Vegas Baby, Vegas!

Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis is expanding his desert sports empire. 

He entered an agreement to purchase the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces from MGM Resorts International, the team announced today. The deal is pending approval by the league’s board of governors. 

MGM brought the Aces — formerly the Utah Starzz and San Antonio Stars — to Vegas in 2018. The team, led by league MVP A’ja Wilson, reached the 2020 WNBA Finals.

WNBA ownership has already been a topic of discussion in 2021, as LeBron James suggested he wanted to buy the Atlanta Dream from Kelly Loeffler after she lost the Georgia Senate runoff election. 

• The average WNBA team is estimated to be valued at around $13.7 million.
• Davis has an estimated net worth of $500 million; the Raiders are valued at about $3.1 billion. 

The presumptive new Aces owner has regularly attended the team’s games, and in 2019 the Raiders distributed 1,600 Aces tickets to young fans.

The Raiders’ Vegas relocation was approved in 2017 after they spent the previous 25 years in Oakland and 60 total in California.

Vegas’ third major sports team, the NHL’s Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural 2017-18 season.

“The community benefits of professional sports are tremendous,” Davis said in 2019. “In particular, the women who play for the Las Vegas Aces are great role models for the young women all over Southern Nevada.”