US-based professional women’s basketball league the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), has raised $75m from investors including sports apparel brand Nike, helping expand funding for a sport where coverage and sponsorship are lacking.
The round was filled out by private investors including Condoleezza Rice, Michael and Susan Dell, Pau Gasol, Swin Cash, Baron Davis, Mark Walter, Eric Holoman, Joe and Clara Tsai, Angela Ruggiero, Laurene Powell Jobs, Linda Henry, Micky and Nick Arison, Ginny Gilder and Ted Leonsis.
Billed as the largest-ever capital raise for a women’s sports league, the round is also the first external funding WNBA has received. It valued the league and its teams at $1bn, according to CNBC.
The league said the proceeds from the round will be used to drive its marketing and branding efforts, support the globalisation of its viewership and grow its digitalisation and innovation activities.
External funding could help paper over cracks in external financing for women’s professional sporting leagues like the WNBA which typically receive a small fraction of the revenue men’s sports do, helping them grow towards a critical mass of viewers around the world.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told CNBC: “We have all seen the reports that less than 5% of all sports media coverage and less than 1% of all sponsorship dollars go to women’s sports. So, access to this capital, when you are trying to grow a business, is really going to help us move the needle.”
Despite no longer being a new league – it finished its 25th season in 2021 – the WNBA’s viewership increased 49% since 2020 rebounding from a significant drop following the pre-pandemic 2019 season, according to official figures. The reported valuation of the entire league is still less than half of the $2.48bn average value of the 30 NBA teams.
Other sports still trying to get traction on the big stage, such as the US-based Premier Lacrosse League (PLL), which began its third season in 2021, have also been raising money to attract viewership.
PLL secured an undisclosed amount ahead of the start of the 2021 season in a round co-led by conglomerate Kraft Group, Arctos Sports Partners and Joe Tsai Sports and backed by talent agency Creative Artists Agency and sport and entertainment group Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment.
Even bigger leagues like the NBA itself have been attracting more outside capital, especially since rules changed in 2021 to allow franchises to sell minority stakes of up to 20%.
Arctos Sports Partners, also an investor in the PLL round, bought a 5% stake in NBA franchise the Golden State Warriors at a $5.5bn valuation and a 17% stake in another team, the Sacramento Kings.
Private equity and hedge fund investor Dyal Capital Partners has meanwhile scooped up stakes in NBA franchises including the Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns and Atlanta Hawks.
Sonja Henning, Nike’s vice-president of North America league partnerships, said: “Women’s sport is one of the best investments, with great potential to impact and grow the next era of basketball.
“Nike has always been more than a sponsor with the WNBA – we are a strategic partner. And we are proud to be part of a movement to redefine the future of sport for a new generation – for WNBA players, fans and girls.”
