The Atlanta Dream is about to be sold, a WNBA spokesperson confirmed to ESPN.
“As for the Atlanta Dream, we understand that a sale of the franchise is nearing completion,” the league said in a statement. “Additional information will be provided once the sales negotiation is completed.”
Sources told ESPN Tuesday that up to five bidders have expressed interest in buying the team, with Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Currently co-owner, expected to have no association with the franchise after the sale.
The franchise has been at the center of turmoil since Loeffler wrote to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert objecting to the league’s embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement during the 2020 season. Players from the league initially called out Loeffler to sell her share of the team (49%), but when she declined, they instead publicly supported her opponent in her senatorial race, Reverend Raphael Warnock.
Warnock defeated Loeffler in the second round on Jan. 5 and will be sworn in to Congress this week.
Over the summer, ESPN reported that Dream president Chris Sienko and majority owners Mary and John Brock, the former CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, have provided financial information to potential buyers of the team.
It remains unclear what role the Brock family would have in the ongoing team, sources said, but the new buyer is expected to take a majority stake. Brock and Loeffler have owned the team since 2012.
A voicemail that ESPN left for John Brock on Tuesday was not returned, nor an email to Loeffler’s campaign.
Loeffler told ESPN in July that “I have long been welcoming additional partners to ensure that we continue to grow the team. But I will remain part of the team.”
She estimated she’s lost $ 10 million since buying the team. According to the campaign’s funding documents, Loeffler lent its senatorial campaign $ 23 million in 2020.