The Virginia women’s basketball team is getting what the school calls a “multi-year transformational gift” from entrepreneur and philanthropist Alex Ohanian.
Ohanian, who is married to tennis legend Serena Williams and is one of the founding investors in the Angel City FC team in the NWSL, has a history of support for and investment in women’s athletics. He is also an alumnus of the University of Virginia, graduating in 2005.
The specific dollar amount of the gift was not released, but it is the largest in the history of the Virginia women’s basketball program. It will allow the program to be “a premier destination for female student-athletes while addressing the financial and competitive demands of this new era of college athletics,” the school said.
“Starting Angel City and seeing the wave of investment in women’s sports really has been inspiring,” Ohanian told ESPN. “Women’s basketball has popped up constantly on my radar, and lots of folks have been asking me about it.
“It’s my alma mater. I am in New York a lot for work and I live in Florida, so Charlottesville is an easy stop in between, so I’ll be catching quite a few games.”
Ohanian has been bullish on the potential of women’s sports for several years. He points out that as recently as 2019, it cost approximately $1 million to buy an expansion team in the NWSL. Contrast that to controlling stake in Angel City FC being sold in July to Willow Bay and Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, at a $250 million valuation.
“There was an under-investment in women’s sports, but also a mindset that it was not about excellence or business returns, it was about ‘charity,’ ” Ohanian said. “The curse of those low expectations really hampered the growth.”
He said he was particularly bothered seeing the “weight room debacle” revealed on social media by then-Oregon player Sedona Prince during the 2021 NCAA women’s basketball tournament held in a COVID-19 “bubble” in San Antonio. Prince showed how the women had a few small stacks of weights at their NCAA tournament, compared to a vast weight room for the men at their tournament in Indianapolis
“I was like, ‘This makes no sense to me,’ ” said Ohanian, who was critical about it on social media at the time. “And the sad thing is, the talent had been there in the women’s game. And if you looked on the Internet, at places like Instagram, at the follower counts, the interest was there. This said to me that the women just needed more investment and promotion.”
Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said she first heard of Ohanian’s interest from Cavaliers athletic director Carla Willams. Then Ohanian came to the Cavaliers’ season-opener at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville on Nov. 4 against American and was impressed with the atmosphere.
“I’m just really grateful he believes in his alma mater and our athletic department,” Agugua-Hamilton told ESPN. “He believes in Carla, me, and the players.
“This is game-changing for us. The purpose of the gift is to help allow us to recruit and retain student-athletes and put ourselves in position to be an elite team. We’ve been elite before. We’re still going to operate with high integrity, do things the right way. But this allows us the financial means to kind of level the playing field.”
Virginia said the gift will help address the modern-day financial demands in college sports, as schools navigate the transfer portal, conference realignment, and the House vs. NCAA lawsuit, which could allow institutions to share revenue with student-athletes.
Virginia was one of the top women’s programs in the nation under coach Debbie Ryan from the late 1980s into the 1990s, and made 20 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 1984-2003. That period was highlighted by three consecutive trips to the women’s Final Four in 1990-’91-’92. Those Cavalier teams were led by point guard Dawn Staley, who is now head coach of South Carolina and has won three national championships with the Gamecocks.
Agugua-Hamilton said Staley is a role model and support for her as a coach. Now in her third season leading Virginia, Agugua-Hamilton believes the Cavaliers, 6-5, can return to upper-tier status after making just one NCAA tournament appearance since 2010.
“We’re dealing with some injuries and trying to get people back, but we’re going to turn things around this season,” she said. “I always say progress is a process, and this gift will help with that now and long-term.”
Ohanian also hopes it inspires more alumni to support the women’s sports programs at their schools and businesses to invest in women’s athletics.
“Look, I’m quite a groupie of women’s sports, and I’m proud to be that,” he said. “Yes, I have two daughters, and I want them to have great role models. But that’s not all this is. I love believing in things when maybe not as many other people do. I think it’s why I’ve had success in my life as an early-stage investor.
“You see today’s women’s athletes are hungry, they’re motivated. People are realizing why women’s sports are so compelling and worth investment. It makes business sense.”
