Las Vegas Aces owner Mark Davis says “absolutely nothing wrong was done” in a $1.2 million player sponsorship deal that reportedly sparked a WNBA investigation into the franchise.
Davis made his comments to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones during NFL owners meetings in Nashville on Wednesday. Davis is also the owner of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced Friday that it is sponsoring all 12 of the Aces’ players with $100,000 deals. The LVCVA announced the sponsorship in a video featuring president and CEO Steve Hill speaking to Aces players in their locker room.
“The offering is very simple,” Hill said. “We just want you to play. We want you to continue representing Las Vegas, and if you do a three-peat, that’s the icing on the cake. That’s all.’
According to multiple reports, the WNBA is now investigating the sponsorship. The WNBA has a hard salary cap of $1.46 million, which almost matches the sponsorship deal. The $100,000 individual sponsorship deals exceed the salaries of half the team’s players and only require them to play basketball.
LVCVA: Aces were not involved in the negotiations
According to Callie Lawson-Freeman of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the LVCVA organized the sponsorship directly with the players’ agents and actively avoided coordinating with the team to avoid violating the WNBA’s salary cap rules. Hill told the Review-Journal that the LVCVA has “over a hundred influencers that we pay on a regular basis” to promote the city.
Davis defended the deals in his comments to CBS Sports.
“Absolutely nothing wrong was done,” Davis said. “And I think it’s sad that they used the word investigation instead of saying something softer, ‘Hey, we can look into it,’ or something like that. But they’re going to find out that there’s nothing to worry about.”
Davis: What about Caitlin Clark’s shoe deal with Nike?
He then suggested a double standard as he pointed to an eight-figure sponsorship deal for Indiana Fever Caitlin Clark, a rookie at Nike.
“Nike owns the WNBA and they get to sponsor Caitlin Clark for $28 million for one player,” Davis continued. “And no one complains or investigates.
“And I think it’s great that Nike is doing that. But let’s give credit where credit is due: the Las Vegas Convention Authority is stepping up and recognizing these women.”
Davis also advocated for more financial opportunities for all WNBA players.
“If we can basically get them hundreds of thousands of dollars or get millions of dollars for all the players, they can stay in the community,” Davis said. “They won’t have to go overseas to play. They’ll have the resources to continue working in the community, working with young kids and all that.”
Another study on Aces
This is the second time in two years that the WNBA has investigated the Aces. The league ruled last year that the Aces promised “impermissible benefits” to former player Dearica Hamby after Hamby accused the Aces of trading her because she was pregnant.
“I was promised things that would entice me to sign my contract extension, but they were not followed through,” Hamby said as part of her complaint on Instagram.
The WNBA suspended head coach Becky Hammon for two games and withdrew a 2025 draft pick after two separate investigations determined the team offered Hamby “impermissible benefits” and violated the league’s Respect in the Workplace policy with comments about her pregnancy.
