Latest news with #Tanenbaum
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Serena Williams joins WNBA expansion team Toronto Tempo's ownership group
Tennis great Serena Williams has joined the WNBA expansion team Toronto Tempo's ownership group, the franchise announced Monday in a news release. "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 said that women's sports are an incredible investment opportunity. I am excited to partner with Larry (Tanenbaum) and all of Canada in creating this new WNBA franchise and legacy." The team is owned by Kilmer Sports Ventures, and Tanenbaum is the chairman of the group. He is also the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Raptors and Toronto Maple Leafs among other pro sports franchises. Tanenbaum also wields influence as the chairman of the NBA's board of governors. The team said Williams, who won 23 Grand Slam women's single titles, will "contribute to bringing the Tempo to life visually. She'll play an active role in future jersey designs and will help forge unique merchandise collaborations with the team." Said Tanenbaum: "Serena Williams is an icon, a role model and a force for change in the world. She's earned every bit of her incredible success with hard work, tenacity and determination in the face of countless challenges. She exemplifies the very best of what the Tempo stand for – we couldn't be more honored to have Serena in our court." The Tempo, which will begin play in 2026, said Williams' ownership investment is pending league approval. The WNBA awarded Toronto an expansion team in May, and the league is looking to add a 16th team. "Serena is a champion," Tempo president Teresa Resch said. "She's the greatest athlete of all time, and her impact on this team and this country is going to be incredible. She's set the bar for women in sport, business and the world – and her commitment to using that success to create opportunities for other women is inspiring. We're thrilled to be marking the lead-up to International Women's Day with this announcement." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Serena Williams joins WNBA's Toronto Tempo ownership group
CBC
03-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Tennis legend Serena Williams joins WNBA expansion team Toronto Tempo as part owner
Serena Williams, who won 23 major championships over a 27-year tennis career, is joining Toronto Tempo ownership, the WNBA team announced on Monday. "This moment is not just about basketball. It is about showcasing the true value and potential of female athletes. I have always said that women's sports are an incredible investment opportunity," Williams said in a statement released by the expansion team. Williams joins Larry Tanenbaum, the chairman of Kilmer Sports Ventures, as owners. Tanenbaum was previously a 25 per cent owner of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment but has since sold some of his shares in the company that owns the NHL's Maple Leafs, NBA's Raptors, CFL's Argos and MLS FC. "I am excited to partner with Larry and all of Canada in creating this new WNBA franchise and legacy," Williams said. Williams "will contribute to bringing the Tempo to life visually," the team said, including input on jersey design and merchandise partnerships. The 43-year-old made her professional tennis debut in Canada in 1995 en route to her record-setting career. She won the WTA's Canadian Open, which was previously known as the Rogers Cup, three times and appeared in two other finals. Williams is also a founding owner of the National Women's Soccer League's Angel City FC and she holds minority stakes in the NFL's Miami Dolphins as well as TGL's Los Angeles Golf Club, the virtual golf league headed by PGA stars Tiger Williams and Rory McIlroy. She was recently spotted next to Tanenbaum at a TGL match in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Now, she'll return north of the border to help usher in the lone WNBA team located outside of the United States. "Serena is a champion," said Tempo president Teresa Resch. "She's the greatest athlete of all time, and her impact on this team and this country is going to be incredible. She's set the bar for women in sport, business and the world — and her commitment to using that success to create opportunities for other women is inspiring." WATCH | Wright Rogers talks goals for 2026 season: Meet Monica Wright Rogers, the GM of the WNBA's newest team, the Toronto Tempo 4 days ago Duration 12:57 Tanenbaum said the team "couldn't be more honoured" to welcome Williams. "Serena Williams is an icon, a role model and a force for change in the world. She's earned every bit of her incredible success with hard work, tenacity and determination in the face of countless challenges. She exemplifies the very best of what the Tempo stand for," he said. Williams' ownership stake is still pending final league approval, the Tempo said. The Tempo will begin play out of Coca-Cola Coliseum in the 2026 season, with some home games expecrted to be played in Montreal and Vancouver. The team recently named three-time WNBA champion Monica Wright Rogers as its general manager and hopes to have a head coach in place in time for the expansion draft, which could take place in the fall. At her introductory press conference, Wright Rogers spoke about the historically great free-agent class set to hit the market next off-season.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oklahoma business leaders turning against Ryan Walters: 'We've got to get rid of this guy'
