Fresh off their first ever WNBA Finals appearance last season, the Washington Mystics will play their first home game of the 2019-2020 season on Saturday. Before they hit the court, the Mystics are kicking off the season with a free block party at their new home.
After playing at Capital One Arena since their inaugural season in 1998, starting this season, the team will play at the much smaller Entertainment Sports Arena in Southeast that opened last year.
Emceed by WKYS’s Angie Ange, the outdoor block party will include on-court games like knockout and 3-on-3, an NBA Live WNBA tournament, and an autograph session with basketball legends Monique Currie and Chamique Holdsclaw, both former Mystics. MLK Deli and other vendors will have food for sale, and there’s live music from Be’la Dona and The Experience Band on tap.
For kids, there will be face painting and arts and crafts at a kids zone, plus basketball clinics in the afternoon. There’s also a basketball arts walk featuring backboard designs by local artists.
After the block party, the Mystics will play against the Atlanta Dream. This will be their first meeting since the Mystics booted the Dream out of the 2018 – 2019 WNBA Playoffs during the semifinals last fall. (The Mystics were later bested by the Seattle Storm, who snatched the championship.)
Mystics coach Mike Thibault is hopeful about the team finally having its own court. “We haven’t really ever had at Capital One Arena a home court advantage that some teams in our league have,” he told Washington City Paper. “It’s just too big of an arena.”
Capital One’s 20,000 seats dwarfed the Mystics’ average regular season attendance, which last year was about 6,100 fans. But, that should be more than enough fans to fill the Entertainment Sports Arena’s 4,200 seats.
The Mystics have a lot of momentum heading into the season. ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel picked the team as her preseason favorite and the team’s new mantra is “run it back,” symbolizing their quest to get back to the WNBA Finals for another shot at the championship.
The block party will be held outside the Entertainment Sports Arena on Saturday from 2 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Youth basketball clinics will be held at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. FREE. Tip-off for Mystics vs. Atlanta Dream is at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $12.
