“It feels fantastic,” Las Vegas Aces owner Mark Davis said in 2023 after his team won its second straight WNBA championship. The team, which before his ownership, had won no championships in 25 years, suddenly trampled all its rivals in 2022 and 2023 and continues to do so today. What is even more surprising is that Davis, who is worth $2.3 billion, bought the Aces for a pocket change-like $2 million in 2021, only to make his investment skyrocket by 6900% in only 3 years. So here’s how the owner of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders wrote his own WNBA fairytale.

In 2021, the WNBA & NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved Davis’ purchase of the Aces from MGM Resorts International. MGM, who bought the franchise in 2017 and moved its base from San Antonio to Vegas, gracefully stepped aside with the COVID-19 pandemic already eating into their profits. The expression “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” came alive for Mark Davis. He finally did what his father couldn’t and translated their dream of owning a WNBA team into reality.

But it was after the first $2 million that bigger expenses were incurred. Davis invested $40 million into creating the first-ever practice facility exclusively used by a WNBA team. It was spread over 64,000 sq. ft. with state-of-the-art recovery facilities (infrared sauna, plunge pools, cryotherapy chamber) in addition to two full basketball courts, a locker room, and a weights room.

Moreover, he paid a record $1 million to sign Becky Hammon as head coach, and his investment paid dividends right off the bat. The Aces won two consecutive championships in 2022 and 2023 and built a loyal fanbase. As of June 2024, their net worth stands at a mighty $140 million – a 6900% return on MGM’s sale price, as aforementioned. If you thought the streak of surprising facts end here, here’s the prequel of how Davis bought the team.

Mark Davis’ fortuitous encounter that fast-tracked his Aces dream

Mark Davis’ father, Al, was the owner of the Las Vegas Raiders from 1972 till his death in 2011. So Mark not only inherited the team but also his father’s astute business sense. However, the first step to buying a WNBA team was rather delayed. “I’ve always loved women’s sports. But my father was a big fan of women’s basketball. We never had a WNBA team when we were in LA. The Raiders were in LA. The WNBA team came the year we left,” he said in 2023, explaining his bad luck. But it all aligned in 2020.

The Aces had already moved to Vegas in 2017, and in 2020, so did the Raiders. “But when the Raiders moved to Las Vegas, and the Aces moved as well, I wanted to be a part of it,” Davis added. “So I got season tickets, and I kept telling Bill Hornbuckle, who was the president of MGM, who owned the team… I kept telling him, ‘You gotta pay these women more money,'” he added with a big smile on his face.

It was then that Hornbuckle buckled, as per Davis. “Finally, he looked at me and said, ‘If you want them to be paid more money, you pay ’em. Buy the team.’ And it happened.” As Davis promised, he delivered. Paying $1 million to coach Becky Hammon was just the beginning. In May 2024, after a historic 2023 season for the Aces, Davis’ leadership brought the CEO and president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), Steve Hill, to the Aces’ door. He announced a 6-figure sponsorship for each player in 2024 to “just play” and “keep repping Las Vegas”.

Davis has emphatically led the Las Vegas Aces to achieve what previous owners MGM couldn’t envision. With 3x MVP A’ja Wilson only getting better with time and building a solid team around her, and the WNBA viewership skyrocketing, the billion-dollar mark doesn’t look far away for the team.