Did the WNBA accidentally give away a piece of its future too cheaply? Four years ago, WNBA commisioner Cathy Engelbert led a deal that saw the league sell a 16% equity stake for $75 million in a bid to raise capital. At the time, it appeared to be a reasonable move for an organization in need of financial backing. But with the WNBA\u2019s growth trajectory since then, that transaction is beginning to feel like a significant undervaluation.<\/p>\n
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Not everyone involved sees it that way, however, at least not from the buying side of the deal. Former WNBA star and investor Swin Cash, who was part of the group that acquired that equity stake, offered her perspective on the controversy that has since surrounded the transaction. When asked whether the capital investment has perhaps placed constraints on the league\u2019s autonomy, particularly over the past two years, she pushed back thoughtfully. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody has a globe or a ball to say whether it\u2019s right or wrong. I think that you can look at it and say that the investment has helped tremendously in different ways,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For Swin Cash<\/a>, framing the deal purely through a business lens misses the more important point. What matters to her is the intent behind it and the tangible value it unlocked. \u201cI don\u2019t give it too much thought from a business standpoint. Cathy Engelbert and the league have been very intentional about growing the game. I think we have to give some credit to that. And the WNBA is hitting right now when it\u2019s supposed to,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even when examined through a business lens, it\u2019s a normal thing to inject capital in a business to grow it. As Cash also said \u201cThat\u2019s part of investment, right? You take capital. As a business owner myself, we understand what it is to take funding or to have partners. You sit and make those decisions every day. But you always make them from a place of wanting to grow the business. And I think that was a decision that was made,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n So for Swin Cash, the deal should be viewed less as a mistake and more as a necessary growing pain in the construction of a rapidly expanding enterprise. And there is real substance to that argument. The $75 million raised served as a critical bridge fund for stabilizing the league in the aftermath of the pandemic. It also financed the kind of long-term business transformation that has contributed directly to the growth everyone is now celebrating.\u00a0<\/p>\n