In order to create a better future, it is said that you must recognize the past that will allow you to celebrate the present and build towards a brighter future. After a season where they were put in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons by an owner and then United States Senator who did not want to embrace a future of equality that the players on the team’s roster wanted, that said team along with the other teams of the NBA decided to back her opponent. In January, that opponent thanks to the people of that state voted that owner out and on Friday her team was sold.
On Friday, the Women’s National Basketball
Association (WNBA) announced that the Atlanta Dream, which was previously co-owned
by now former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) has been sold to executives
from a national real estate firm and a former player of the dream in Renee
Montgomery, who played 11 seasons in the league, winning two WNBA titles with
the Minnesota Lynx.
“My Dream has come true,” Montgomery, who
announced her retirement from the WNBA on February 9 said in a statement on
Friday. “Breaking barriers for minorities and women by being the first former
WNBA player to have both a stake in ownership and leadership role with the team
is an opportunity that I take very seriously. I invite you to join me as a Dream
builds momentum in Atlanta.”
The Dream were sold to chairman of the
real estate firm Northland, Larry Gottesdiener, which got unanimous approval by
the league and the National Basketball Association’s Board of Governor, the
WNBA said in a statement at the start of this weekend.
The new three-member ownership group also
consists of Northland’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Suzanne Abair and
Montgomery, who became the first former WNBA player to become an owner and
executive of a WNBA squad.
“I am so thrilled that former WNBA star
Renee Montgomery will be joining the ownership group as an investor and executive
for the team,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement on Friday.
Engelbert added that the approval of the
sale of Dream “Marks a new beginning for the Atlanta Dream organization and we
are pleased to welcome Larry Gottesdiener and Suzanne Abair to the WNBA.”
Montgomery, who also won two collegiate titles at the University of Connecticut opted out of the 2020 WNBA season to focus on the fight for social justice in the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Georgia natives Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks, and many others at the hands of law enforcement.
Montgomery joins a prestigious list of
former and current athletes to have an ownership stake in a professional sports
team. Michael Jordan has ownership stake in the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. Hall
of Famer and five-time champion with the New York Yankees Derek Jeter has ownership
stake in the MLB’s Miami Marlins. Super Bowl champion quarterback of the Kansas
City Chiefs and NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes and Hall of Famer and five-time champion
in his playing days with the Los Angeles Lakers Earvin “Magic” Johnson have ownership
stakes in the Kansas City Royals and reigning MLB champion Los Angeles Dodgers
respectably. Hockey Hall of Famer and champion Mario Lemieux has ownership
stake in his former team the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tennis legend sisters Venus
and Serena Williams have ownership stake in the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, while the
aforementioned four-time Kia MVP and four-time NBA champion LeBron James; 2014
Kia MVP and two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets and his
teammate in 2018 Kia MVP James Harden, and Super Bowl champion quarterback of
the Seattle Seahawks Russell Wilson own respective stakes in soccer squads in Liverpool,
Philadelphia Union, Houston Dynamo, and Seattle Sounders.
“People like LeBron James, who keeps
talking about what ownership means, and what it could mean to have the right
people in ownership, that just kind of fueled me. And I wanted to be that more
than an athlete,” Montgomery said. “It sounds cliché but being more than an athlete
does mean being in these types of situations, but it’s also exciting when you
do get to see women in these power positions.”
It was former Senator Loeffler’s opposing
to her then team’s support of social justice issues and backing groups like Black
Lives Matter that put her at odds with her own team.
The beginning of the end of Loeffler as
owner of the Dream began when she made controversial comments on the racial
disparities in our nation, and how she opposed the league allowing its players
to put the last name of those who had their lives taken at the hands of those
that are supposed to protect them.
Loeffler, a supporter of former President
Donald Trump said in a note that she opposed the players’ plan to wear “Black
Lives Matter” and “Say Her Name” shirts during warm-ups last season, which took
place at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL because it was an endorsement in her eyes
of a “particular political agenda” and it was sending a message of “exclusion.”
Calls for Loeffler’s ouster as owner of
the Dream began there, and that led to not only the players on the Dream, but
the entire league decided to put their support behind her opponent in her Senate
race Rev. Raphael Warnock, who defeated Loeffler in the January run-off
election. That win along with the victory by Jon Ossoff (D-GA) over his opponent
David Perdue (R-GA) that gave control of the U.S. Senate to the Democrats, thanks
to now President Joe Biden being voted President of the United States in
November 2020, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first female Vice
President in our nation being the tiebreaking vote in the Senate.
In the lead up to the run-off election,
several Dream players were seen wearing “Vote Warnock” shirts.
Leading the charge to ouster now former
Senator Loeffler not just as Senator of Georgia, but as co-owner of the Dream
was Montgomery herself, who said in an impassionate not that was published on “Medium”
writing: “Senator Loeffler, with or without you, we will continue this movement
because it’s bigger than me or you.”
She also drew a lot of inspiration from former
Senator Harris (D-CA), whose election as the first woman to be Vice President of
our nation showed her that women in powerful positions of leadership is how our
nation can live up to its promise of equal opportunity for everyone.
“It started with our Vice President
[Harris]. Having the first woman as the Vice President I think that set the
tone moving forward that the future is female,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery also said that the election of
the first woman to the second highest office in our nation that made her see
that women can be in positions of leadership and lead not just sports leagues
to greater heights but our nation as well.
Behind the efforts of Montgomery and the
144 players of the WNBA that played this past season that raised the profile of
Rev. Warnock and ultimately got the attention of Georgia voters to vote for
better representation in their state.
In a statement, Loeffler and former Dream
co-owner Mary Brock said in a statement, “We are proud of what we accomplished
and wish the team well in their next chapter.”
Last summer the WNBA and the Atlanta Dream
took a stand against one of their own who they felt was no representative of
their ideals of who and what they stand for.
They formulated a plan to stand up to
former Senator Kelly Loeffler by first stating that they disapproved of her
thoughts against social justice and “Black Lives Matter.”
The Dream and the rest of the WNBA then
backed Loeffler’s opponent in Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), which raised his
profile not just in the state of Georgia but the entire nation. Rev. Warnock
defeated Loeffler in the Georgia run-off in January and this weekend said goodbye
to her as owner of the Atlanta Dream.
This past summer, the WNBA flexed its
muscles in the fight for a more equal and better future, and they hope the sale
of the Dream to a new ownership group that includes Renee Montgomery is the
start of a brighter and better future for not just the WNBA but for women.
“Last year, 2020, the players of the Dream
refused to just shut up and dribble,” Gottesdiener said in a call with
reporters on Friday. “They found their collective voice and the world listened.”
“We are inspired by these brave women who
navigated sports and activism in the midst of a [Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,”
he added, “and we want to celebrate and honor them.”
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