Economic development and business recruitment is looming large in the growing battle between Gov. Kevin Stitt and state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, with at least one self-described 'super conservative' calling for Walters' removal from office. Walters' intrusion into economic initiatives includes an appearance at a Jan. 7 rally held at the state Capitol where a group calling itself the Freedom Brigade protested green energy investments such as windmills and demanded that Stitt stop such development. That protest stood in contrast to the governor recently signing a memorandum of understanding between Oklahoma and the European nation of Denmark which could eventually lead to the development of a green methanol power production facility in the state. A month later, Stitt removed three members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education, which has been seen as a rubber stamp for Walters' culture war initiatives. At a news conference explaining his actions, Stitt said Oklahoma's education system (ranked second-worst in the country by multiple surveys) is a challenge to bringing high-paying jobs to the state. 'A CEO moving to Oklahoma is asking about our school systems just as much as you or I when moving to a town or to a school district,' Stitt said. 'You're going to choose the school or home based on what the scores are, how the kids are going to perform, what the kids are going to be and what are the parents like.' While the memorandum of understanding between Oklahoma and Denmark remains intact, the governor's spokesperson, Abegail Cave, said comments by Walters against economic development 'doesn't help' efforts to bring more jobs to Oklahoma. Walters did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Opposition in the business community to Walters' politicization of education was perhaps best demonstrated publicly at a January panel discussion hosted by The Oklahoman that included Richard Tanenbaum, who as CEO of Gardner Tanenbaum Holdings, played a key role in developing a 30-acre Oklahoma City campus where Boeing has added hundreds of engineering jobs over the past dozen years. "Education, education, education — we are dead in the water without the workforce," Tanenbaum told the crowd of 250 of the city's most prominent developers and business executives. "So wherever you can, get involved: The school district and the school boards, colleges, whatever — we've got to get rid of this guy. What was his name again?' The crowd laughed as a member of the audience yelled out 'Walters!' "Walters!' Tanenbaum confirmed. 'We've got to get rid of him!" Tanenbaum calls himself a 'a super conservative.' Campaign records show Tanenbaum donated thousands of dollars to 136 campaigns over the past two decades that included President Donald Trump, Stitt, U.S. Sens. Markwayne Mullin and James Lankford, and U.S. Reps. Stephanie Bice and Tom Cole. In comparison, Tanenbaum made 22 donations to Democratic campaigns among seven candidates, the majority of them to former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Those supported by Tanenbaum include Stitt, who at the news conference noted his promotion of school vouchers is offsetting poor education rankings by allowing executives to choose to send their kids to private schools. More: Finally, Gov. Stitt joins critics of Ryan Walters. Will it help Oklahoma students? | Opinion Tanenbaum, who is recruiting companies to the sprawling OKC 577 industrial campus in south Oklahoma City, said private school vouchers do not seal the deal with executives who also need to relocate their workforces. 'We're trying to attract businesses and keep them, and they all look at the politics,' Tanenbaum said. 'I'm talking to a guy looking at moving to Oklahoma who needs his wife to agree to come and they then need to look at a school for the kids. He's an executive. But the middle management and workers can't always afford private school.' Walters, Tanenbaum said, is doing a bad job at presenting Oklahoma as an option for employers looking to expand or relocate and is doing little to improve educational outcomes. Oklahoma has fared poorly on the annual National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The state lagged well behind the national average, with 23% of fourth-graders and 20% of eighth-graders scoring at a proficient level in reading, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. 'At the end of the day, just look at the results in reading and math,' Tanenbaum said. 'It's very simple.' Republican Labor Commissioner Leslie Osborn points to Stitt's failed effort to persuade Panasonic to build a $4 billion battery plant in Oklahoma as an example of the damage culture-war politics used by Walters and others can kill billion-dollar deals. 'It was National Pride Week, and Panasonic had on their website, because they are international, that they were celebrating the diversity of their clientele and their employees and that they were appreciative of the LGBT community,' Osborn said. 'It was pretty innocuous.' More than a dozen Republican lawmakers chose the week that Stitt had landed Oklahoma as one of three finalists for the plant to release a statement, on state House letterhead, condemning Panasonic. 'They said they didn't want something as heinous as a company that would celebrate Pride Week,' Osborn said. 'And two days later Panasonic picked Kansas. It's my belief the far-right views and legislation are costing us manufacturing jobs and anyone new who might come to our state. We are left trying to hang on to what we have. Osborn said the frequent appearances by Walters delving into culture war topics on national opinion TV shows further complicates efforts to get companies to expand into Oklahoma. The Panasonic plant, expected to employ up to 3,500 workers, is under construction in Kansas. 'If they're going to move employees here, current employees ― the structure of a new business - even with new jobs, they have to get the buy in of their employees,' Osborn said. State Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman, believes Oklahoma's business community is ultimately going to decide how much longer Walters' culture-war focus will dominate the discussion of Oklahoma's schools 'If you look at every educational reform or authentic process to improve achievement back to House Bill 1017 (the 1990 school funding and reform initiative), the perspective and vision of the business community has been the most influential pressure for change,' Boren said. 'During the teacher walkout, the business community had a strong response. They wanted the walkout to end and for teacher salaries to go up.' Big business is in charge, Boren said, but that doesn't mean ordinary Oklahomans can't prompt executives into taking action and offsetting the in-state and out-of-state deep pockets backing Walters. 'When wealthy, well-connected people want the state to operate in a certain way, we end up doing that,' Boren said. 'If people are tired of Ryan Walters, if they have a wealthy, well-connected friend, they need to give them an earful and say they need to change things.' This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ryan Walters' politics harming Oklahoma economy, business leaders say
