New York Liberty Unveil Practice Facility Amid WNBAs Race to Attract Talent
When the New York Liberty were courting Breanna Stewart during the free agency period before the 2023 season, Ms.Stewart had many conversations with Clara Wu Tsai, the owner of the team.
They talked about the future of the W.N.B.A., and each shared her own ambitions.At the time, the Liberty were practicing in a compound built into the Barclays Center.It was well-equipped, but the building is also used for Nets games, concerts, boxing matches and other events.
There were days the team didn’t have full access.Only one team in the league, the Las Vegas Aces, would be practicing in its own dedicated facility that season.But Ms.
Wu Tsai, who owns the Liberty with her husband, Joe Tsai, a co-founder of the Alibaba Group, knew she wanted that for the Liberty soon.She couldn’t promise to Ms.
Stewart, a coveted free agent, exactly what it would look like or where it would be.But she wanted Ms.
Stewart to understand that the players’ training and recovery was important to her as an owner.On Thursday, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Liberty and the N.B.A.’s Brooklyn Nets, is announcing plans to build a 75,000-square-foot practice facility for the Liberty in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.The waterfront space, which the Liberty will lease, is on Newtown Creek, a tributary of the East River, and will sit partly on what is now an empty lot.
The Liberty’s ownership group says it will pay for the construction and expects to spend $80 million on it.In addition to two indoor courts with remote cameras and data tracking technology, a recovery suite and a two-story strength training area, the new structure will have elements that wouldn’t be out of place at a destination spa: rooftop dining areas, views of Manhattan, a hair, makeup and nail studio, and individual pods instead of lockers that will include day beds, wardrobes and vanities.The Liberty’s announcement is part of a growing arms race in the W.N.B.A.to build facilities...