The late NBA commissioner David Stern laid out his vision for a women’s pro basketball league after the 1996 Summer Olympics. The WNBA would be fully owned by the NBA and attract fans and sponsors during the NBA offseason, as well as provide a domestic league for the best female basketball players in the world.
Some NBA owners grumbled as the operating losses piled up and a half-dozen teams folded over the next two decades. Stern preached patience.
“The WNBA doesn’t happen without David Stern,” Donna Orender, former WNBA president, said in a phone interview. “He was a visionary and identified a key area of growth. It’s taken longer than we all would have hoped, as we sit on the front end of this long anticipated, yet much hoped and worked for, business inflection point.”
Now in year 28, the vision is happening.
Attendance, TV ratings, social engagement, revenue and any other metric you can think of will hit a record high this season for the WNBA. But perhaps the biggest hockey stick data point: franchise values.
The Davis family has experience buying sports teams as their values are set to explode. In 1966, Al Davis acquired 10% of the Oakland Raiders in a deal that valued the team at a mere $185,000, just before the AFL merger with the NFL. Davis ultimately gained control of the franchise as NFL media deals soared. Al’s son, Mark, now controls the team. Its current value: $5.8 billion.
Mark Davis is also a huge women’s basketball fan and bought the Las Vegas Aces from MGM International for roughly $2 million in 2021. He poured money into the franchise, including a $40 million practice facility, the first specifically built for a WNBA team. Two WNBA championships later, and the Aces are worth $140 million and tops in the league, by Sportico’s count.
A 70x return has some investors screaming bubble and thinking the league has pulled forward a decade worth of franchise value gains in short order, but the metrics support a league with a runway for higher valuations.
Sportico spoke to more than 30 people inside and around the WNBA over the past six weeks to gauge the value of the 12 existing franchises. In most cases, we traded candor for anonymity with bankers, investors, owners and team executives, so people could share freely on why every franchise is worth “at least $100 million” to “I would never invest in one of these teams.”
The average team is worth an estimated $96 million, led by the Aces, Seattle Storm ($135 million) and New York Liberty ($130 million). The Atlanta Dream, who play in a 3,500-seat arena, represent the current floor at $55 million. The teams are collectively worth $1.16 billion, including real estate and assets related to the franchises, such as practice facilities.
The valuations are based on “control” transactions, where the new owner takes charge of the franchise, versus an LP sale (click here for a detailed methodology and revenue for the teams).
Team Sales
The Aces and Dream in 2021 were the last WNBA teams sold that were not part of an NBA franchise transaction, with the Dream also trading hands for seven figures. The Phoenix Mercury and Minnesota Lynx, respectively, both sold as part of NBA deals—the Suns for $4 billion in early 2023 and the Timberwolves for $1.55 billion in 2021. The WNBA clubs were given little consideration by bidders at the time, as they represented a tiny sliver of the overall deal value.
WNBA teams have sold significant limited partnership stakes in recent years, including the Chicago Sky, whose owners sold 10% of the team last year at an $85 million valuation. Earlier in the year, the Storm raised $21 million from 15 new investors at a $130 million valuation or $151 million post-money valuation. The money helped fund a $64 million practice facility and business office for the Storm. Multiple teams are exploring selling LP stakes at nine-figure valuations.
“One of the things that we feel responsible for, not just running our team, but when we do something people should take notice of because it's an indicator in the market, why hide it,” Lisa Brummel, co-owner of the Seattle Storm, said in a video interview, adding that she wanted to put people on notice when revealing the valuation. “All of you think the last sale was something that was free, it’s not that way anymore, and we can prove it with numbers and prove it with money and prove it with success.”
The correlation between LP and control transactions is not a perfect science. Historically, minority stakes in teams across leagues sold at a 20-40% discount to control deals, but the calculus has changed in recent years, particularly in less mature leagues where the price points are lower, and there is a wide swath of investors willing to write $1 million checks and who are less price sensitive. There is not a seat at the table for these investors in the NFL or NBA, where valuations start at $3 billion (NBA) and $4 billion (NFL). It has created a case where there is an LP premium to be paid in order to call yourself a team owner.
Last year, the WNBA added its first expansion franchise since Atlanta in 2008. Golden State will start play in 2025, while Toronto got the nod last month and will begin the following season. Both paid $50 million expansion fees, with Toronto committing $115 million in total, which includes the expansion fee, plans to build a practice facility and other payments to the league.
The Golden State Valkyries are owned by Joe Lacob, Peter Guber and the rest of the NBA Warriors’ ownership group. “It’s always something we wanted to do, but the timing had to be right,” Brandon Schneider, Warriors president, said in a phone interview.
Lacob’s group bought the Warriors in 2010 for $450 million—their current value is now $8.3 billion. The new owners focused on getting the on-court product right and then building the $1.4 billion Chase Center in San Francisco. COVID-19 hit six months after the Chase Center opened. The WNBA has long wanted a team in the Bay Area tied to the Warriors, and now the timing was right.
“We're excited to take what we've learned in operating the businesses that we have, specifically the Warriors, and applying that to the Valkyries,” Schneider said. “We view this as an opportunity to build a world class sports league—not a world class women's sports league, but a world class sports league.”
The Valkyries already have 13,300 season ticket deposits and are reaching a new audience in the Bay Area—a majority of deposits are from those who do not hold Warriors season tickets.
“This region of the Bay Area has been ready for this for a long time,” Jess Smith, Valkyries president, said in a video interview. Smith joined the Valkyries after four years at Angel City FC where she was head of revenue. “Even just those five years ago, there was a lot of education around why women's sports, how to look at the valuations, how to reach this consumer differently and understand that it's not the same consumer, and they are looking for you to approach your partnership in a different way.”
