Lynx chief operating officer Conrad Smith walks away from the encounters with a smile on his face. Over the past three months, Smith’s networking duties around the Twin Cities have resulted in more inquiries for tickets to Lynx games.
As of Wednesday, season-ticket sales to Lynx home games at Target Center are up 30 percent. Potential sponsors are returning Smith’s calls, and previous corporate partners such as Best Buy, Metro Transit and Verizon Wireless were eager to renew their agreements with the Lynx.
“Sponsor meetings are a lot easier to get now,” Smith said. “I’ve never seen this kind of preseason buzz about our team.”
The Lynx never had Lindsay Whalen before.
Six years after the women’s basketball community in Minnesota begged the WNBA franchise to do whatever it took to keep Whalen home, the organization is relishing its second chance to showcase one of the most popular athletes ever produced in the state — male or female.
Whalen, acquired in a Jan. 12 trade with the Connecticut Sun, will prepare for her seventh WNBA season when she reports for her first Lynx practice Sunday morning. The two-time WNBA all-star was the face of the University of Minnesota women’s basketball program, and she will have a similar responsibility with the Lynx, who are hoping to improve on last season’s average attendance of 7,537.
Though Whalen says she has “team-first” priorities, the Hutchinson, Minn., native understands what her presence on the Lynx roster means to the organization and the community she captivated while leading the Gophers to their only NCAA Final Four appearance in 2004.
“Over the years, I’ve gotten more comfortable with my public speaking, the appearances and all that stuff,” Whalen said Wednesday morning at her first Lynx news conference. “I’ve adjusted to things. I hope I’m a lot better than what I used to be.”
Whalen, 27, was active in promotions and community service projects during her six seasons in Connecticut. Her role with the Lynx is expected to be even more visible.
The Lynx are helping with plans for a “Lindsay Whalen Day” on May 7 in Hutchinson. During Timberwolves home games after the trade, Whalen was featured in a short promo on the Target Center video scoreboard that advertised Lynx tickets for the 2010 season. Whalen already is working on a commercial for Gold’n Plump, a chicken processing company in St. Cloud. The theme of the campaign is “Cooking With Lindsay.”
The Lynx also have a deal for Whalen with Explore Minnesota, an agency that promotes tourism. Promoting basketball, however, is the ultimate objective the Lynx have for Whalen, and there are people who long have believed that Whalen is the state’s best ambassador for women in the sport.
“She has been the one,” Gophers women’s basketball coach Pam Borton said of Whalen, who played for the Gophers from 2000-04. “Nobody has changed women’s basketball in the state more than Lindsay. The excitement people are feeling with her coming to the Lynx is like her senior year with the Gophers. This is how it used to be when we made it to the Final Four. She’ll have to get used to all the media attention again, but she’s more mature now. She can handle it.”
First-year Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve didn’t mean to diminish the feel-good moment surrounding Whalen’s first official appearance as a member of the Lynx. Reeve, a former assistant with the Detroit Shock, labored for several years on game plans that had mixed results against Whalen, who is on pace to this season become just the third WNBA player to reach 2,500 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds.
“I know everybody here is happy to see her in street clothes,” Reeve said. “I’ll be more excited when I see her in the gym on Sunday.”
Whalen, who arrived in the Twin Cities last week after completing her season with USK Prague in the women’s Euroleague, made a brief appearance at Wednesday’s practice at Target Center. She also plans to attend the Lynx’s exhibition opener at noon Friday against Chicago at Concordia-St. Paul University.
Briefly: Lynx guard Candice Wiggins underwent surgery Wednesday to repair a small meniscal tear in her right knee. The surgery was performed by team physician Joel Boyd. Wiggins is expected to miss at least four weeks.
