The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly · Nov 5, 2026 · 25m · 16m saved
With Renee Montgomery, Co-Owner and Vice President of the Atlanta Dream
Photo: SusanLesch, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikipedia
The Atlanta Dream has gone from about 20 employees to roughly four times that since its new owners took over. Renee Montgomery, co-owner and vice president of the Atlanta Dream, told Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly on The Deal that her stake looked like it came together fast, but that her real negotiation was over a working role, not money.
"I was trying to just get a seat at the table. So it wasn't like I was trying to do a heavy negotiation. But the thing that I did negotiate in was, if my name is going to be attached to it, I want to make sure that I can have a hand in." — Renee Montgomery
Renee won two WNBA championships with the Minnesota Lynx, retired from playing to become eligible to buy in, and became the first former player to be both an owner and an executive of a WNBA team.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 25 minutes of audio, 9 minutes of reading.
Here are the 10 moments that matter.
Key Takeaways
A LeBron James tweet calling for a new Dream owner set Renee's path in motion
Renee negotiated for a day-to-day executive role, not a bigger check
The Dream grew from about 20 employees to roughly four times that
Merchandise tied to individual players is undervalued, Renee says, which is why she invested in Campus Ink
Women's sports lack the capital of men's, so Renee builds her portfolio through cold outreach
WNBA playoff games belong on main broadcast networks, not alternate channels
1. A Fan Since 1997
Jason Kelly, who co-hosts The Deal and roots for the Lynx, said the interview was recorded in October in Los Angeles, after the Dream's playoff run ended against the Golden State Valkyries, a franchise valued at $1 billion in only its second season. Alex Rodriguez co-owns the Lynx and the Minnesota Timberwolves, the franchise where Renee won her two titles.
Renee Montgomery fell for the WNBA at age 10, when the league launched
"I remember coming off of the '96 Olympics in Atlanta and then going into '97 for the WNBA — the WNBA was massive. They were on my favorite sitcoms, like Martin. I felt like these WNBA players were celebrities on top of the world." — Renee Montgomery
Renee likened the league's later plateau to a new restaurant that stops drawing crowds after its opening. Attendance and viewership, she said, have since climbed back to that early energy.
