We’ve reached the end of another week. But before we clock out for the weekend, we’re giving credit where it’s due. Serena Williams and the Toronto Tempo are the latest champions in our Winner of the Week series.
The first WNBA team founded outside the United States—the Toronto Tempo—just got a major new investor: none other than tennis legend Serena Williams. Forever an advocate for women in sports, Williams put her money where her mouth is and announced on March 3 that she was becoming a co-owner of the team, which will begin playing in 2026. “New court, new game. 🏀,” Williams wrote on Instagram to announce the partnership. Kicking off Women’s History Month right!
Technically the league still needs to approve Williams’s investment, per People, but according to a press release from the team, once that’s settled she’s going to help design the uniforms and other merch. “This moment is not just about basketball; it is about showcasing the true value and potential of female athletes—I have always said that women’s sports are an incredible investment opportunity,” Williams said in the release.
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There is no part of this that isn’t perfect. Last year was huge for women’s basketball, with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese making their respective college games into must-watch sports television, then bringing that energy and attention to the WNBA after they were drafted in the first round. And of course, they aren’t the only exciting rookies—a personal highlight of last year for me was seeing Cameron Brink play for the Sparks before an injury took her out for the season. That buzz, coupled with excitement over athletes like Ilona Maher, Simone Biles, and Katie Ledecky at the Olympics made 2024 the year of “everyone watches women’s sports.”
Women’s sports has always needed boosters. Kobe Bryant was a major supporter of the WNBA. Geena Davis, inspired after starring in A League of Their Own, has been a champion for Title IX for over two decades now. Williams herself already has a minority stake in Los Angeles women’s soccer team Angel City, whose principal owner is her husband, Alexis Ohanian. Angel City was cofounded by Natalie Portman and boasts a long roster of celebrity investors, as do a handful of other NWSL teams; Brittany Mahomes is a co-owner of the Kansas City Current; Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child has a minority stake in the Chicago Sky.
But there’s no one like Serena. She is a cultural force, widely regarded as our greatest living athlete, a woman whose childhood was turned into an Oscar-winning film, who danced at the Super Bowl, who stands for complete domination of her sport and has earned the respect of even the most begrudging misogynists. For her to use her platform to elevate a new franchise is commendable—for her to invest in it is downright helpful. Serena Williams believes that this WNBA team will be profitable, which the league currently is not. That’s huge.
She easily could have gone the Tom Brady route and taken a gig commentating on tennis matches for a hefty salary. She could open the Serena Williams Sports Academy and earn do-gooder points. She could probably have a talk show if she wanted. And Williams may still take any of those paths, but for her to join the women pouring money into women’s sports instead of just cashing out is a real boost.
In April 2024, Macaela MacKenzie, author of Money, Power, Respect: How Women in Sports Are Shaping the Future of Feminism, reflected on the “Caitlin Clark effect” in an essay for Glamour, writing, “Equality for women’s sports starts with equal opportunity, equal pay, and equal investment…We’ve seen epic athletes before…But time after time, the excitement fades…It’s up to us to keep up the momentum.”
Williams’s investment is obviously not a one-and-done deal that fixes the patriarchy, but it absolutely is a sign of growing, not fading, momentum. It’s not a vanity project or symbolic stamp of approval. It has the potential to grow the league significantly. If 2026 is the year the WNBA taps into an international market, creates merch that flies off the shelves and attracts the A-listers who regularly sit courtside to watch the men? Grand slam dunk. Sorry, had to.
