Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian explains his noble reason for not buying a WNBA team despite his wife being 'super interested'
Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, has shed light on the reason behind his decision not to invest in a WNBA team. Ohanian explained that he was focused on the more noble endeavor of contributing to the growth of women's basketball on a foundational level.
As a passionate advocate for women's sports, Ohanian has demonstrated his dedication by co-owning the NWSL team Angel City FC with Serena Williams and their daughters, as well as launching the female-only track and field event Athlos. However, Ohanian has disclosed why he won't pursue ownership in the WNBA, despite the 23-time Grand Slam champion being "super interested" in the prospect.
In a recent conversation with college basketball player Flau'jae Johnson, Alexis Ohanian revealed that his interest lay in making women's college basketball more viable. The 41-year-old highlighted that he had even made a public expression of his desire to buy its rights from the NCAA due to his dissatisfaction with how the program was being run.
"I had a conversation with Adam Silver (Commisioner of the NBA) years ago. College basketball was so clearly the battleground for women, and there’s a tweet from me asking the NCAA to sell me the rights to women’s college basketball because I was way more interested in figuring out how to make that viable," Ohanian said.
Ohanian emphasized that the NCAA was "under-investing" in women's sports for years, only for athletes like the college basketball stars to boost both revenue and attention to the sport.
"Ironically, the NCAA had been so under-investing in college women, remember the weight room fiasco, not being able to even say March Madness," Serena Williams' husband said.
"So I mean, just imagine, you’re taking a thing that today is driving all of the attention and that attention means revenue and four years ago the stars weren’t even getting a weight room to train in and couldn’t even get the branding because they thought it was too precious and belonged to men," she added.
The 41-year-old further took satisfaction in silencing the critics who claimed that no one cared about women's sports since leagues like the WNBA were raking in the dollars.
"In this country, capitalism sort of trumps everything and so all the people in my replies who would say like, 'Oh no one cares about women’s sports,' you cannot make that argument now because the dollars don’t lie. And NIL made it so crystal clear that you all were so valuable and they just had been dropping the ball for a decade," Ohanian said.
Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, also called attention to the efforts he had made in the sphere, such as making the largest-ever donation to the University of Virginia's women's basketball team and signing a "multi-year commitment" with the team.
"Women’s college basketball is up next, I’ll tell you that right now. @flaujae asked if I’d considered investing in the WNBA, but my sights are set on NCAA Women’s Basketball. It’s not just talk – look no further than my recent announcement that my first big investment into the space will be with a multi-year commitment to @uvawomenshoops 🔥," Ohanian captioned his Instagram post.
Serena Williams: "I would definitely be super interested in owning a WNBA team"
Serena Williams has shared a different perspective on the prospect of owning a WNBA franchise in comparison to her husband Alexis Ohanian. In an interview with CNN earlier this year, the former World No. 1 disclosed that she would be "super interested" in investing in a WNBA team in the right market.
"I absolutely would be (interested). With the right market, I would definitely be super interested in that (owning a WNBA team)," Serena Williams said.
Williams also described women's sports as an "overly safe bet," highlighting how the growing popularity and excitement surrounding sports like women's basketball mitigated the risk factor.
"[Women’s sport is] an overly safe bet to me when it comes to investing. There is no risk (factor). Women’s sport is exciting, women are exciting to watch. What’s the difference? … I think that even more people watched the college women’s basketball than the men. So I think that people are realizing that is exciting to watch," she added.
Alongside her husband Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams has also expressed her admiration for Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, even offering valuable advice to the 22-year-old on dealing with "negativity."