SERENA WILLIAMS JOINS OWNERSHIP OF TORONTO’S NEW WNBA TEAM

Serena Williams expands her legacy into WNBA ownership.

Tennis icon Serena Williams is stepping into a new arena – professional basketball ownership. Williams has joined the ownership group of the Toronto Tempo, an expansion team set to make its debut in the WNBA in 2026.

The Tempo’s own­er­ship group is led by Lar­ry Tanen­baum, chair­man of Kilmer Sports Ven­tures. Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam sin­gles cham­pi­on, adds her star pow­er and busi­ness acu­men to the group.

“I am thrilled to announce my own­er­ship role in the first Cana­di­an WNBA team, the Toron­to Tem­po,” Williams said in a state­ment. “This moment is not just about bas­ket­ball, it is about show­cas­ing the true val­ue and poten­tial of female ath­letes. I have always believed women’s sports are an incred­i­ble invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ty. I am excit­ed to part­ner with Lar­ry and all of Cana­da to cre­ate this new WNBA fran­chise and lega­cy.”

More than own­er­ship, shap­ing the brand
Williams’ involve­ment goes beyond invest­ment. She will also play a role in the team’s visu­al iden­ti­ty, con­tribut­ing to future jer­sey designs and mer­chan­dise col­lab­o­ra­tions. With her ear­ly back­ground in design and a long-stand­ing pres­ence in the fash­ion world, Williams is expect­ed to bring bold ideas to the Tem­po brand.

A league on the rise
The WNBA is expand­ing rapid­ly as its pop­u­lar­i­ty con­tin­ues to soar. This sea­son, the Gold­en State Valkyries will become the league’s 13th team. In 2026, the Toron­to Tem­po and a new fran­chise in Port­land, Ore­gon, will fol­low, bring­ing the league to 15 teams. WNBA Com­mis­sion­er Cathy Engel­bert has said the goal is to expand to 16 teams by 2028.

“Ser­e­na Williams is an icon, a role mod­el, and a force for change,” Tanen­baum said. “Her incred­i­ble suc­cess is a prod­uct of her relent­less work eth­ic, deter­mi­na­tion, and will­ing­ness to break bar­ri­ers, val­ues that align per­fect­ly with what the Tem­po stand for. We are hon­oured to have her in our cor­ner.”

A vision years in the mak­ing
Williams’ inter­est in own­ing a WNBA team is not new. She told CNN in 2023 that this goal had been on her radar for some time. Williams already holds minor­i­ty own­er­ship stakes in Angel City FC (Nation­al Women’s Soc­cer League), TGL (the tech-infused golf league found­ed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIl­roy), and the Mia­mi Dol­phins, where she invest­ed along­side her sis­ter, Venus Williams.

Cham­pi­oning women’s sports and diverse entre­pre­neurs
Long before her move into team own­er­ship, Williams’ invest­ment firm, Ser­e­na Ven­tures, built a rep­u­ta­tion for back­ing com­pa­nies found­ed by women and peo­ple of col­or. Of the 66 star­tups in her port­fo­lio, 78% fit this pro­file, and 16 have reached uni­corn sta­tus, each val­ued at over $1 bil­lion.

Williams has repeat­ed­ly called women’s sports a “safe bet” for investors, cit­ing grow­ing view­er­ship and mar­ket poten­tial. “Women’s sports are excit­ing, and peo­ple are final­ly see­ing that,” she told CNN. “The audi­ence is there. The momen­tum is real. Invest­ing in women’s sports is not a risk, it is smart busi­ness.”