Familiar names now own Dream franchise
Former UConn star Montgomery, Hartford investor Gottesdiener part of ownership group
UConn alum and former WNBAstar Renee Montgomery and Larry Gottesdiener, whose Northland Investment Corporation is a major commercial landlord in downtown Hartford, have bought the Atlanta Dream franchise, the WNBA announced Friday.
The sale was approved unanimously by the WNBA and NBA Board of Governors, the league’s announcement said. The three-member investor group also includes Northland President and COO Suzanne Abair.
A sale of the Dream franchise seemed to be in the works after WNBA players, who put social justice at the forefront of their 2020 “bubble” season this past summer, rebuked former team ownerKellyLoeffler’santi-Black Lives Matter stance.
WNBA players threw their support behind Raphael Warnock, who was running against Loeffler for her U.S. Senate seat this fall. Since Warnockwontherunoffelection in early January, WNBA players have been widely recognized for raising his national profile at a crucial time in the race.
Loeffler had been a co-owner with Mary Brock since 2011. Brock also sold her share of the team, which will stay in Atlanta.
Montgomery ‘more than an athlete’
Montgomery played 11 seasons in the WNBA(primarily with the Minnesota Lynx
and Connecticut Sun but most recently the Dream) before opting out of the 2020 season to focus on social justice activism.
As part of that work, she started a campaign called “Moments Equal Momentum” that serves the Atlanta community, created a voter registration and education initiative, spearheaded a fundraising campaign for Morris Brown College, Georgia’s oldest private HBCU, and got involved with LeBron James’ More Than AVote athlete collective.
A conversation with former Husky Diana Taurasi last year initially spurred Montgomery’s interest in becoming a team owner. She didn’t start seriously thinking about buying the Dream until October. With the support of More Than a Vote, and a James tweet encouraging a change in Atlanta’s ownership, Montgomery pursued transitioning from player to owner, officially announcing her retirement earlier this month.
“I still could play if I wanted to, but I recognize this opportunity the same way I recognized when I opted out in 2020 that there was something happening here,” Montgomery said. “And when I talked to Suzanne and Larry, I really got it. Like, this is what I need to be doing. ... I wanted to be that ‘more than an athlete.’ ”
Montgomery will be the first former player to become an owner and executive of a WNBA team, a role that she hopes paves the way for more players to get involved in the front office.
“It’s exciting when you see representation at any high level of management, and there’s been a lot of talk about it amongst players,” Montgomery said. “I recognize that this is an opportunity not just for myself but for players as a whole, whether that’s women that are players or men, just seeing themselves in a different light.”
She spoke passionately about connecting the Dream to the Atlanta community, leading with player-first perspective and incorporating activism into the fabric of the franchise.
“The things that I’m already passionate about, Suzanne is going to help guide me and get me there,” Montgomery said. “We’re going to hopefully make it a destination that it’s hard to turn down coming to the Dream. That’s my goal.”
The Dream have reached the WNBAFinals three times but have not made the postseason three of the last four years — the other year falling in the conference finals.
Montgomery, who played UConn from 20052009 and won a national title as a senior, said she’d spoken to former coach Geno Auriemma about the news and that he said he was proud of her.
“I admire her a lot,” Auriemma said after Montgomery announced her retirement. “Renee’s been Renee; she hasn’t changed much since her freshman year. She owns the room every time she walks in. And she owns all of it, not some of it.
“I think Renee found something that’s maybe more challenging, more rewarding, more compelling right now for what her life is than [playing] basketball. And she’s young enough that she can devote a lot of time and energy to it. So I’m really proud of her.”
Majority owner Gottesdiener has some Hartford ties
Gottesdiener is the founder and chairman of Northland Investment Corporation, a $10 billion real estate private equity firm out of Newton, Massachusetts that’s owned property in the Hartford area since the late 1990s.
Gottesdiener assembled an enviable office portfolio — including Metro Center, CityPlace II and Goodwin Square — that made him downtown’s largest landlord and a dominant force in commercial real estate in central Connecticut. He crowned those investments with the construction of the 36-story Hartford 21 apartment tower on Trumbull Street, funded partly with state money, altering the skyline for the first time in years.
In the recession of the late 2000s, Gottesdiener lost some of his marquee office towers in the city to foreclosure. Despite maintaining a lower profile since then, Gottesdiener and Northland still are significant property owners in downtown Hartford.
In recent years, Gottesdiener has tussled with the Capital Region Development Authority. CRDA has wanted to purchase the atrium outside the XL Center, which is part of the Hartford 21 complex, for an expansion that would be part of a $100 million renovation of the aging arena. Discussions remain on-going between the entities, CRDA said Friday, and have been “cordial.”
Gottesdiener previously attempted to bring the NHLback to Hartford and unsuccessfully bid on the Pittsburgh Penguins. He said Friday that he’d looked at buying various professional sports franchises over the last 20 years.
OnFriday, Gottesdiener said he’ll defer to Montgomery and Abair to run day-to-day operations. He credited growing up in “one of the hotbeds of women’s basketball” and watching the 1995 undefeated UConn team as informing his contemporary interest in buying the Dream.
“It’s an amazing game and I think the next 25 years of the Ware going to be explosive,” Gottesdiener said. “I’m seeing what look like owners willing to invest in these teams and not think about the short-, near-term losses but looking at the longterm viability and future of the league.
“We’re going to invest in this team, we’re going to invest in the city and we’ll invest in the league, whatever opportunity we can. We think it’s a really bullish future.”