Another View
It’s been nearly a week since the WNBA announced that a 13th team will be coming to the Bay Area, to begin play in 2025. A second expansion franchise is expected to be announced later this year to make the W a 14-team league for the first time since 2008.
The NBA‘s Golden State Warriors will own the Bay Area team.
“Over the last 18 months, we’ve held bid meetings with a handful of potential markets. The San Francisco Bay Area has proven to meet the mark,” declared WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
Sadly, what was ignored amidst the hoopla is that a couple of years ago a group from Oakland, Calif. was formed to pursue a WNBA team for that city. Former WNBA player Alana Beard led the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) efforts in this regard.
However, not one person from the AASEG was present at last Thursday’s star-studded, invitation-only announcement ceremony at the Golden State Warrior’s arena. That absence wasn’t lost on city resident Zennie Abraham, who last week sent us his latest video blog on YouTube.
He complained that the dignitaries did not recognize “the work done [by AASEG] to try to get the WNBA expansion, not even in passing, or at least to offer a bid.” Abraham added that he believed the fact that AASEG was a Black-led group might have scared off some folks from taking them seriously.
“I would take the learnings and experiences from this process and set a new strategy towards continuing to pursue my goal of owning a WNBA team. My life’s work is to shift how women, in particular women of color, experience access to networks, capital, and opportunities,” tweeted Beard last week on her social media account.
Furthermore, this was a lost opportunity for the WNBA, with a majority of players who are Black, while none of the majority owners are. Actually, the last time Blacks were majority pro-team owners in this country was when the Negro Leagues existed over six decades ago.
A March 2023 article in The Guardian pointed out, “Black people still struggle to break the most fortified glass ceiling in sports…the owner’s suite.” Black journalist and author David Steele added, “Black ownership is the last chance for these sports to prove they’re not just fundamentally racist.”
Last year, Black media mogul Byron Allen got outbid by Walmart heir Rob Walton to buy the Denver Broncos football team. Former college and pro basketball player Brian Davis failed to buy Washington’s NFL club, losing out to a group that includes Earvin “Magic” Johnson. But the NBA legend isn’t the majority owner.
The same for former WNBA player Renee Montgomery, who is the first W player to own a team. She is co-owner of the Atlanta Dream. The same for Sheila Johnson, who partly owns the NBA‘s Washington Wizards, the NHL‘s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.
Majority team owners sign the checks and do the hiring and firing.
Why aren’t there more Black majority owners? Among the complex reasons is the ever-present racial wealth gap in the U.S. that too often can prove hard to overcome for Black individuals or groups, even with deep pockets compared to Whites with deeper pockets.
Michael Jordan is the last Black person to be majority owner of a major league sports franchise. He owned the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets for 13 seasons until he sold the club in August. Jordan bought it in 2010 from Robert Johnson, the founder of BET, who at the time was the league’s only Black majority team owner.
The WNBA squandered an opportunity to strike a blow and bust open that elusive ownership glass ceiling. The league endlessly talks a good game when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion. But as we saw last week, when money talks, diversity walks.
Support Black local news
Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.