Net Worth

Lilly Singh has gone all in with the Toronto Tempo: part owner, chief hype officer and bringer of 14 million potential fans

- COURTNEY SHEA

Before you were a WNBA exec, you were a Toronto basketball fan. I seem to recall you partying during the Raptors’ 2019 championship run. I grew up enjoying the Raptors but didn't have the means to go to games. Then superfan Nav Bhatia started letting me sit with him. I'm spoiled: I fell in love with the team watching courtside. I moved to LA in 2015 but flew back and forth during the 2019 playoffs. It was a top-five experience of my life. I could have watched Game 6 in Oakland, but I chose Jurassic Park. I thought nothing would ever top that moment—until I heard that a women's pro team was coming to Toronto.

For a while, women’s sports were caught in a catch-22: potential owners said the market was too small, but the market couldn’t grow without people having an opportunity to watch the games. It’s about potential versus proof. Where male athletes get evaluated on potential, female athletes have to prove themselves just to get a chance.