On Wednesday, it was predicted that Raphael Warnock would beat Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler in the runoff election in Georgia. 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Loeffler and Brock bought the entity that owns the Dream in 2011, and have run the team since. A spokesperson for the NBA, the parent company of the WNBA, confided to me recently that the league expected Loeffler to be out of its ranks soon. players’ union to tweet: “E-N-O-U-G-H! The Atlanta Dream superstar helped lead a league-wide players' movement to unseat Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who happens to be a co-owner of the WNBA team Williams plays for. It has the option to pick and choose its ownership. Kelly Loeffler, the co-owner of the Dream, speaking at a Republican gathering on election night, when she lost her U.S. Senate seat to the Rev. Kelly Loeffler’s opinions, statements and actions are beyond the pale. The move came at a time when public polling put Warnock’s support at less than 10 percent and showed him in fourth place in a large field. January 11, 2021. Graduated from Columbia University with an MA in Business and Economics Journalism in 2019. I am a Breaking News Reporter at Forbes, with a focus on covering important tech policy and business news. The first time Kelly Loeffler heard about Atlanta’s WNBA team, the Dream, was in the summer of 2010. Until recently, Loeffler was an active owner, attending games and having players over to her home. Kelly Loeffler talks with Dream General Manager Chris Sienko during the WNBA game in 2019. 2-minute read. The W.N.B.A., taking a cue from players like Angel McCoughtry of the Las Vegas Aces, said its games would honor the Black Lives Matter movement. In August, led by players like the Dream’s Elizabeth Williams and the Seattle Storm’s Sue Bird, teams across the league took the dramatic step of wearing “Vote Warnock” shirts before games. players, several of whom posted celebratory messages on social media. Renee Montgomery in a game for the Dream in 2018. causes like police brutality and voting rights. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. In the middle of supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, WNBA players (including those playing for Atlanta Dream), supported the Democrat candidate, wanting Loefllrer out from the senate, and the WNBA. Graduated from Columbia University with an MA in Business and. Brock declined to comment, and the players’ union did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Atlanta Dream, the WNBA team co-owned by outgoing Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, is on the verge of being sold, the league confirmed to CBS News on … players campaigning on his behalf against the Republican incumbent, Senator Kelly Loeffler, who also happens to be a co-owner of a franchise, the Atlanta Dream. #BlackVotesMatter.” Montgomery voiced her approval: “I’m ready when you are.”. “This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen an owner or even a sponsor of a team not align with a team’s thought process,” Dream guard Renee Montgomery said in an interview Wednesday. The majority owner of the team, Mary Brock, has been exploring a sale of the Dream, but it is unclear how far those discussions have gone. In the suite with Loeffler was another moneyed Atlantan, a businesswoman named Kathy Betty, who had bought the Dream the year before. Earlier this month, Warnock beat Loeffler to take her Senate seat, with the WNBA players’ support for him being seen as a key turning point for his campaign. That's why the players' recent resounding rebuke of Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, co-owner of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream was such a proud moment for me -- and I'm sure, many other WNBA fans. “So it’s always going to be a battle, but right now I’m just excited for a win.”. “I just think that if someone is so opposed to the W.N.B.A. Sports Could the WNBA Help Flip the Senate? Kelly Loeffler lost her Georgia Senate runoff on Tuesday — and now LeBron James wants to take away her WNBA team, too. The WNBA distanced itself from Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, following her objection to the league's plans to honor the Black Lives Matter movement. Members of four W.N.B.A. As reported by ESPN on Tuesday night, Atlanta Dream co-owner and former Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, Deadspin’s No. Loeffler’s ownership of the franchise came under the spotlight after she wrote a letter to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert last year in opposition to the league’s initiatives to advocate for racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement. Senator? team,” Blake Dietrick, a guard for the Dream, said in an interview Wednesday. players. Somebody like James, who has made over $300 million in his N.B.A. W.N.B.A. Montgomery said that she hadn’t decided whether to play next season, and she demurred when asked whether she would be uncomfortable playing on a team with Loeffler as an owner. She told ESPN in August that she had lost around $10 million owning the Dream, or about a million dollars annually. More on Sen. Kelly Loeffler vs. the WNBA: Can WNBA Players Take Down a U.S. This was an outcome that six months ago would have been considered an upset. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) While the rest of the WNBA, and her own team, fought to right the wrongs of … This leaves the league at an uncomfortable impasse. A spokesman for James did not respond to a request for comment on his interest in the Dream. Now, with the Senate race over, the question turns to what’s next for the players and the league — and to what should be done about an owner who publicly blasted her own players and who, as she embarked on a political campaign with tactics that many considered to be racist, said the values of the W.N.B.A. The players got what they wanted. “You don’t come to the W.N.B.A. Raphael Warnock. Kelly Loeffler might not be a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream much longer. I know that there’s a lot of logistics that go on in terms of what the league can and cannot do.”