Atlanta businesswoman Kathy Betty to buy WNBA team

Betty already was a season ticket holder and was friends with the group that helped bring a WNBA franchise to Atlanta in 2008.

"I'm a sports advocate. I'm highly competitive, probably a little bit over the edge," Betty said Thursday. "All of the sudden it was like, "Wow, competition, women's sports, you get to run a business. This is like combining everything."

Betty, 53, announced Thursday she would buy the Atlanta Dream from the WNBA. The sale is pending approval from the league's board of governors.

Betty is currently the sole owner of the team but said she is looking for other investors. She's already had people talk to her about being a part of the franchise.

Betty would not say how much she paid for the team, originally owned by Ron Terwilliger.

Terwillinger told the WNBA in August that he wanted to relinquish his position as primary team owner. Terwilliger, chairman and chief executive officer of Atlanta-based Trammell Crow Residential, said he intended to remain an investor in the team but since that time has relinquished any ownership stake.

Betty said she wants the team to act as role models for young people in Atlanta.

"We're going to go out there and kick some butt," she said at a press conference at Phillips Arena.  "As anyone who knows me knows, I'm a bit competitive. Part of our vision is about winning but part of our vision is to dream to make a difference."

Basketball won't be new to Betty. She has been a major contributor to the basketball teams at Georgia Tech. She also serves on the board of the V Foundation, which former N.C. State basketball coach Jimmy Valvano and ESPN founded to battle cancer.

She said she didn't play basketball for a team when she was growing up in Decatur, Ala., but she still felt a kinship with the game. "I grew up in Alabama and they (then) didn't have women's sports." she joked. "But we did have a basketball goal."

It is unclear whether the Dream was in danger of folding or being moved out of Atlanta, but Betty knows among her challenges is turning a profit. She knows she must aggressively pursue corporate sponsorships and sell tickets.

"I have to build a compelling business case to the business leaders of Atlanta on how sponsoring the Atlanta Dream will not only help them give back to the community but will also help women-to-women networking," she said. "Women have a lot of purchase power, and I have to figure out how that's going to impact their bottom line."

As far as selling tickets, Betty is convinced all it will take is getting people to one game.

"It's a totally different type of environment," she said. "Once you get them in the arena, then you begin to develop your fan base."

Betty's husband was known for taking EarthLink public in 1997, a year after he joined the company. He died of cancer in 2007 at age 49.

The Dream's 2008 home opener against the Detroit Shock was the start of a dismal 4-30 inaugural season. This year, however, the team went 18-16, earning a playoff berth. Though the team was swept in the first round by the Detroit Shock, the Dream's record marked the second biggest one-year turnaround in WNBA history.

The league named forward Angel McCoughtry rookie of the year and Marynell Meadors the coach of the year last month.

When he bought the franchise, Terwilliger agreed to pay the WNBA $10 million. He paid $1 million upfront, and then agreed to pay at least another $1 million during the next four years and the remaining $8 million in annual installments beginning in 2010. The amount of each payment is tied to the team's financial performance.

Any unpaid balance, plus interest, will be due in 2017.

It is unclear how a change in ownership will impact what, if anything, Terwilliger owes.

To complete a change in ownership, the potential buyer must file an application with the league, which will then do a complete financial background check. The WNBA Board of Governors -- which consists of each of the franchise owners -- then meets for a final vote.

Until recently, it was rare for women to play such a prominent role in a sports franchise. The first owner of the New York Mets was Joan Payson, and Marge Schott was the majority owner of the Cincinnati Reds for a period. Other women who ran teams had a family connection, such as Georgia Frontiere, who inherited the Los Angeles Rams from her husband, Carroll Rosenbloom. Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald's tycoon Ray Kroc, ran the San Diego Padres.

The WNBA has opened doors to more female owners, though. Sheila Johnson, co-founder of the Black Entertainment Television network, became the first woman to own a WNBA franchise in 2005.

Others soon followed.

Two women own the Los Angeles Sparks, and singer Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child is part of a group of minority owners of the Chicago Sky.

In Seattle, four businesswomen took control of the WNBA's Storm, keeping the team there even when the men's franchise, the SuperSonics, bolted for Oklahoma City to become the Thunder.

Staff writer Steve Visser contributed to this story