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The New York Liberty have raised capital from a group of investors at a record valuation for a professional women’s sports franchise of $450 million, sources with knowledge of the agreement told The Athletic.
The total size of the shares sold in the team’s capital raise is a percentage in the “mid-teens,” according to one of the sources. It is unclear how many investors are part of the capital raise, and the deal is still subject to league approval.
The Liberty’s valuation is believed to be a record across professional women’s sports and is more than double that of the last publicly known capital raise made by a WNBA franchise. Last summer, the Dallas Wings sold two half-percent stakes in the franchise at a $208 million valuation. Earlier this month, entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian paid $26.5 million for an 8 percent stake in Chelsea Women, which values the team at $326 million.
The money is believed to be part of a capital raise to help build a new practice facility. In March, the Liberty, who won their first title in franchise history in October, said they were building their own 75,000-square-foot practice facility in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. Projected to open in 2027, the Liberty’s training center will have two full practice courts, a private suite for each player instead of traditional lockers, a full recovery suite, an in-house hair and makeup studio, and a two-story strength training room, among other features. The team said it will be the WNBA’s first “designed by players, for players” facility and expects to spend $80 million on it. New York currently practices on a side court inside Barclays Center, its home arena.
Team owner Clara Wu Tsai and her husband, Joe Tsai, purchased the Liberty in January 2019. James Dolan, the franchise’s first and then-only owner, put the Liberty up for sale in November 2017 and moved it out of Madison Square Garden a season later and into Westchester County Center, where they played for two seasons.
Wu Tsai previously told The Athletic when they purchased the organization that it was a distressed asset.
In the years since the Tsais took over the team, the franchise moved to Brooklyn, reshaped its roster — adding star players such as Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones — and changed its business trajectory. By the end of last year, New York had more than 50 sponsors, up nearly 61 percent year over year, with revenue generated from such partnerships up 68 percent. The Liberty were second in the WNBA in home attendance last season, behind only the Indiana Fever.
Wu Tsai recently told Bloomberg that by the mid-2030s, she thinks the Liberty can be the “first billion-dollar women’s sports franchise.” Beginning next season, the WNBA will benefit from a new 11-year, $76 billion NBA/WNBA TV deal, which allocates around $200 million per year to the WNBA.
New York would not be the first franchise to undertake a capital raise before building a new practice facility. In 2023, Seattle Storm ownership sold about 10 percent of its franchise to help fund its $64 million basketball performance center, which opened in April 2024.
The Liberty won their first game of the 2025 season, defeating the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday afternoon. They take on the Chicago Sky on Thursday evening.
(Top photo of Liberty owners Clara Wu Tsai and Joe Tsai: Elsa / Getty Images)
