‘I Can Think of a Lot of Women’ – 3 Years After Massive $100,000,000 Move, Serena Williams’ Husband Alexis Ohanian Reveals Disproportionate Sporting Fact Beside Game-Changing Decision

Published 05/28/2023, 8:03 AM EDT

The tennis legend Serena Williams has millions of fans around the world. However, her biggest fan is probably Alexis Ohanian, the tech investor and entrepreneur she married back in 2017. Ohanian’s unrelenting support for Serena allowed her to keep thriving on the tennis court until her 2022 retirement. What’s more? Ohanian isn’t just a supporter of Serena; he is an avid supporter of women’s sports as a whole. His burning desire to see women’s sports at the same level as men’s sports prompted him to invest in NWSL soccer team Angel City FC. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Ohanian took a detailed look at the problems plaguing women’s sports in the US right now.

It was an insightful analysis from Ohanian, who minced no words as he revealed the harsh reality behind women’s sports being commercially less successful and lucrative than men’s sports.

Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian uses tennis and soccer’s example to dish out an unfavorable verdict for men

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In the US, tennis is incredibly popular. While soccer isn’t as popular as tennis, its popularity is certainly growing. However, in terms of investments, the playing field isn’t level at all across men’s and women’s soccer and tennis. Unsurprisingly, it’s men’s sports that get the majority of the money. This leaves women’s sports devoid of funds necessary to grow.

"When you look back on the legacy of underinvestment in women's sports… it will be a legacy of gross business incompetence."@alexisohanian shares why he invested in @weareangelcity and the value he sees in women's soccer https://t.co/sFaOyW6B6Z pic.twitter.com/49n6KdrjpX
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 27, 2023

During his Bloomberg interview, Ohanian said, “It’s the curse of low expectations”. Ohanian went on to talk about the US Open, which is among the four majors in the tennis calendar. “When the US Open shows up, Americans tune in disproportionately to watch the women.”

Next, Ohanian rolled the years back to 2019, the year he invested in NWSL team Angel City FC. “The reason in 2019 I started tweeting about women’s soccer being so undervalued was because I realized if you ask me ‘think of American soccer greatness’, I couldn’t think of a man, because there hasn’t been, but I can think of a lot of women”. Ohanian went on to praise women’s soccer players such as Brandi Chastain, Mia Hamm, and Megan Rapinoe. Furthermore, he said that the people handling the business side of women’s soccer teams in the US are doing “a terrible job”.

“Congrats to the Women” – Serena Williams and Husband Alexis Ohanian’s $100 Million Soccer Investment Wins Major North American Award

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It was the two most important women in Ohanian’s life who inspired him to invest in women’s soccer team

In 2019, Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian’s daughter Olympia, who wasn’t even 2 years old at the time, was incredibly vocal in her support for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team (USWNT), which was one of the teams fighting it out for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Ohanian suggested to Williams that Olympia could go on to represent the USWNT after growing up.

However, Williams’ reply did something to spur Ohanian’s desire to do something for women’s soccer in the US. Williams said that Olympia could become a soccer player only if she earned her worth from the sport. Soon after, Ohanian led the investments as he became the lead investor of Angel City FC with a host of other high-profile investors. Ohanian invested a mammoth $100 million to add to the competition in the NWSL.

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Written by:

Sudipto is a Tennis writer at EssentiallySports. He completed his graduation in Journalism and Mass Communication in 2012. His passion for writing became a full-time profession in 2019 after working as a musician and travelling educator.

Edited by:

Tony Thomas

‘I Can Think of a Lot of Women’ – 3 Years After Massive $100,000,000 Move, Serena Williams’ Husband Alexis Ohanian Reveals Disproportionate Sporting Fact Beside Game-Changing Decision

Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian uses tennis and soccer’s example to dish out an unfavorable verdict for men

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It was the two most important women in Ohanian’s life who inspired him to invest in women’s soccer team