(CNN) — Tennis legend Serena Williams is including a brand new title to her illustrious portfolio: WNBA group proprietor.
The WNBA’s Toronto Tempo, an growth franchise that may start play in 2026, introduced Monday that the 23-time grand slam champion is the latest a part of the group’s possession group. She joined an possession group that’s led by Larry Tanenbaum, the chairman of Kilmer Sports activities Ventures.
“I’m thrilled to announce my possession position within the first Canadian WNBA group, the Toronto Tempo,” Williams stated in a press release. “This second is not only about basketball; it’s about showcasing the true worth and potential of feminine athletes — I’ve all the time stated that ladies’s sports activities are an unimaginable funding alternative. I’m excited to accomplice with Larry and all of Canada in creating this new WNBA franchise and legacy.”
As part of her position within the new Toronto group, Williams might be concerned in future jersey designs and merchandise collaborations. She studied design early in her profession and has lengthy been a fixture on the style scene all through her storied profession.
The WNBA is increasing to 13 groups this season with the addition of the Golden State Valkyries because the league enjoys new heights of recognition. In 2026, the Tempo and a yet-to-be named franchise in Portland, Oregon, would be the 14th and fifteenth groups, respectively, to hitch the league. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert beforehand has stated she hopes to have 16 groups by 2028.
“Serena Williams is an icon, a job mannequin and a power for change on the planet” Tanenbaum
stated in a press release. “She’s earned each little bit of her unimaginable success with laborious work, tenacity and dedication within the face of numerous challenges. She exemplifies the perfect of what the Tempo stand for – we couldn’t be extra honoured to have Serena in our court docket.”
Williams’ lengthy and glittering profession has seen her win 23 grand slam singles titles. She’s amassed almost $95 million in profession winnings.
She instructed CNN’s Amanda Davies final 12 months that proudly owning a WNBA group has lengthy been a precedence. She is a minority proprietor of the Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League’s Angel Metropolis FC, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TGL, and he or she owns part of the Miami Dolphins alongside along with her sister and fellow tennis legend, Venus Williams.
“I completely can be (). With the proper market, I’d undoubtedly be tremendous thinking about that,” she stated to CNN on the time, acknowledging the “second” that ladies’s basketball is having after a profitable NCAA match that broke all types of viewing information.
Even earlier than she moved away from tennis, Williams’ firm Serena Ventures had invested in 66 startups, together with 16 unicorns – corporations valued at greater than $1 billion. She has additionally sought to champion historically underrepresented entrepreneurs – 78% of the startups wherein Serena Ventures had invested had been began by ladies and other people of colour.
And as an skilled investor, Williams instructed Davies that ladies’s sports activities are “a very secure guess to me in the case of investing.”
“There is no such thing as a danger (issue),” she stated. “Girls’s sport is thrilling, ladies are thrilling to look at. What’s the distinction? … I believe that much more folks watched the school ladies’s basketball than the lads. So I believe that individuals are realizing that’s thrilling to look at.”
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