Dani Marshall (left) and Jo Caird are the driving force behind the new all-female ownership of the Kāhu basketball franchise.
Suzanne McFadden for LockerRoom
Jo Caird was tired of being being continually frustrated with the state of women’s sport in New Zealand; sick of standing on the sidelines and criticising what wasn’t happening.
A former New Zealand junior tennis player and the All Blacks’ first official photographer, Caird had watched in awe as the Kiwi public got in behind the women’s Rugby World Cup and then the FIFA Women’s World Cup held here last year.
“But it was so frustrating seeing the interest just drop off straight after those two events,” she says. “There was nothing being provided for fans of women’s sports. So I decided to do something about it.”
As Caird began looking into becoming more involved in a women’s sports team, she focused her attention on Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa, about to begin its third season next week.
And now she’s one of five female owners of the BNZ Kāhu franchise – who believe they are one of the first sports teams solely owned, coached and managed by women, globally. And she’s had advice from one of the founders of the most valuable women’s sports team in the world.
“Women’s basketball is obviously one of the fastest growing sports in the world, especially looking at the WNBA and Caitlin Clark, and what our Tall Ferns have been doing here,” Caird says. “Basketball is the fastest growing sport in New Zealand [at youth level], so it’s riding a wave.
“And I looked at what Sky had done with the Tauihi league – it’s one of the first leagues in the world to ever pay women more than men; our women are earning twice what the men are. And I thought this is an awesome opportunity that I wanted to be involved in.”
As well as doubling player wages in 2024, Tauihi has made other landmark changes – moving the season to later in the year, and extending an invitation to international teams to join future competitions. The entire season will be broadcast live in the United States on ESPN.
Caird had worked with the Auckland-based Kāhu, league champions in 2023, and as she began talking to them, it became clear the only way for her to really make change was to own the team. The deal was signed just 18 days before Kāhu’s season opener, a home game against Southern Hoiho, on October 6.
“It’s been one hell of a rollercoaster ride. I can’t even explain to you the highs and lows,” Caird says. “Two weeks ago, we thought it was completely gone, then three days later, it was back on the table.”
Caird looked for potential partners to buy Kāhu, and found American Dani Marshall, who migrated to New Zealand in 2022. Marshall has a digital and tech background and started the womenzsport online hub dedicated to promoting women’s sport. Together they drove the acquisition.
They were joined three former sports internationals – Kāhu head coach and Tall Ferns legend Jodi Cameron, Football Fern now Adidas executive Rachel Howard, and England rugby captain and World Cup winner, Paula “Georgie” George (who’s also Caird’s wife).
The women bought the team from its original owners – the Dil family, long-time supporters of the game, and Harbour Basketball. BNZ continue as naming sponsors, but the owners will need to bring in more revenue through sponsorship.
“Unlike a lot of other sports franchise owners, our pockets are definitely not deep,” Caird says. “But what we bring are all the skills we believe we need and the vision of what we can create. And how we can involve the community and get a whole lot of other people along on this ride with us – to at least make it a team that’s not losing money, but is breaking even and paying for itself.”
Marshall says it was “never on my bingo card” to be a sports team owner, but she has plans to allow more Kiwis to join her.
“Although it does feel like a very American thing to do. I didn’t even really know it was an option for people who weren’t mega wealthy,” she says.
“When my partner and I moved here from the States we were already fans of women’s sports. We weren’t athletes and we weren’t involved in sport in any way. But we found right away that the talent in women’s sports in New Zealand is off the charts, but it’s actually quite difficult to be a fan of women’s sports here.
“One of the key things we want to achieve is making sports ownership more accessible and more equitable and bringing fresh perspectives to the table. We’ve even got plans about opening up ownership opportunities to normal, everyday Kiwis in the near future.
“If you’re a fan of this team, it doesn’t have to stop there – you could potentially be an owner of this team. When women come to the table, we bring a fresh perspective and inclusive perspective, and that’s what we’re going to do with this team.”
They’ve also brought in sisters Krystal and Tannika Leger-Walker (who’s in Year 13 at St Peters Cambridge), and Tall Ferns Chevannah Paalvast and Mary Goulding, on her comeback from a horror car crash that almost claimed her life.
Caird said it was important to have Kāhu’s coach, Olympian and Commonwealth silver medallist Cameron (Ngāpuhi, Niue), on board.
“She’s the face of women’s basketball in New Zealand, a real unsung hero,” Caird says. “Yet when I ask people ‘Do you know Jody Cameron?’, they usually they reply with a vacant look. But they know her brother [Tall Black] Pero Cameron.
“I want to right this wrong. I want young Pacific and Māori girls to be able to look up and see themselves in these positions; to see if they want to be a team owner, it’s possible. Sport takes you to all sorts of places and opens doors that you’d never expect.”
Caird quotes research by the Women’s Sports Foundation that found 71 percent of women who played youth sports and had a formal leadership role, now held titles like manager, director, president or C-suite executive in the US.
While women around the globe – especially former sports stars – are now investing in professional teams, Kāhu’s ownership team feel confident they have the first solely women owned, coached and managed sports team not only in New Zealand, but in the world. (Netball’s ANZ Premiership franchises have a different model – owned by Netball NZ and zones, not private individuals).
“There’s only one other team that we know of that’s 100 percent women owned – leaving aside coaches and managers – and that’s Austin Rise FC, a soccer team out of Austin, Texas,” she says.
Angel City FC, a majority female-owned and led team, were founded by male entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian (under new ownership, it recently became the most valuable women’s sports team in the world, at US$250m).
Caird has received advice from one of Angel City’s original owners, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, who she contacted earlier this year.
“I told her what we wanted to do and she loved it,” says Caird. Nortman put her in touch with Christine Jiang, an investor in Monarch Collective, an investment platform in the US dedicated to accelerating equity in global sports. “I talked through the concepts and how we were looking at structuring everything and she gave me her ideas and her support. It was fantastic.”
Kāhu’s new owners would love to create a fan following like Angel City, and closer to home, the Warriors.
“We want to extend our Kahu family off the court into our community and bring them along for the ride, like the Warriors have done,” says Caird, who’s also working on a legacy project for World Rugby ahead of next year’s women’s World Cup.
“We need to get bums on seats, and sell merchandise that appeals to females who want to wear it. We’re trying to revamp the whole experience to something that’s appealing and fun, that the whole family will enjoy.”
Marshall sees their biggest challenge initially as a lack of awareness around both the team and the league.
“People have no clue that women’s professional basketball is played in New Zealand. It’s a new league, only entering our third season,” she says. “We don’t have the luxury of generations of marketing or fandom like some of our male sports teams do.
“Our biggest challenge will be educating people that they don’t have to look at Australia or the US to see high quality professional women’s basketball. It’s happening right here.
“But our goal here is so much bigger than basketball or just this team. We want to prove that women’s sports can make money in New Zealand. Once we do that, it’s not about just generating wealth for ourselves. It’s about sharing that model across all women’s sports in New Zealand and elevating and changing the landscape for all women’s sports across this country.”
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Two-time NBA champion forward Kevin Durant has been traded to the Houston Rockets.