NY Liberty update: Brooklyn Public Library cards (& gala); Ellie the Elephant's ubiquity; team's new investors include Alibaba's Jack Ma.

The defending WNBA champion New York Liberty have started the new season 8-0 (link) and the team and their mascot, Ellie the Elephant, are getting a lot more buzz.

The Brooklyn Public Library, following up its successful promotion of Jay-Z library cards as part of a giant star-produced exhibit, now offers the New York Liberty Library Card, "a special-edition library card celebrating the New York Liberty, our hometown team and the 2024 WNBA champions!"

Via Brooklyn Public Library

There will be 100,000 cards, available at all library locations. Also, the Liberty and the library are partnering through Brooklyn Basketball to support BPL's Summer at the Library programming.

The Brooklyn Paper lapped up the promotion:

Ellie created a special summer reading list of books about basketball, empowerment, community, friendship, and women in sports — with selections from picture book “You Hold Me Up” to young adult graphic novel “Wash Day Diaries” and the new nonfiction book “Rare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.”

Not sure a mascot can create a reading list, but whatever..

Plus, a gala

As with the Jay-Z promotion, there's a gala. To quote the Brooklyn Paper:

On June 11, BPL will honor the New York Liberty with its Brooklyn Public Library Gala Award — which will be presented by author Jacqueline Woodson to Liberty CEO Keia Clarke — to honor the team’s “ongoing commitment to championing the community and for the team’s support of summer programming.”

Well, they are also honoring Google. The host is Ros Gold-Onwude, described as "sports broadcaster, NBA, WNBA & Liberty analyst."

Among the gala chairs are WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelberg, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, and the power couple Linda Johnson (Brooklyn Public Library CEO) and Bruce Ratner (developer who built the Barclays Center but not the affordable housing). 

Notably missing, among the donors, are Liberty owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai. Maybe they have a late-breaking announcement in the works, perhaps even involving some of the new minority owners.

Much more on Ellie

As NetsDaily reported, Ellie is now starring in a State Farm Insurance commercial and will be teaming up with Liberty Mutual.

Ellie even got a Wall Street Journal profile, How an Elephant Became One of Today’s Hottest Influencers:

Ellie is one of today’s hottest influencers. With nearly 200,000 TikTok followers, the Brooklyn native has represented Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and luxury brand Off-White and is the first celebrity spokesperson for nail-polish company Essie. She’s 5 feet, 10 inches tall, wears custom size-12 Nike Sabrina 2 “By Big Ellie” sneakers and always carries a designer handbag. When she twerks on the court at Barclays Center, she whips her signature long braid to and fro.

As the WSJ pointed out, "Ellie is setting a template for a new kind of definitively female mascot, one who is unafraid to embrace fashion—and promote it."

OK, it's all fun. The owners of the team and the arena company still should pay taxes, and pay for the privilege of using the "public," branded plaza.

More on the new minority owners

While the Liberty never formally announced--as opposed to leaked--that new investors were investing at a record-setting $450 million valuation, BSE Global, in a May 27 press release headlined New York Liberty Announce New Strategic Investors, did list the investors, noting that proceeds will help build the new practice facility in Greenpoint.

They are five women and one man. The latter, notably, is Alibaba founder Jack Ma, joining co-founder Joe Tsai, the main owner of BSE Global:

“Jack has been a trusted business partner to me, and I’m thrilled to have another opportunity to create meaningful impact together,” said Alternate Governor Joe Tsai. “He is a passionate supporter of women’s sports and I know he is excited to help us build an enduring franchise. I am also delighted to welcome our other investors to our New York Liberty family, each of whom is a fierce advocate for women across industries including sports.”

As noted by the BBC, Ma has had his ups and downs:

Before his disappearance from public life in 2020 - following comments at a financial conference that China's state-owned banks had a "pawn-shop mentality" - Mr Ma was the poster boy for China's tech industry.

...It led to the cancellation of his $34.5bn (£27.4bn) stock market flotation of Ant Group, his financial technology giant.

This was seen at the time as an attempt by Beijing to humble a company that had become too powerful, and a leader who had become too outspoken.

He's now reemerged in public life, though not considered fully back to "the exalted status he once enjoyed," according to the BBC.

From the press release

Jack Ma founded Alibaba Group, a global technology company based in China. He is an entrepreneur and philanthropist, and his business career has inspired an entire generation of young people to innovate and build companies. In 2019, the Jack Ma Foundation, together with the Alipay Foundation and Joe Tsai Foundation, pledged RMB 1 billion (approx. $140 million) to support women’s soccer in China, focusing on youth development, performance and injury management.

Karen Finerman is a prominent businesswoman, investment strategist and an investor in the WNBA. She is a panelist on CNBC’s Fast Money, a popular financial talk show focused on investments, trading strategies and the financial zeitgeist of the day. Karen is co-founder and CEO of the investment firm Metropolitan Capital Advisors. She is also the author of the NY Times bestseller Finerman's Rules: Secrets I'd Only Tell My Daughters About Business and Life, and host of the How She Does It podcast, which features female leaders from all industries who make their own space and build their career in unique ways.

Thasunda Brown Duckett is President and CEO of TIAA, a leading provider of secure retirements and investment solutions for millions of people and thousands of institutions. Drawing from her own experience as an athlete, where sports built her confidence, grit, and leadership capabilities, she is a passionate advocate for the transformative power of athletics in developing future leaders who value achievement, particularly young women and girls. Her belief that "winning isn't an individual sport—it's a team game" reflects how the tenacity and teamwork she learned through sports influences her success as a business leader and drives her advocacy for women's advancement. Before joining TIAA in 2021, Duckett held key executive roles at JP Morgan Chase, including CEO of the Consumer Bank and Auto Finance, and currently serves on various boards including NIKE, Inc. and Brex, Inc. She has received numerous accolades, including being listed as one of the TIME100 Most Influential People in the World and induction into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Karlie Kloss is a supermodel, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who is the face of numerous international campaigns including Estée Lauder, Carolina Herrera and has appeared on over 40 Vogue covers. She is the founder of Bedford Media, a holding company focused on revitalizing legacy brands, with recent acquisitions including i-D and LIFE magazines. Kloss is also the founder of Kode With Klossy, a nonprofit that has introduced more than 11,000 young women and gender expansive youth to computer science through free coding camps. In 2022, she launched the Gateway Coalition to support abortion access in care deserts by funding clinics and patient services. A passionate advocate for equity and opportunity, Kloss brings her commitment to representation and cultural impact to her investment in the WNBA.

Gabrielle Rubenstein is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Manna Tree, a private equity firm focused on improving human health through investments in the global food and health supply chain. With over a decade of experience studying the evolution of consumer health trends, Ellie leads the firm’s strategy, investment products, and global partnerships. She previously served as Vice Chair of the Alaska Permanent Fund and brings deep expertise in institutional investing, impact strategy, and governance reform. Ellie also directs philanthropic efforts through her family office, Mission: Ingredients, supporting global health, youth education, and military recovery. A Harvard graduate and former varsity ski racer, she also holds an MS in agricultural economics from Purdue and an MBA from Indiana University.

Samantha Lasry has been dedicated to philanthropy and the support of various not-for-profit organizations, many of which reflect her deep commitment to women’s rights and reproductive health. She has also been active in politics and previously worked in the Africa Bureau at the U.S. Department of State. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History, and holds a Master of Science in Gender, Globalization and Development from The London School of Economics. Samantha lives in New York City with her husband John and their children Lake, Tibi, India and Matteo.

NetsDaily noted that each of the American investors have family connections to pro sports.