Wu Tsai: Expect New York Liberty to be first women’s sports team worth $1 billion

Clara Wu Tsai was once again sitting courtside at Barclays Center Saturday afternoon to watch her New York Liberty win their third straight game and the first this season at Barclays Center, a game that was televised on ABC. As usual, the co-owner of the Liberty and Brooklyn Nets was surrounded by big names like women sport icons Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe, Michelle Wie West and of course Sue Bird.

From a financial standpoint, the day was a success as well. The WNBA team reported a one game attendance record of 17,735. This surpasses the previous record set at Game 3 of the 2023 Liberty-Aces WNBA Finals. It also was the first time the Liberty earned more than $2 million in revenue in a single game.

The Libs like the rest of women’s basketball are riding a wave of dramatically increasing fan interest, one Wu Tsai believes could turn the Liberty into “the first billion dollar women’s sports franchise” as she said earlier this week.

In speaking to the Harvard Business School’s New York alumni club, Tsai predicted that everything is lining up for the big jump in valuations, starting with TV viewership. Her comments were recorded and tweeted out by Chitra Nawbatt, a fellow Harvard grad who attended the event...

“There’s so much room for growth and WNBA viewership will take a major leap forward,” said Wu Tsai after being honored with a Business Leadership Award by the club. Tsai has a Harvard MBA. “More viewership will translate into more fans and more revenue. Lucrative media deals will follow as will more expansion teams, more institutional investors, more owners with an investment mentality and further globalization of the game.

“All of these factors will increase team revenues many times over and expand valuation multiples and putting it all together, I believe that within 10 years, or less, I’ll be able to come back here to tell you about how we turned the New York Liberty into the first billion dollar women’s sports franchise.”

For the Liberty, such a valuation would be a boon for Wu Tsai and her husband, Joe Tsai, who bought the franchise in early 2019 from James Dolan reportedly for the assumption of debt and a promise of shared future profits. According to those who track sports investments, the Liberty are currently worth around $200 million.

Wu Tsai’s comments about the 10-year timeline were also another indicator that the Tsai’s intend to stay owners of their Brooklyn sport properties for the long term. Wu Tsai is a co-governor of the Liberty and co-owner of the Nets and Barclays Center. The Tsai’s control their sports assets also include two Professional Lacrosse League franchises and a minority share of the National Lacrosse League and the L.A.F.C. soccer team in the MLS.

Just last month, Oliver Weisberg, who runs the Tsai’s investment vehicle, Blue Pool Capital, said he is also interested in other sports investments, specifically mentioning women’s basketball as well as women’s soccer.

“Sports has become an actual asset class now,” Weisberg told Asian Investor. “We believe that the rising interest in live sports, and the increasing growth in media rights, that’s something we’re super excited about. It’s not just the NFL, the NBA, the NHL. It’s women’s soccer, women’s basketball.”