badly overestimated.

Griner was jailed as per Russia’s drug laws. She didn’t storm the beach on D-Day. Nothing Griner did was even remotely heroic.

Before her incarceration, Griner didn’t stand for the national anthem before WNBA games. But she’s standing now. She had every right to not stand. But now, standing seems self-serving and convenient.

Oakmont teacher Marc Fogel remains jailed in Russia for a similar offense. Ex-Marine Paul Whelan remains imprisoned in Russia on spying charges. Why isn’t President Weekend at Bernie’s getting them freed?

Oh, right … it’s not a woke showbiz cause. They’re not worth turning loose an international arms dealer.

So that’s why Friday’s WNBA game in Los Angeles wasn’t sold out.

If I were Griner, I’d get used to empty seats. Her 15 minutes is up. She’s just another women’s basketball player now. The woke mob has moved on to another cause.

If Griner wants to make more money, she could go to Europe and play. My advice would be to pack light, and pack carefully.