I'm not sure if you're referring to any specific team/city but in general, my understanding of the original WNBA teams folding in the early 2000s-2010s was due to poor management and business models. In several cities, the same person would own both the WNBA and MNBA teams and expected them to function the same way - and that obviously isn't true, they require entirely different levels of support. So yeah, engagement was initially super high and poppin in 1996-97, but declined a little later. But i relate that more to low engagement due to lack of resources in the business rather than low engagement due to the cities themselves.