CHARLOTTE — Jayson Tatum is exploring serving to to deliver a WNBA crew to St. Louis, because the fast-growing league continues to look into including franchises. In response to a report by Sportico’s Jacob Feldman, Tatum has informally agreed to spend money on an possession bid that might deliver a franchise to his hometown.
“Tatum has informally agreed to spend money on the crew ought to it come to fruition and contribute behind the scenes to the group’s pitch, each to different potential big-name buyers and the league itself, in line with sources concerned with the bid,” Feldman’s report states.
At Celtics shootaround on Friday morning, Tatum declined to share extra details about his curiosity in seeing a WNBA crew in St. Louis.
“I can’t communicate on it an excessive amount of proper now, however there shall be a time once I can, and I’ll have the ability to elaborate,” Tatum stated.
The possible St. Louis possession group is co-led by billionaires Richard Chaifetz and David Hoffman, in line with Sportico. Chaifetz has invested in quite a lot of skilled sports activities groups, whereas Hoffman is an actual property developer who additionally owns the St. Louis Blues minor league affiliate.
Why may Jayson Tatum be concerned?
From a enterprise perspective, it’s no shock that Jayson Tatum has explored co-owning a WNBA crew — he’s been concerned in a wide range of ventures, together with launching a signature shoe with Jordan Model, co-authoring an image ebook, changing into the face of Coach, and partnering with Gatorade, Ruffles, and Subway, amongst a slew of different firms. It’s appeared that each time there’s a enterprise alternative, Tatum and his crew have helped explored it, and with the burgeoning progress of the WNBA over the previous few years, the truth that Tatum has regarded into partial WNBA possession appears to line up together with his monitor document of various investments.
Tatum has additionally maintained a detailed relationship together with his hometown all through his skilled basketball profession with the Celtics. His basis, the Jayson Tatum Basis, has partnered with native organizations in St. Louis since 2017, together with launching a hurricane aid effort in 2017, a number of backpack drives, and quite a few different charity occasions. He additionally hosts a summer time JT Elite Camp in St. Louis for a number of the prime highschool and faculty basketball gamers within the nation. In August, he threw out a primary pitch earlier than a St. Louis Cardinals recreation.
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Proudly owning a stake in a WNBA franchise is now a authentic risk for NBA gamers. Gamers are allowed to come clean with 4% of a WNBA franchise, in line with the most recent collective bargaining settlement. Tatum, who signed the largest contract in NBA historical past in July, is now within the combine for such an funding.
The place else may the WNBA broaden?
Final season, the WNBA included 12 twelve lively groups, with three extra within the works. The Golden State Valkyries are set to hitch subsequent season, whereas Toronto and Portland will each formally enter the WNBA in 2025. That brings the full quantity as much as 15 — and it’s believed the league will need one further crew to spherical issues out at 16 by 2026.
A variety of different cities have explored founding a WNBA crew of their metropolis, together with Philadelphia, Miami, Milwaukee, Charlotte, and Denver, amongst others. Boston has additionally been floated as one other potential location for a crew, although the Connecticut Solar’s possession has made clear they might not help such a bid.
In a press convention earlier than the WNBA Finals, commissioner Cathy Engelbert stated there have been about 10 groups who had been occupied with changing into franchise No. 16.
“The excellent news is we’ve got a whole lot of demand from many cities. I’d say 10 or so, perhaps even plus at this level, as a result of I feel the extra persons are watching the WNBA and seeing what we’re rising right here … they see the financial affect of getting a WNBA crew of their metropolis, the position mannequin locally these gamers symbolize,” Engelbert stated.
Might St. Louis actually be subsequent?
Missouri’s capitol metropolis at present doesn’t have an NBA crew — although St. Louis does have an NHL crew, the Blues, and an MLB crew, the Cardinals. Town hasn’t had an NBA crew since 1968, however now, with Tatum’s involvement, they may very well be one step nearer to housing knowledgeable basketball crew in a area that’s lengthy had a shortage of WNBA illustration.
