on May 30, 2025, 12:09:51, in reply to "We won't get a true valuation on any of these until there is a full sale"
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SPORTICO: CHICAGO SKY ADD OWNERS, INCLUDING LAURA RICKETTS, AT $85M VALUATION
Tue, Jun 6, 2023, 9:12 PM
The owners of the Chicago Sky have sold 10% of the team to a group of eight investors, most of them women, at an $85 million valuation—the second-highest in the league behind Seattle. The Storm raised $21 million from 15 new investors earlier this year at a $130 million valuation (which was widely reported as a $151 million post-money valuation).
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The new investors include Laura Ricketts, co-owner of MLB’s Chicago Cubs, and Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon as well as Laura Desmond, CEO of Smartly.io, founder and CEO of private equity firm Eagle Vista Partners and operating partner at Providence Equity Partners. Other newcomers are Cari Sacks, chair of the board of trustees at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art; Tina Tchen, former president and CEO of Time’s Up and current chief strategy and impact officer at the Obama Foundation and principal at Seneca Strategies; and Anne Sempowski Ward, CEO of Curio Brands—giving Chicago one of the most diverse ownership groups in the league.
Rawlinson, a Silicon Valley veteran who joined the team in January as co-owner, and John Rogers, one of the Sky’s early minority owners, are also investing additional money in the team. Specific details of the investments were not disclosed; it is unclear how much of the team each new owner will hold or how the raise dilutes existing shareholders. The valuation was done by Chicago investment bank Loop Capital’s advisory practice.
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The raises in both Chicago and Seattle mark a dramatic rise in valuation for WNBA teams, which have sold for as little as around $2 million as recently as 2021, when Mark Davis bought the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces.
Chicago will focus on deploying the $8.5 million raised in three key areas: player experience, marketing and staffing, with a priority on constructing a practice facility for the Sky.
https://sky.wnba.com/news/sportico-chicago-sky-add-owners-including-laura-ricketts-at-85m-valuation
FWLIW: Tina Tchen she was something like "chief of staff" for Michelle Obama during the White House years. Some sort of gatekeeper IIRC.
She has been in the ""news"" for things she did after that. :-O
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