Sheila Johnson Is Profiled On ESPN’s “OTL Nightly”

Tuesday night’s edition of ESPN’s “OTL Nightly” profiled WNBA Mystics President & Managing Partner SHEILA JOHNSON, former business partner and ex-wife of Bobcats & WNBA Sting Owner ROBERT JOHNSON. Johnson is the first female African-American billionaire in the U.S., as well as the first African-American woman to co-own three professional sports teams — the Wizards, Capitals and Mystics. Capitals Owner TED LEONSIS said of Johnson’s responsibilities with the team, “We basically said, ‘Grow the team, grow the revenues, make the playoffs (and) bring us a championship.’ ... (DC) is a predominantly African-American black city and we’re trying to reach women, so the background that she has as an African-American woman who happened to be one of the founders of BET is exactly down the strike zone that not only the Mystics needed, but the WNBA needs as a whole.”

BUILDING A DYNASTY: ESPN’s Kelly Naqi: “Johnson is mining her vast network of business and personal contacts to help spark interest in the WNBA.” Leonsis: “One of the things I love about Sheila is that she has a chip on her shoulder, and I’ve watched Sheila take the size of the (Mystics) locker room as a motivator that she’s going to go out and build a really, really big business to show us all that the WNBA shouldn’t be a second-class operation.” Wizards President SUSAN O’MALLEY, on Johnson: “I watch her go to every game. I watch her be engaged with the players. It’s interesting that the other team is asking to meet her (as the Liberty did). ... To these women she is something to look up to” (“OTL Nightly,” ESPN, 8/10).