The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
A Dream comes true
Montgomery part of group purchasing Atlanta franchise
Renee Montgomery opted out of the 2020 WNBA season in June and announced her retirement earlier this month. As enterprising as she is, no matter the spotlight on her new basketball existence, it might take a while for Montgomery to start thinking of herself as a former player.
She said, “We,” a few times Friday afternoon while discussing WNBA players during a teleconference to announce the new ownership group for the Atlanta Dream. Larry Gottesdiener, a New London native and chairman of real estate giant Northland, is the majority owner. Montgomery and Northland president and COO Suzanne Abair are on board as investors and executives.
“I feel like I would still be able to play if I wanted to,” said Montgomery, 34. “But I recognize this opportunity.”
Montgomery won a national championship at UConn in 2009 and two titles in an 11-year WNBA playing career. She played her final two seasons with the Dream, a franchise at the forefront of movements in the summer of 2020 that changed the national political and social justice landscapes.
The sale, terms of which were not disclosed, ends the ownership tenure of former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia).
To the ire of WNBA players and other athletes of prominence, Loeffler in 2020 had objected to players’ support for a Black Lives Matter movement taking hold in the wake of the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Dream players responded by backing Loeffler’s opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock, even wearing “Vote Warnock” shirts, part of a watershed moment in the nation’s political discourse. Warnock, once trailing substantially in polls, went on to defeat Loeffler in a Georgia run-off election with the help of the player-led movement. The result, combined with Jon Ossoff’s victory over David Perdue, flipped control of the U.S. Senate from Republican to Democrat.
“My mindset is where we’re going, not necessarily where we’ve been,” Montgomery said when asked about Loeffler.
Montgomery and Abair will lead the Dream’s day-to-day
operations. A large part of Montgomery’s focus will be on empowering women of the league, partnering the Dream with various social justice initiatives and working to expand mainstream media coverage for the WNBA.
“The future is female,” Montgomery said.
She added that her place in management as a Black female executive is “a win for women’s sports. That’s a win for women’s basketball. That shows a lot of representation. All the things that we wanted as players is happening here in Atlanta and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it. Atlanta is a city full of powerful women, women that are leaders in business, leaders in management. I’m just excited to be in a city that is very welcoming to powerful women.”
Montgomery specifically mentioned politician Stacey Abrams, also influential in the 2020 elections, and mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Gottesdiener, who splits his time between Massachusetts and California, is a longtime UConn fan and a player on the sports scene who once tried to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins with an eye toward returning the NHL to Hartford.
Of his desire to own a WNBA franchise, he said, “It starts with my roots. I grew up in a diverse, bluecollar town in Connecticut, New London. Connecticut is one of the hotbeds of women’s basketball. I’ve followed the W since the (original) ‘We Got Next,’ campaign, which I still think is one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns I’ve ever seen.”
“I followed the undefeated UConn team in 1995 and the Olympic team of 1996,
but I think what really got me to become a supporter — and hopefully a champion of — women’s sports was having a really gritty first-born daughter who was so pissed off that the high school didn’t have a girls wrestling team that she competed on the men’s team.”
Gottesdiener said he is committed to keeping the Dream in Atlanta, its home since the franchise was founded in 2008.
“The Dream has always been an Atlanta asset, but they really solidified their place in the city, in the community, and in history last year,” Gottesdiener said. “This team and this city at this time, the women of the Dream showed incredible character last year. They were brave in speaking out for what they believed in and we want to solidify that connection, amplify their voices and we want to (recognize) their place in history. This is an
Atlanta asset. We’re stewards of it. We’re hoping to build something that Atlanta can be proud of. …. I think the next 25 years of the W are going to be explosive. I’m very excited.”
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement, “Today marks a new beginning for the Atlanta Dream organization and we are very pleased to welcome Larry Gottesdiener and Suzanne Abair. … Renee is a trailblazer who has made a major impact both in the game and beyond.”
Montgomery said she first thought of owning a team when Diana Taurasi brought it up conversationally last summer, but she was still focused on playing as many seasons as possible. In October, she began exploring the possibility. Her interest was piqued in January when LeBron James tweeted, “Think I’m gone put together an ownership group for the The
Dream. Whose in? #BlackVotesMatter.”
Montgomery responded, “I’m ready when you are.”
Eventually, Montgomery was put in touch with Gottesdiener and Abair through connections within the More Than A Vote campaign, which fights Black voter suppression with the backing of athletes and artists. An agreement was struck within the new ownership team, and the WNBA facilitated that team’s negotiations with Loeffler’s group. The league then approved a deal.
“My business style is to identify and support really strong, intelligent people and set a vision and let them work,” Gottesdiener said. “I think Suzanne and Renee are going to be the day to day people. I will help set core values. I will help set vision. I will help allocate capital and investments for the team and the community, which we’re eager to do.
“I am the majority owner. Listening to Renee’s passion, you can see that in the future if Renee wants to be the majority owner of a professional sports team, if that’s where she chooses to put her energy, that’s what she’ll achieve. … The WNBA is bigger than just basketball. It’s a voice. We’re proud to be helping Renee break some barriers and trying to bring more women, and more women of color, into senior management.”
Montgomery is the first former player to be part of a WNBA ownership group. She will continue in her role as an Atlanta Hawks analyst for Fox Sports Southeast. She noted her media experience and savvy and said she plans to use any available platform to lead conversation about the Dream and the WNBA.