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For Renee Montgomery, it seemed obvious: 2020 would be a banner year.
Then came a pandemic, an overdue racial reckoning, and personal transformation.
But even from her perch on the sidelines, the unfolding drama was unmissable.
At the time, Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler was a co-owner of the Dream.
Raphael Warnock went on to win in a run-off contest.
Ownership had until that point not been on Montgomerys radar.
Her wife had encouraged her.
How better to spend her retirement than immersed in the game?
This wouldnt be some philanthropic second act.
This was good business.
She went for it.
In 2023, Nielsen crunched the viewership numbers andcharacterizedthe growth in audience for womens sports as meteoric.
In June,ESPNreported that a rematch between the two netted 2.3 million viewers.
Well, these women are owning it.
In 1991, her grandfather Bob Tisch bought 50 percent of the New York Giants.
She was six and grew up with the team, calling it the anchoring point of her childhood.
After college, Tisch Blodgett went to work in marketing, but kept a focus on athleticism and sports.
She worked at Peloton.
She got more involved with the Giants.
She made it her job to see opportunities and to chase them.
She was my basketball idol, Buss says.
It was a PR stunt, but she was being talked about.
Busss father corrected him.
No, David, Im grooming her to initiate the Lakers, he told Stern.
Its women making these decisions.
That was not the case when she got her start.
And that to me is what has happened.
Youre seeing women invest in opportunities in sports.
With their backing, she founded Next 3 and zeroed in onwomens sports.
She theorized that after three decades, it was obvious that her grandfathers bet had been a good one.
Three decades from now, she wanted to be able to tout a similar return.
About 72 hours later, it won the league championship.
Eight months after that, Tisch Blodgett insists her teamand the league as a wholeis just getting started.
Thats a point that Clara Wu Tsai echoes.
In 2019, Wu Tsai and her husband, Joe Tsai, bought the New York Liberty.
The Tsaiswho also own the Netsknew that the Liberty had been underinvested in.
It was pretty much a distressed asset, Wu Tsai says.
So we thought, Okay, lets take a look at this.
And instantly, we saw the business potential.
The couple hired a performance staff, including multiple trainers and a nutritionist.
The bets paid off.
The Liberty made the playoffs in 2021 and 2022.
A party is nice; ratingsand the ad buys that come with themare nicer.
It doesnt surprise her that its women who have rushed in to make the most of that potential.
We see opportunities more clearly, Wu Tsai says.
It occurs to her that perhaps women see challenges more clearly, too.
The WNBA is like the ultimate underdog league, isn’t it?
We deal with misogyny, racism, homophobiaits all there.
And so I think its also that we tend to take that on.
With a laugh, she notes that shes in good company.
Over and over, the idea of respect is one that the owners I speak to come back to.
How can players in the WNBA and NWSL command the same respect as their male peers?
What does it mean to invest in their gamewith better facilities, better pay, and better opportunity?
She didnt hesitate, despite the fact that people told her it was a mistake to write a check.
It was just a no brainer to me in terms of where I want to be.
You see the greatest awareness and attendance in the WNBA that weve ever seen before, she says.
Tisch Blodgett has a long list of her own priorities.
She is the first to volunteer that if the game is to be changed, risks must be taken.
It was a big bet, she reminds me.
And so while the success so far feels validating, she sees what must come next.
Increased coverage is great, although womens sports still get far less of it than mens sports do.
But, she points out, buzz doesnt translate into revenue immediately.
And so our challenge is to say, Great, Im so happy everyone is talking about this.
But we need to get butts in seats.
We have 13 home games.
We just added a bunch of summer tournaments.
We have a 25,000-person stadium.
Tisch Blodgett sees this moment as the first stage of a transformational moment in sports.
Some refer her to their foundations.
But others get it, and have poured their dollars into Gotham and the league.
She was looking at the numbers.
Already, she tells me, the return has been extraordinary.
Brand awareness and sentiment are up.
Ally is one of four banking brands to have grown its trust over the past year.
Brand value grew 32 percent, the highest jump in the last five years.
A few years ago, Ally partnered with CBS to put the NWSL championship game in primetime.
The game was held in DC, and it was almost completely sold out.
The year before, Brimmer had stood in a half-filled stadium while top-tier players competed at noon.
The contrast made her tear up.
It was very emotional for me.
You realize that the bet was right.
Are women better than men at monetizing womens sports?
In a decade or two, the data will decide.
But for now, Montgomery doesnt need to consult the metrics.
Like the smartest plays, this one is simple, she says.
Read more stories from the magazine.
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King Charleswho paid tribute to the pontiff on social mediais unlikely to attend.