. Last July, Loeffler criticized the league for dedicating its 2020 season to social justice. Loeffler has said repeatedly that she is unwilling to sell and called herself a victim of “cancel culture” as players were speaking out against her. The league’s fight against team owner Sen. Kelly Loeffler is having visible effects. © 2021 Forbes Media LLC. She co-owns the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The defeated senator and Atlanta Dream co-owner is too far out of sync with the league’s values. A Republican, Loeffler was previously chief executive officer (CEO) of Bakkt, a subsidiary of commodity and financial service provider Intercontinental Exchange, of which her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is CEO. “If what she has said in all of her campaigning is true and her views are the way that she has made them out to be in the media, there doesn’t seem to be any benefit to her to be the only owner of a W.N.B.A. On Tuesday morning, the Rev. is trying to stand for, and so opposed to Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream and so opposed to everything the Atlanta Dream stands for, I just don’t understand why you would want to be a part of it anyways,” Montgomery said. Natalie Weiner January 8, 2021. But Loeffler dug in. The latest chapter in the WNBA’s history of shared urgency around social causes was written early Wednesday when Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler was unseated in Georgia The sale of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream -- co-owned by outgoing US Sen. Kelly Loeffler -- is close to being finalized, a league spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday. Loeffler has caused controversy in the league having said she does not support the Black Lives Matter movement and has called for the depoliticization of … because you think you are going to make a lot of money and get very wealthy,” Brock told Forbes in 2011. At the time, Loeffler was trying to show her loyalty to President Trump in a race in which she was being attacked from the right by Trump’s preferred candidate for the seat, Representative Doug Collins. “The league is aware that discussions with potential buyers are ongoing,” Engelbert said in a statement on Wednesday. DMs are open on Twitter @SiladityaRay or drop me an email at [email protected]. WNBA Players Are Protesting Against This Republican Senator — & For Good Reason. Defeated Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler is close to completing the sale of the WNBA team Atlanta Dream, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, a … Loeffler no longer has day-to-day involvement in the Dream but said in July that she had “no intention” of selling her stake. WNBA players — including members of the Dream — … Loeffler spent much of the rest of her Senate campaign lashing out at Black Lives Matter, accusing the movement of holding “anti-Semitic views” and promoting “violence and destruction across the country.” That prompted the W.N.B.A. News of Warnock’s victory on Tuesday was greeted with glee by many basketball fans and W.N.B.A. But What About in the W.N.B.A.? A WNBA spokesperson has confirmed to ESPN that the Atlanta Dream WNBA franchise is close to being sold and former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler will have no … The move was made especially newsworthy by this juicy punchline: Warnock was running against the Dream’s co-owner Kelly Loeffler, the Republican incumbent who had … In October 2019, two months before she was appointed to the Senate seat formerly held by Johnny Isakson, Loeffler stepped down from the W.N.B.A.’s board of governors. Republican Kelly Loeffler (right, talking with Dwight Howard in July of 2019) lost her reelection campaign to Raphael Warnock after months of activism from WNBA players who objected to … The WNBA Can’t Keep Kelly Loeffler Around. The demonstration elevated Warnock’s profile among people who had not been following the race, and prompted a flood of donations to his campaign. Covering breaking news and tech policy stories at Forbes. A representative for Loeffler did not respond to a request for comment. Players on the WNBA team co-owned by Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler and other WNBA teams were seen wearing "Vote Warnock" shirts in support of her … But What About in the W.N.B.A.? W.N.B.A. The N.B.A.’s LeBron James added intrigue of his own to the discussion about changing the Dream’s ownership, posting on Twitter early Wednesday: “Think I’m gone put together an ownership group for the The Dream. Whose in? career, and hundreds of millions more in sponsorship deals, could certainly afford it. She is offensive in the extreme to the women who serve as her employees. Loeffler had been using the WNBA players’ decision to center their 2020 season around Black Lives Matter, and Black women killed by police, as a political prop in her Senate race. teams are rarely profitable, and most are controlled by the N.B.A. Her letter caused outrage among Atlanta Dream players, who called on her to sell her stake in the team, supported by other players from the league. "While Kelly Loeffler runs a campaign based on dividing and misleading Georgians, she is once again trying to distance herself from someone who is a known white supremacist … In August, ESPN reported that Baron Davis, the former N.B.A. Jemele Hill. But like Dietrick, she said she hoped that Loeffler would step aside on her own. and what the W.N.B.A. The other Dream co … Loeffler, a Republican who was running to retain her Senate seat, faced opposition from her team’s players who turned up to games wearing ‘Vote Warnock’ shirts, referring to her Democratic opponent Raphael Warnock. Loeffler, who co-owns the Atlanta Dream, lost her Senate race on Tuesday, renewing questions about whether she has a place in a league where many players want her gone. