Five years after playing before just 2,000 fans in White Plains, the New York Liberty have completed an impressive turnaround, clinching their first WNBA title. The future looks brighter than ever.
From the inception of the Women’s National Basketball Association, it always seemed that a championship was inevitable for the New York Liberty. As a franchise boasting glamour, they made it to the championship game in the league’s inaugural season in 1997, only to fall to the Houston Comets in front of a packed crowd of 16,285—a game that was quickly overshadowed by the tragic death of Princess Diana. This was the first of five instances where New York stumbled at the final step, including last season’s heartbreaking loss to the Las Vegas Aces on their home court. Over the years, while they featured a procession of notable stars like Rebecca Lobo, Teresa Weatherspoon, Becky Hammon, Cappie Pondexter, and Tina Charles, falling short became synonymous with the Liberty, much like their co-tenants at Madison Square Garden.
Thus, Sunday night’s exhilarating triumph—a dramatic overtime victory against the Minnesota Lynx, making them the last of the WNBA’s Original Eight teams to win a title—was long overdue. As confetti blanketed the Barclays Center, with Ellie the Elephant dancing to *Empire State of Mind* amid cheers from 18,800 fans, it was easy to overlook how low the Liberty had sunk under previous management—and how extraordinary their turnaround has been.
Just six years ago, under a less than enthusiastic ownership, the Liberty faced what could be described as neglect. When James L. Dolan failed to find a buyer after putting the team up for sale in November 2017, the Liberty were relegated to the Westchester County Center in White Plains, nearly 30 miles from Manhattan. A team that had once ranked near the top in attendance during rough patches was now playing in a 5,000-seat venue built before the Great Depression. As expected, average attendance dropped below 2,200, and the team finished with a dismal 7-27 record.
Organizational morale was at an all-time low when Joe and Clara Wu Tsai saw the franchise as an undervalued asset and purchased it in 2019. Remarkably, things changed rapidly. Moving the team to Barclays Center was an obvious decision once the Tsais acquired the venue alongside their purchase of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. Following the 2020 collective bargaining agreement—which eased restrictions on player movement—Wu Tsai made a bold move by locating star free agent Breanna Stewart on a yacht in Turkey to deliver a recruitment pitch. The Liberty successfully signed two-time WNBA Finals MVP Stewart and All-Star point guard Courtney Vandersloot and traded for former MVP Jonquel Jones, complementing a young core led by former No. 1 draft pick Sabrina Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. This newly minted superteam came tantalizingly close to a title in their inaugural season together, only to finally break through last night. More significantly, Liberty games transformed into a bona fide Brooklyn event, demonstrated by spikes in attendance, ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, and even their social media-savvy viral mascot, who commands more followers than nearly half the roster.
“At the time we bought the team four years ago, they were playing in Westchester County Center to crowds of just 2,000,” Wu Tsai shared during Sunday’s trophy presentation. “From the outset, our goal was to bring them to Barclays Center, giving them the platform they truly deserved. We aimed to provide the facilities, performance nutrition, and everything else these elite professional athletes need to thrive.”
The benefits of informed ownership and targeted investment aren’t new, but the WNBA provides a unique proving ground for these principles. Take the Las Vegas Aces, the two-time defending champions who fell to New York in this year’s semifinals. With an elite core featuring A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, and Kelsey Plum, owner Mark Davis has shown unwavering commitment to maximizing their potential, cultivating an organizational culture that rivals that of the best in women’s sports.
Since acquiring the Aces three years ago, Davis enticed Becky Hammon from the NBA with a historic $1 million-a-year contract and invested $40 million in an 80,000-square-foot state-of-the-art practice facility—the first women-specific training complex in WNBA history. The results are evident.
Similarly, the Seattle Storm, who have claimed two of the last seven WNBA titles, recently opened a $60 million, 50,000-square-foot training center designed exclusively for female athletes—famously without a single urinal. This marks a stark contrast from the WNBA teams that used to practice in local gymnasiums.
Such a culture truly translates to success on the court. Take, for instance, Sunday night’s gripping finale, where the Liberty’s two Olympic gold medalists struggled offensively: Ionescu landed just one of her 19 attempts, while Stewart fared only slightly better. In crucial moments, it was role players like Nyara Sabally and rookie Leonie Fiebich who stepped up, showcasing that the Liberty have evolved from a hodgepodge of star players into a cohesive winning team.
This victory marks a fitting culmination to a WNBA season that has broken records for television viewership, merchandise sales, and attendance, capturing the public’s attention like never before. Furthermore, less than five years after acquiring the team at a bargain price, the Tsais’ recent sale of a 15% stake in BSE Global now values the Liberty at $200 million. Wu Tsai has boldly predicted that this figure could surpass $1 billion within the next decade. The era of viewing women’s sports solely as a social movement has passed; it’s become clear that it’s simply sound business.
