Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Prosecutors aim for a September retrial of Harvey Weinstein, WNBA ticket sales are up 93% from this time last year, and the owners of the Seattle Storm run their team like a business. Have a restful weekend!
– Business of basketball. Every day, it seems, more money is pouring into women’s sports. Across soccer and basketball, billionaire owners are starting and revitalizing franchises from the New York Liberty to Gotham FC.
In Seattle, a group of WNBA owners has been doing things differently for 17 seasons. Lisa Brummel, Ginny Gilder, and Dawn Trudeau teamed up to buy the Seattle Storm in 2008 for $10 million when Seattle’s former NBA team, the SuperSonics, were moving to Oklahoma City and put the women’s team on the block. The trio weren’t billionaires, but a group of basketball fans, feminists, and executives with a passion for the Storm—and who wanted to see the team stay in Washington.
Brummel was a 25-year veteran of Microsoft, where she ran human resources; Trudeau was also a Microsoft alum. Gilder was an investor seeking more connection to a community of women in Seattle. Just this week they added the Storm’s longtime star, Sue Bird, to their ownership group.
Without endless financial resources, the original three owners came up with a strategy for running the team “like a business.” From the start, they vowed to make money—and one day sell the team for a profit. Last year, the franchise earned a league-record valuation of $151 million.
“We’ve always believed women’s sports is valuable. And we’ve always believed you should pay to watch women’s sports,” Brummel says. The owners quickly realized they wouldn’t operate the team like an NBA owner might, in which “you just assume the market is going to grow,” Brummel says. “If you came to a Storm game, you’re going to pay for your seat,” she adds. “In return, we will give you an amazing experience.”
And Seattleites love the Storm. While the team has four championships, last year it finished near the bottom of the league. And yet, it topped the WNBA in ticket sales. The owners credit Seattle’s midsize market, strong college basketballprogram, and the team’s past winning record.
The trio of original owners divide and conquer. “I don’t know how other teams do it,” Gilder says of solo owners. Trudeau, the original convener of the ownership group, oversees its social responsibility initiatives. Gilder liaises with the WNBA’s board of governors. Brummel, with her HR experience, leads on operations in partnership with the team’s executive leadership. Bird has said she’ll contribute her experience as a player and the perspective on the Storm’s growth and challenges she gleaned during her playing days.
As wealthy owners have come into the league, they “spend differently than we do,” Brummel says. “They have the money to do it, and they choose different investments than we might choose.”
One investment the Storm has chosen is a new $64 million practice facility, unveiled last month. The facility allows players to train, practice, eat, and socialize in one place, a big change from shuttling between gyms with limited availability. The owners have been closely involved in the facility’s development, down to picking out what silverware to buy from the restaurant supply store.
“There’s a lot to like about the billionaire investments—they’ve put a validation on all the things we’re doing, with new ideas and new ways of spending,” Brummel says. “It’s great for the league to have new ways of thinking and people who want to invest to grow.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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