Spike Lee paced up and down the sideline of the court at Barclays Center, decked out in a Sabrina Ionescu jersey, signed Sabrina 2 sneakers and a red Yankees cap. An unmistakable courtside presence, Lee jumped, clapped, chirped and clutched his face through a chaotic WNBA Finals Game 1 between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx.
Perhaps it’s fitting that someone so woven into the lore of American basketball was on hand for such an instantly iconic playoff battle Thursday. He seemed right at home too, mirroring the antics that have made him a fixture at New York Knicks games through the years. But Lee’s relatively new to this New York game experience, making his Liberty Barclays Center debut last month during the team’s semifinal series.
“Having Spike Lee come for the playoffs was a personal win for me as someone who is a tremendous fan of his and grew up in New York,” says Shana Stephenson, the Liberty’s chief brand officer. “For me, that is definitely like check off the list because we’ve been [in Barclays Center] now for four seasons and that was his first time attending a Liberty game and now he can’t get enough of it.”
Lee represents an apex for the Liberty organization, which has made a concerted effort to create an aura around the team’s home games. The Liberty wanted their events to feel unmistakably New York—stylish and like a can't-miss occasion. The key to achieving that aim: star power.
There was no hotter ticket in Brooklyn this summer than a Liberty game. Scoring seats at Barclays Center achieved the same cultural significance as securing a coveted reservation at New York’s latest it restaurant. A photo with the team’s beloved mascot, Ellie the Elephant, on one’s social media account, connoted a finger on the pulse. In other words, the secret had gotten out: The Liberty were cool. And, to strain the metaphor, your favorite neighborhood hole-in-the-wall now had a consistent line around the block.
The buzz wasn’t happenstance. It was by design, with the Liberty making flashy game experiences the centerpiece of their increasingly ubiquitous brand.
“Yeah, there’s basketball happening, but from a fan and a spectator standpoint, there’s just a lot,” Breanna Stewart said ahead of the Finals. “It’s nonstop experiences kind of right in your face and it gets people involved and invested.”
Capitalizing on its geographical advantages, New York has leaned into the stars at its fingertips, inviting a litany of celebrities to sit courtside to add the allure of Liberty games. And so, CeLiberty Row, New York’s take on the conventional Celebrity Row, was born.
It’s not just any stars the Liberty are after, though. Of course, iconic New Yorkers, like Lee and Fran Lebowitz make the list, but the VIPs also ideally reflect the ethos of the team.
“People who really represent culture,” Stephenson says of the invite process. “People who stand for something, their values and causes align with ours whether it be women empowerment, gender equality and equity.”
That list features a few notable loyal Liberty followers, including Kwame Onwuachi—a former Top Chef contestant and current chef/owner at the Manhattan restaurant Tatiana—who Stephenson notes has been attending Liberty games consistently for three or four seasons now. Jason Sudeikis is another name that goes deep with the Liberty. A season ticket member, the Ted Lasso actor even traveled to Las Vegas to support New York in its semifinal series against the Aces.
“Jason Sudeikis, he attends our games and then he goes and shoots some basketball content, sometimes it's just him putting up some shots, sometimes it’s an interview baked into it,” Stephenson says. “We always are just trying to be really thoughtful and creative about how we engage these celebrities that attend our games.”
Alicia Keys has become a Liberty regular too, narrating the team’s 2024 playoff hype video. After attending her first Liberty game last season, Stephenson recalls Keys, a native New Yorker, wondering aloud why she hadn’t made it out to a Barclays Center sooner.
New York’s recent postseason run has attracted even more star wattage, including Whoopi Goldberg, Pharrell and Gayle King. The stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, Ella Emhoff showed up for the playoffs too, squeezing in next to the visitor’s bench, a stone’s throw from WNBA icon Sue Bird. “Having [Emhoff] at our game was really special as well. She’s so influential in her own way,” Stephenson says. “She’s young. I really feel like she represents the next generation of Liberty fans. Which is something that we as an organization have been intentional about trying to attract and bring them out to our games.”
It really is a veritable who’s who lining the hardwood at Barclays Center, spanning generations, fields and genders—just as Stephenson and her team intended. Stephenson cares about the city being reflected in the Liberty’s crowd, whether that’s via direct invite, or simply curating an environment that attracts a range of residents to show out.
“As a New Yorker, just admiring so many other New Yorkers and the fact that our game is a place for all of these amazing, influential, iconic culture-shifters, tastemakers to unite, it’s just fun,” Stephenson says.
Getting splashy names out to Liberty games has been a group effort, with Stephenson tapping into her personal relationships and the team’s talent and celebrity department tackling outreach. Having a hands-on and invested owner has paid dividends, too. Clara Wu Tsai, the governor and an owner of the Liberty, is all in on beefing up CeLiberty Row, opening up her Rolodex of contacts, and inviting notable names as personal guests.
“At the start of every season, she asks us to provide her with a list of celebrities that, in an ideal world, we would love to see courtside,” Stephenson says. “She is so bought-in to that and it’s something that we really treasure and value because we recognize how much of a gift that is.”
Sending out a courtside invite is only half of the job, though. Once there, many celebs become part of the show. Enter the game presentation team that has to decide when to display the celebs on the big screen, the jumbotron spotlight inevitably causing the arena to erupt. Is it during a quarter break? Is it during a timeout? This process can be more complicated if an artist is in attendance, and Ellie has performed a dance to their music before. Should that happen, Criscia Long, the Liberty’s senior director of entertainment, is looped in to create a moment between the guest and the team’s gregarious mascot. That’s exactly what happened when Tyla attended a May game, with Ellie dancing to the singer’s smash hit “Water,” creating a viral moment.
“There is a lot of coordination and planning that goes into it,” Stephenson says. “But those moments where we’re able to take a social media moment and make it an IRL moment is also one of the highlights because it's like no one else is doing this.”
“The fact that she has an opinion on that, and she’s not afraid to make the suggestion,” Stephenson says, “I just love that they are actively thinking about those moments that happen in the game as well even if they can’t experience it themselves.”
Stewie’s proposed entertainer remains under wraps as a work in progress. But one name Stephenson isn’t afraid to throw out is Beyoncé. The songstress is, unsurprisingly, at the top of her and the players’ CeLiberty Row wishlist. There’s one, possibly two, more opportunities to make it happen this season, but Stephenson plays the long game, remembering the persistence with which she once pursued now courtside staples, including Lee.
“It’s just one of those things that we have to keep pushing,” Stephenson says, “because even though it might not work out this year, next year we might see it all come together.”
The work is never done, as Stephenson is quick to point out. There are always more celebrities to lure to Brooklyn, and not just for the clout’s sake. The shine of the stars has helped to illuminate a uniquely New York fandom and a burgeoning cultural phenomenon. At an inflection point for women’s basketball and the W, the Liberty have met the moment with their own season-long boisterous, rowdy and star-studded party. Now, all that’s left is for the hype to be matched with some hardware.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Welcome to ‘CeLiberty Row’: The Star-Studded Courtside Gallery of WNBA Fans.
