Not even a year after the Raiders officially became the Las Vegas Raiders, owner Mark Davis is branching out to a new venture in his franchise’s new home city.
“I am excited to announce that I have entered into an agreement
to purchase the Las Vegas franchise in the WNBA from MGM Resorts International, Davis announced Thursday. “I will have more to say once I receive official approval from the WNBA Board of Governors and have had a chance to speak with the players, coaches and administrators of the team.”
Much like the Raiders, the Aces are a well-traveled franchise. They began as the Utah Starzz in 1997 and after six years, they relocated to San Antonio, changing their name to the Silver Stars. After 11 years in San Antonio, Spurs Sports and Entertainment sold the team to MGM Resorts and the franchise moved to Las Vegas, changing their name to the Aces.
After just three seasons, MGM Resorts has sold the franchise to Davis.
“We can confirm we have entered into an agreement to sell the Las Vegas Aces to Mark Davis and are awaiting approval from the WNBA Board of Governors,” said MGM Resorts President George Kliavkoff. “Mark is a longtime champion of women’s basketball and we believe he is the right person to lead the Aces into a new era. We will continue our enthusiastic support of the WNBA, NBA and basketball in Las Vegas.”
Usually, a city’s WNBA franchise is a counterpart to the NBA franchise. But Vegas has no NBA franchise, so in this case, it will be the local NFL franchise putting it under its umbrella.