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences, and the WNBA is a private enterprise. owner in the same city or by local groups who see the team as sort of a civic trust, as Loeffler and Brock did. and its players.” Loeffler’s rhetoric also drew a response from all of the players on the Dream, who signed a letter saying that the team was “united in the movement for Black Lives.”. Kelly Loeffler is reportedly close to selling her ownership stake in the WNBA 's Atlanta Dream. Photo: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images. community; some players have said that this is untenable and that they hope she leaves the league of her own accord. You may opt-out by. The attention W.N.B.A. How politics transformed Kelly Loeffler from hoops junkie to WNBA villain In the three days that followed, Warnock’s campaign raised more than $236,000 and … Warnock, a Democrat, defeated Loeffler, who owns a 49 percent stake in the Dream. Dream close to being sold, taking Loeffler out of WNBA (Associated Press), How a WNBA assist helped Raphael Warnock win a Senate seat (Washingt, I am a Breaking News Reporter at Forbes, with a focus on covering important tech policy and business news. The sale of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream -- co-owned by outgoing US Sen. Kelly Loeffler -- is close to being finalized, a league spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday. Loeffler, who lost the special election to … This summer, ahead of the start of the WNBA season, Loeffler wrote a … Worked as a journalist in New Delhi, India from 2014 to 2018. In a statement, the WNBA told AP that the sale of the franchise is close to being finalized and that the league will provide additional information once negotiations are completed. Raphael Warnock made a final pitch to Senate-race voters in Georgia with a video on social media that prominently featured W.N.B.A. Loeffler owns a 49% stake in the Atlanta Dream, while Mary Brock, the wife of Coca-Cola CEO John Brock, owns the remaining stake. players brought to Warnock’s campaign is widely considered to have played a role in his victory. But Loeffler remains a member of the W.N.B.A. I’m hopeful that change happens. While the report doesn’t mention who the likely new owner will be, NBA superstars LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, the LA Dodgers’ Mookie Betts, actor Kevin Hart and former NFL player Champ Bailey have all expressed interest in buying a stake. Britni de la Cretaz. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told CNN over the summer that she would not force Loeffler to sell her stake, even though the league’s players’ union has indicated it does not want her to own the team any longer. Montgomery, who sat out last season to focus on causes like police brutality and voting rights, said that she was reveling in Warnock’s victory more than thinking about Loeffler’s role with the team. Kelly Loeffler’s WNBA Ownership Stake Undermines Everything The League Says It’s About WNBA players spoke out this year, including against incumbent Senator — and Atlanta Dream co-owner — Kelly Loeffler. Raphael Warnock was one of a slate of candidates opposing incumbent and Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler, who had staked her claim opposing the WNBA’s support of Black Lives Matter. It is also unclear what role Loeffler has in those negotiations or whether her stake would be part of a sale. did not align with her own. Yes, payback is a large part of the reason, and I’ll get to that. ... “Kelly Loeffler is the anti-movement. LeBron Wants to Buy Kelly Loeffler’s WNBA Team by Bobby Burack January 6, 2021, 1:02 pm updated January 6, 2021, 1:11 pm 11 Comments LeBron James, whose radical political views helped tanked the NBA Finals to all-time ratings lows, is quite happy to see Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) lose the Georgia runoff to Democrat Rev. player, was part of an investment group interested in buying the Dream. O-U-T!”, Engelbert told ABC in July that “Kelly’s views are not consistent with those of the W.N.B.A. Loeffler, who co-owns the Atlanta Dream, lost her Senate race on Tuesday, renewing questions about … When Loeffler, a Republican appointed to her Senate seat by Georgia Gov. “That, in turn, means there is no benefit to us.”, Asked if the league should be more assertive if Loeffler does not sell her stake, Dietrick said: “I think that the issue changes a little bit when she’s no longer technically a public figure. She was in Arthur Blank’s suite at the Georgia Dome watching Manchester City play an exhibition match. Have a news tip? Defeated Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler is close to completing the sale of the WNBA team Atlanta Dream, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, a move which will end her contentious ownership of the basketball team whose players turned against her after her opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. Now that Georgians have kicked Kelly Loeffler to the curb, the WNBA needs to do the same.. Kelly Lynn Loeffler is an American politician and businesswoman who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2020 to 2021. If she isn’t campaigning or speaking those views that so vehemently contradict the league constantly in the media, maybe it’s slightly different. “Once those negotiations are concluded, additional information will be provided.”. Kelly Loeffler Is Done in the Senate. Warnock’s fortunes turned, and he finished in the top two on election night in November, forcing a runoff required by Georgia state law after Loeffler did not receive 50 percent of the vote. Kelly Loeffler Is Done in the Senate. She had excoriated her own team’s players — the vast majority of whom are Black women, like Williams — and the racial justice movement. teams in the league’s bubble — the Atlanta Dream, Washington Mystics, Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks — took a knee together in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in August. That was during the bruising primary, in which it may have been politically advantageous to be seen as resisting the demands of W.N.B.A.