Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler will soon no longer be an owner of the Atlanta Dream, a spokesperson for the WNBA told ESPN. The Atlanta-based basketball team is close to being sold and the Republican is reportedly expected to have no association with the franchise after the sale.
“As it relates to the Atlanta Dream, we understand a sale of the franchise is close to being finalized,” the WNBA said in a statement. “Once the sale negotiation is concluded, additional information will be provided.”
ESPN reports that up to five bidders are interested in buying the team. It’s unknown if LeBron James, who previously expressed interest, is one of them.
Players on the Atlanta Dream have been campaigning for Loeffler to sell her share of the team since the summer. The former Georgia senator wrote a letter to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert criticizing the league’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Loeffler also objected to the “Black Lives Matter” and “Say Her Name” statements sewn to players’ jerseys.
In response, Atlanta Dream players called on Loeffler to cut her ties with the team and publicly endorsed her opponent in the senatorial race, Rev. Raphael Warnock, who beat her in Georgia’s runoff election earlier this month.
According to ESPN, Dream president Chris Sienko and majority owners Mary and John Brock have been providing financial information to potential bidders on the team for months. In July, Loeffler said she has “long welcomed additional partners as part of making sure that we continue to grow the team,” but claimed she would “continue to remain part of the team.”
James expressed his interest in forming an “ownership group” for the team earlier this month after Warnock’s campaign victory.
“Think I’m gone put together an ownership group for The Dream. [Who’s] in?” he tweeted, adding, “#BlackVotesMatter.”