3.2 billion valuation was invested in women s sports ceiling

Text / Miaoli

In order to promote the new film "Kung Fu Dream: The Way of Fusion", the 71-year-old Jackie Chan began to open high-intensity business and frequently appeared in public. The latest stop he went to was the Barclays Center Arena in New York, where he sat on the sidelines to watch the WNBA New York Liberty and Golden State Valkyrie.

Jackie Chan and Sabrina Ionescu Photo source: WNBA Social Media

As the defending champion, the Liberty started the season with 7 wins and 0 losses, and was unbeaten. Off the field, they also dropped a bombshell in the capital market: Not long ago, the Liberty completed the sale of some equity at a valuation of US$450 million (about 3.24 billion yuan), setting a record for the highest valuation of women's sports clubs. There are many big names on the list of investors: for example, Jack Ma, who made a public appearance and became a big news, supermodel "Little KK" Karlie Kloss, and former Bucks boss daughter Samantha Lasry and others.

New York Liberty, a team once regarded as the WNBA marginal team, has soared 30 times in just five years, and has become one of the most commercially imaginative targets in women's professional sports.

And behind all this is a familiar Chinese couple: Cai Chongxin and Wu Minghua.

Photo source: asiasociety

2019, Tsai Chongxin and Wu Minghua bought the Liberty from New York Knicks boss James Dolan for more than $10 million. At that time, the transaction was regarded as an investment of "public welfare".

After all, although in New York, the world's top sports and commercial market, the libero has been sluggish in the past 20 years and lacks attention.

But for Cai Chongxin and Wu Minghua, this was not a charity deal, but the couple saw the potential of women's sports. In terms of the management division of labor of the Liberty Team, the decision-maker is Wu Minghua.

From the beginning, Wu Minghua had a clear vision and determination: to prove that as long as the team boss is willing to invest heavily, women's basketball can also bring huge profits.

After completing the acquisition, the first major thing Wu Minghua did was to move the team's home court from a suburban venue to the Barclays Center where the Nets were located, and began to systematically improve the team's infrastructure and operational level.

For example, a comprehensive renovation of the locker room; a full-time training team with NBA standards, including physical coaches, nutritionists and physical therapists; providing players with more benefits, and ultimately promoting the normalization of chartered flights in the WNBA.

The pursuit of the championship has also become the team's only competitive goal. In 2020, the Liberty won the "female Curry" Sabrina Ionescu with the No. 1 pick, and started the lineup with her as the cornerstone. Three years later, Wu Minghua personally took action and persuaded Brianna Stewart, the biggest free agent at the time, to join the team. In this way, a core lineup that can compete for championships every year has been created.

In 2023, the Liberty reached the WNBA Finals after 21 years. Although they eventually lost to the Las Vegas Ace, they made a comeback last season and won the first WNBA championship trophy in team history with the Minnesota Bobcats.

Source: Secret NYC

"By winning the championship, we finally proved one thing. We proved that when you are willing to invest in women, you can build a championship team, fill the stadium, have a group of highly devoted fans, and present a game as high as the men's league on the court." Wu Minghua is one step closer to his own vision.

Of course, the rise of free people is not only reflected in the competitive level, but also expands rapidly in business. When I first moved to Barclays Center, this stadium with a capacity of 18,000 people, the volleyball team only had an attendance rate of about 2,000 people per game. "The stadium was so quiet that fans could hear the players' breathing and communication"

However, in the past two years, the volleyball team has been hard to find. At first glance, the seats on the sidelines are all social celebrities, and the "star content" is not inferior to the Knicks and Brothers' Nets in the same city. Last season, team ticket sales increased by 64% year-on-year, season ticket members increased by 152%, and corporate sponsorship increased by 80%.

The new season starts 7-0 Source: Free Social Media

Of course, the free people's rush is not an isolated case, but behind it is the accumulation and development of women's sports after nearly 30 years of dormant.

Earlier this month, Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian acquired a stake in Chelsea women's football team in England Women's Premier League (WSL) for $26.5 million, bringing the club's valuation to $265 million; in July last year, Angel City FC of the NWSL completed the transfer at a valuation of $250 million.

focuses on the WNBA where the libero is located. According to data from "Sportico", the average valuation of WNBA teams in 2024 reached US$130 million. The Clark effect is becoming a phenomenon that Messi has in MLS. Previously, Krypton Sports reported on the importance of Clark to Indiana fanaticism and the WNBA, and directly changed from a small team to a phenomenal sports target that won 73 sponsors.

What does a women's basketball team with 73 sponsors look like? Source: Indiana Social Media

Last season, ESPN broadcasted 24 WNBA regular season games, with an annual viewership increase of 170%, with an average viewership of 1.7 million per game. The number of live audiences increased by 48% compared with 2023; sales of merchandise through the alliance's official website and Manhattan physical stores increased by 601%. At the beginning of this season, the average ratings between Indiana Fanatic and Chicago Sky reached 2.7 million, breaking the WNBA ratings record in the past 25 years.

Ratings, sponsorship, commercial transformation... Women's sports are no longer "charity projects" maintained by emotions, but are real investment targets and commercial platforms.

Wu Minghua obviously also sees a further future. Her next goal is to push the valuation of the Liberty to $1 billion by 2035, becoming the first club in the history of women's sports to "break ten":

"Like all women's sports, this team has been undervalued and ignored in the past. We have changed all this, we bet on women, and we are succeeding."

Judging from the volleyball team's craze and the overall development of women's sports, this is definitely not a dream.

Of course, we must also realize that all these achievements are not pies that fall from the sky.

The women's sports have such capital returns today because over the past decades, some people have invested real money to operate, tell stories and create stars. While giving women a mobile phone and platform, they adhere to the long-term development concept rather than blindly pursuing short-term returns.

At present, free people are winning, and women's sports are winning. Whenever you want to question the "not good-looking" and "can't make money", you should ask first: Have you really watched it? Do you really care?

After all, we all heard the saying: "There is no free lunch in the world." But why do we seem to have forgotten this most basic truth when it comes to women's sports?