The woman behind a franchise that no one seemed to want is aiming to orchestrate one of the most remarkable turnarounds in sports history.
The New York Liberty are one of the original franchises of the WNBA. Now, back in the finals, winning the team’s first title would cap a period of unprecedented growth for the team’s majority owner, Clara Wu Tsai.
Wu Tsai and her husband, Joe Tsai, purchased the team in 2019 for an undisclosed amount after the franchise’s previous owner, James Dolan, put the team up for sale in 2017. Dolan had moved the franchise from New York and wanted to move on. . Wu Tsai says that without investors in the market, she jumped at an opportunity that no one else wanted.
“We decided to take a serious look at it, and we decided it was a blue-chip asset that had a high rarity value and we decided it was a bit like owning a Picasso,” Wu Tsai said.
“If a Picasso comes along and you really like it, it’s rare. We looked at things the same way.
Wu Tsai began creating his own masterpiece soon after.
“The first thing we did was bring the team back to New York to play at the Barclays Center, much closer to the fans. And then we started investing in the team. We built a state-of-the-art locker room and we invested in our performance team, and over four years, through drafts, trades and free agency, we built an all-star team,” she said.
“It really all culminated in a trip I took to Türkiye in January 2023 to recruit (Liberty star center) Brianna Stewart. She has played a vital role in our success, and without her, we would not be the franchise we are today,” she admitted.
“Signing her gave other players the confidence to sign with us, and after she came and brought other stars, it allowed us to start winning. We reached the final the year last year, we are seeded number one.
The interest in the Brooklyn-based team is undeniable as women’s sports continue to reach unprecedented heights in the United States.
In the early days after Wu Tsai purchased the team, she says game attendance averaged about two to three thousand fans each night. Today, there are regularly more than 12,000.
“Our Liberty fans are incredibly diverse and engaged. When I look at our fan base, I think everyone comes very humble. The level of engagement the fans have with the players on the field and also with all the other entertainment we put on is truly something I’ve never felt before.
“We’re really trying to create a culture of inclusion and belonging and a place where everyone feels welcome. I really feel like we have the most inclusive fan base in all of professional sports today,” Wu Tsai told CNN last month.
All of this has made the Liberty Games one of New York’s premier summer destinations.
“I think people come for the basketball, but they also have fun from start to finish. Our fans see themselves in entertainment.
“Our (dance team) Timeless Torches and Ellie (the elephant) – she is more than a mascot, she is truly an entertainer. She really engages the crowd, and it all builds in the fourth quarter when we have something called Ellie Stomp and Ellie Wave,” she said, smiling.
Wu Tsai is now tasked with increasing interest in Liberty while keeping the games accessible to everyone.
“Attracting new fans is very important. It is essential that the league continues to grow. At the same time, we must recognize our oldest and most loyal fans, because we would not be where we are today without them,” acknowledged Wu Tsai.
“It is our responsibility to ensure the franchise is financially strong so that we can continue to invest in the franchise and realize the full business potential of the WNBA. This year, due to increased demand, we have established a waiting list for our tickets to the field.
“There is also a sharp increase in ticket prices in the secondary market, and so we have had to increase our prices to simply respond to these market forces.
“But at the same time, in response to that, we have decided to open our upper bowl next year for every game and the entry price will be $25. We have also ensured that when we introduce these increases prices, we place the price increase for our most loyal and longest subscribers.
Wu Tsai says the balance between growth and accessibility ultimately reflects how far the league has come and where it can go from here.
“Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, Cameron Brink…a lot of these players became household names before they even entered the (WNBA) draft. They are a highly skilled rookie class and have brought a lot of attention and looks to the WNBA.
“The thing about Caitlin is people come to see her style of play. The three logo is basically the equivalent of our dunk. We don’t need to dive. We have logo three. That kind of basketball people want to see, and they want to see it in person. It’s because of her and the entire rookie class that we’ve seen such an increase in viewership,” she said.
That increase in viewership has helped Wu Tsai spearhead what could become the most successful franchise turnaround in WNBA history, perhaps in the history of women’s sports.
She estimates that the valuation of the franchise could eventually reach one billion.
But she’s also a champion for women off the field. Wu Tsai breaks research barriers in the study of female athletes.
Three years ago, she launched the Human Performance Alliance, a groundbreaking initiative that revolutionized the study of women and, ultimately, the collective health of society.
She said: “A few years ago we launched the Human Performance Alliance, a scientific research collaboration of six universities. Almost everything we know about human health comes from the study of disease, which is why we created this Alliance to change that approach, and we study the peak performance of elite athletes.
Wu Tsai says the hope is to discover the biological principles underlying human performance and apply them to everyone so that people around the world can achieve optimal health and well-being.
“A major initiative of the Human Performance Alliance is the Women’s Athlete Program. It was important to do this because I think less than 25% of all health studies are done on women, even though, of course, we make up about 50% of the population,” Wu Tsai noted.
“Our approach is to take a more holistic view of female athletes.
“We study hormonal cycles, we study nutritional needs, and we even study some psychological stressors that can arise in team sports. Women suffer ACL tears twice as often as men. This Alliance is trying to find out why this is happening and then develop preventative measures to make sure it doesn’t happen.
“It’s really rewarding to be a part of something that’s going to address an important need that we have.” Wu Tsai said.
Through his philanthropic foundation, Wu Tsai has donated more than $200 million to advance this research, with the ultimate goal of transforming our collective health on a global scale by studying human performance insights and which contributes to the optimal performance of athletes. She also helps fund philanthropic programs in the Brooklyn community, where Liberty continues to shine.
“Our teams play in New York and therefore belong to New York and Brooklyn because we play in Brooklyn,” she said.
“That’s why it’s always been important to me to grow and support our community. Shortly after we purchased the team, Covid hit, so one of the first things we did was provide zero and low interest loans to businesses, particularly black businesses that have been hit hardest by Covid.
“We provided $2.8 million in loans to 98 businesses. We also launched a technology accelerator, which we call BK-XL, and we provide seed funding to start-ups primarily led by underrepresented founders. So far, we’ve funded 18 startups over two summers in Brooklyn.
Wu Tsai also coordinated boot camps with students from Cornell University and Yale University to develop blockchain and AI. curriculum for public high school students in Brooklyn and launched a program with the New York Department of Education to fund a art program based on the life and philosophy of Jean Michel Basquiat, one of Brooklyn’s best-known painters.
“This program is taught in 75 schools and to 4,000 schoolchildren in New York City. At the end of the program, selected students are invited to exhibit their work in the atrium and Barclay Center. We have an exhibition open to students, their parents, their teachers and the community,” Wu Tsai said.
“It’s wonderful to see it all come together. Ultimately, we want people to feel included and have a sense of belonging not only in the community, but for all of that to extend to the arena. I think it really comes full circle and it’s very rewarding.
The Liberty will aim to win the franchise’s first title starting Thursday in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.
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