The upcoming season of the WNBA, the women's basketball league in the United States, could have a historic twist after popular Caitlin Clark was selected by the Indiana Fever as the #1 pick in the Draft held on Monday night in Brooklyn, New York.
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The former University of Iowa player will generate a significant commercial and media impact that can bring immediate dividends for the WNBA.
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Serena says the investment depends on the right market.
The same day Caitlin was selected by the Fever, Serena Williams, the tennis legend who won 23 Grand Slam tournaments and the gold medal in London 2012, expressed interest in buying one of the 12 WNBA teams.
“I would be super interested. In the right market, I would definitely be super interested in that,” Serena said to CNN.
Currently, the WNBA has teams in Connecticut, Indiana, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington DC, Minnesota, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, and most of them are affiliated with an NBA team. For example, the Fever is a team owned by Herb Simon, the same owner of the Indiana Pacers, but the Connecticut Sun are owned by the Mohegan tribe.
Serena Williams' investments in sports
The 42-year-old former tennis player has experience and a wide portfolio of sports investments.
One of the most well-known is her minority ownership in the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. The former tennis player bought a stake in 2009 when the team was valued at 2 billion dollars, and it is now estimated to be worth twice as much.
She was also one of the founders of Angel City FC, a women's soccer team based in Los Angeles that has been competing in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) since 2022, and where actress Natalie Portman, and investors Kara Nortman and Alexis Ohanian also invested.
In the interview with CNN, Serena Williams expressed great confidence in the development of women's sports: "I feel like tennis had its moment and it's international, it's huge and it will always be there. Now is the time to promote other sports, like women's soccer, women's basketball... there are many other sports that women excel at. Let's put them on the platform where tennis is."