Toronto Tempo adds Canadian Silicon Valley CEO as co-owner of WNBA expansion team

Open this photo in gallery: Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, chief executive of accounting software company Xero Ltd., is the second person to join the Toronto Tempo’s ownership group since Kilmer Sports Ventures was awarded the franchise last May.Jason Henry/The Globe and Mail

One of Canada’s most accomplished executives in Silicon Valley, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, is joining the ownership group of Toronto’s expansion Women’s National Basketball Association team.

Ms. Cassidy, chief executive of accounting software company Xero Ltd. XROLF, is the second person to join the Toronto Tempo’s ownership group after retired tennis star Serena Williams, since majority owner Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Sports Ventures was awarded the franchise last May. Mr. Tanenbaum, whose company paid a US$115-million fee for the franchise, is chair and 25-per-cent owner of Maple Leaf Sport and Entertainment, parent to the Toronto Raptors NBA team and the city’s professional hockey, soccer and Canadian football clubs. Rogers Communications Inc., which is buying BCE Inc.’s MLSE stake, is expected to exercise an option to purchase his share in 2026.

Killing it in Silicon Valley: An interview with Sukhinder Singh Cassidy

Tempo president Teresa Resch said Mr. Tanenbaum hopes to bring on 10 to 12 women as minority shareholders. She described Ms. Singh Cassidy, who previously led ticket reseller StubHub Holdings Inc., as “very well informed” and “a natural fit” for the team. “She grew up in Ontario, she has very close ties to Canada and she’s such a strategic thinker and accomplished businesswoman. She’s done a lot in her career to level the playing field for women” and has “world-class fan experiences. Being able to tap into that will be incredible.”

Ms. Singh Cassidy was born in Tanzania but grew up in St. Catharines, Ont., after her family migrated to Canada when she was young. She earned a business degree from Western University’s Ivey Business School and worked in finance and media in New York and in London before moving to Silicon Valley in 1998. She was part of the team that built Google Maps, and cofounded two startups.

Ms. Singh Cassidy has also been a proponent for better female representation in the tech industry, founding theBoardlist, a talent marketplace that promotes women for board posts.

She also made the controversial decision when she was leading StubHub, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, to rescind its ticket refund policies and instead offer buyers a 120-per-cent credit for the value of purchases to redeem on future sales. At the time, StubHub was awaiting approval from the U.K.’s competition regulator for its sale to Viagogo and it didn’t have enough cash to cover refunds for cancelled events. The move sparked outrage, lawsuits and a threat against Ms. Singh Cassidy’s family. But it also kept StubHub from going out of business.

Ms. Singh Cassidy said in an interview she’d looked at several opportunities to invest in pro sports teams before connecting with Kilmer last year. “It’s long been my interest to invest in sports, particularly in women’s professional sports,” she said. “Putting money to work in Canada for women is something I care a lot about. I love the world of live sports, and as a category of investment, it’s very accretive. It’s a scarce, illiquid asset, but definitely institutional capital is going in and team values are rising. Women’s sports is a really good investment.”

There has been a surge of interest in women’s pro sports, with last year’s debut of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and this month’s kickoff of the Northern Super League, Canada’s first women’s pro soccer league.

When star guard Caitlin Clark led the University of Iowa’s women’s basketball team to the NCAA final last year the game drew a larger audience than the men’s final. Her subsequent arrival on the WNBA’s Indiana Fever contributed to a spike in attendance and viewership, and last year the league signed an 11-year media rights deal with Walt Disney Co., Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime and National Broadcasting Co. Inc. worth US$200-million a year. The WNBA is expanding: in May the Golden State Valkyries make their debut as the league’s 13th team, followed by the Tempo and a Portland, Ore., franchise in 2026. Several U.S. cities have bid for a 16th franchise set to debut in 2028, with backers including athletes Peyton Manning and Patrick Mahomes, entertainers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and NBA and NFL team owners.

The Tempo have so far signed sponsors Sephora and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The team, led by general manager Monica Wright Rogers, will play at the Coca-Cola Coliseum at Exhibition Stadium, with some games in Montreal and Vancouver.

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