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Renee Montgomery of the Atlanta Dream.
Adam Pantozzi | Nationwide Basketball Affiliation | Getty Pictures
Kelly Loeffler, the previous U.S. senator who misplaced her seat within the Georgia runoff elections final month, is not a WNBA workforce proprietor.
The Girls’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation introduced Friday that it and the NBA board of governors have unanimously authorized the sale of the Atlanta Dream to Larry Gottesdiener, chairman of actual property agency Northland.
Different workforce buyers embody former Dream star Renee Montgomery and Northland president and COO Suzanne Abair.
“With the unanimous WNBA and NBA votes, right now marks a brand new starting for the Atlanta Dream group and we’re more than happy to welcome Larry Gottesdiener and Suzanne Abair to the WNBA,” stated WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert in a press release. “I love their ardour for girls’s basketball, however extra importantly, have been impressed with their values.”
On a media name discussing the sale, Engelbert stated Montgomery could be an enormous “asset” to the brand new house owners. She known as Montgomery a “trailblazer who has made a serious influence each within the sport and past.” Montgomery, 34, performed 11 years within the WNBA, together with two seasons with the franchise, 2018 and 2019, earlier than retiring on Feb. 9.
“I need to proceed to develop and we’ll proceed to develop the momentum in Atlanta for Atlanta Dream,” stated Montgomery on the decision.
Phrases of the sale weren’t made accessible.
However portray an image of WNBA workforce valuations, sports activities bankers estimate the 2019 sale of a bigger-market workforce — the New York Liberty — offered within the $10 million to $14 million vary. Brooklyn Nets proprietor Joe Tsai now owns the workforce.
Requested by CNBC to verify if the sale fell that in value vary, Engelbert stated phrases have been “confidential” however added “we’re trying ahead to persevering with the transformation round all the weather of the WNBA in order that we will add worth and valuation to all of our franchises going ahead.”
Atlanta proprietor Kelly Loeffler (proper) talks with Dream Normal Supervisor Chris Sienko (left) throughout the WNBA sport between the Las Vegas Aces and the Atlanta Dream on September fifth, 2019 at State Farm Enviornment in Atlanta, GA.
Wealthy von Biberstein | Icon Sportswire | Getty Pictures
In 2011, Loeffler and Mary Brock took over the bulk stake within the Dream, after then-owner Kathy Betty departed the possession group in 2011.
Loeffler made headlines in July 2020 after she opposed the workforce’s assist of social justice for Black individuals following a number of high-profile killings involving police.
The Dream wore jerseys supporting the Black Lives Matter motion and remembering Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky, final March. Loeffler wrote Engelbert to oppose the workforce’s assist of the motion and to suggest that gamers put on American flags on their jerseys as an alternative.
After the letter, Dream gamers used their platform to assist her Jan. 5 runoff opponent, now U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. Gamers wore “Vote Warnock” shirts, which reportedly raised over $236,000 for his marketing campaign.
On Jan. 19, studies surfaced {that a} sale of the Dream was being finalized.
“That is previously now, we’re trying in the direction of the longer term, and the brand new starting for the Dream gamers and fairly frankly, the WNBA,” Engelbert stated.
The Dream completed 7-15 final season and didn’t make the playoffs. The workforce will choose third within the 2021 WNBA Draft.
“It’s a privilege to hitch a workforce of inspiring girls who try for excellence on the court docket and fairness off the court docket,” stated Gottesdiener. “I want to categorical my gratitude to Commissioner Engelbert, Commissioner (Adam) Silver, and the WNBA and NBA Boards of Governors for the chance.”
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