She said she has seen a shift since those early ACFC meetings with potential sponsors. "The rooms are filled wtih excitment of just how do we do this, and how do we do it well."
Schneider and Smith won’t discuss revenue for the Valkyries, but that has not stopped others. “The WNBA’s Angel City” was one banker’s expectation. Revenue should top $30 million in year one, which would be 60% higher than any club generated in 2023.
Most WNBA insiders think Golden State and Toronto, which is owned by Larry Tanenbaum, got a good deal on their expansion price, due to their timing, connections to the NBA and desire to lock up those two markets. Tanenbaum has been the Toronto Raptors’ longtime governor, as well as chairman of the NBA board of governors since 2017. The deal also introduces the W into a new country, in addition to the fourth-largest city in North America.
The Valkyries will mark the sixth WNBA team directly owned by an NBA franchise, while Toronto will mean half the 14-team league would have NBA ties, based on Tanenbaum’s 25% stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
The WNBA plans to add two more expansion teams to start play by 2028. Portland, with multiple potential bidders, is the likely frontrunner to land one team, while the 16th franchise could land in a handful of cities. No one is getting a team for $50 million, and the expected fee is at least $75 million for each of these two teams before the additional start-up costs.
"It’s complex because you need an arena and a practice facility and player housing and all the things, you need committed long-term ownership groups," Cathy Engelbert, WNBA commissioner, told the media ahead of the WNBA Draft in April. "The nice thing is we’re getting a lot of calls.”
The NWSL is an obvious comp when looking at franchise values. Women’s soccer franchises were selling for $2-3 million three years ago, and the league commanded $53 million expansion fees last year, including Bay FC, where Sixth Street plans to spend $125 million in launching the team. Teams in Los Angeles and San Diego are worth nine figures, with Kansas City ready to cross that threshold also.
Last year, Sportico valued NWSL teams at $66 million on average, which has likely climbed since then with the recent sales in San Diego and Seattle at 20% premiums to our estimated valuation—Portland’s sale price was on par with our value.
Sportico valued NWSL clubs at 7.1 times their projected 2023 revenue. Revenue multiples remain the standard metric for investment bankers when looking at sports teams, due to fluctuation in profits or the absence of profits in many cases.
Our WNBA team valuations imply an average multiple of 7.3 times 2023 revenue, a tick above the NWSL. It is also ahead of the NHL and MLB, but while those two established leagues with a combined two centuries of history are value plays, the WNBA is a growth stock. WNBA revenue for 2024 will be up at least 30%, pushing the revenue multiple down to a more conservative 5.5 times.
The WNBA has its challenges ahead. It needs to continue to decouple from the NBA, and WNBA players are likely to opt out of their collective bargaining agreement after this season. The league must create more brand affinity for teams and master the intricacies of retaining newfound fans.
But in a comparison to the NWSL, the WNBA checks several boxes, including higher current revenue and huge stars at the start of their careers. The WNBA’s media deal generates real cash for teams, and the impending one will be multiple times higher; the majority of the NWSL’s $60 million-a-year TV deal is comprised of marketing and production costs. The WNBA also does not face stiff competition from a competing league, with the rise of England’s WSL presenting a potential sparring partner for the NWSL when bidding for players.
W Business Booms
The 12 WNBA teams generated an estimated $158 million in revenue last year, or $13.2 million per club on average—the NWSL was $9.4 million per team. The WNBA range was $8.8 million (Atlanta) to $18 million (New York), including playoffs and a roughly $2 million check from the league for central revenue from media and sponsorship deals. Less than 50% of central revenue trickles down to the clubs, as NBA owners own 42% of the league and a strategic investment consortium formed in 2022 owns 16%.
Most WNBA clubs had low seven-figure losses last year, while at least a couple were cash flow positive, including Seattle. The league has additional expenses in 2024, such as the newly introduced charter flight plan at a cost of $25 million per year.
Most WNBA teams will likely set revenue and attendance records this season, as the league posted video game-like percentage increases during its opening month of 2024.
More than half of WNBA games were sellouts, up 156% from last season. Las Vegas, Dallas and Atlanta all announced sellouts of their season ticket allotments, and arenas were filled at 94% capacity so far. The Liberty generated more than $2 million in ticket revenue for their home game versus the Indiana Fever, which set a WNBA record.
Nationally televised WNBA games have averaged 1.32 million viewers, nearly triple last year. The league’s online store already set a single-season record with transactions up 756% versus the same period last year.
“The momentum behind women's basketball is crazy good, and it's not going to stop,” Brummel said. “Someone's going to say it's a one-year blip. It's not. It's going to be there.”
Caitlin Clark, of course, is driving many of these massive increases. The two-time college player of the year will have 36 of her 40 Indiana Fever games on national television. Her games, both home and away, have averaged twice as many fans as non-Clark games. Part of that math is Indiana’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse seats more than 17,000 people—the Fever averaged 4,067 fans last year—while half the league plays in arenas that hold 12,000 people or fewer. Clubs have also moved games to larger venues to accommodate the demand for Fever games. Overall average attendance during the 2024 season to date is 9,104, according to Across the Timeline, versus 6,615 last year.
The Washington Mystics moved their June 7 game versus the Fever from their regular 4,200-seat home, the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southeast D.C., to the Capital One Arena, which is owned by Mystics owner Ted Leonsis and where his NBA and NHL teams, the Wizards and Capitals, play. The result: A sold-out crowd of 20,333 fans turned out for the fifth-highest WNBA regular season game ever and largest since the 2007 WNBA Finals. The Mystics also moved games against the Chicago Sky and Phoenix Mercury to Capital One.
The Dream moved their two Fever home games to State Farm Arena, with a 19,050 capacity, more than five times their current home. The Aces moved their Fever game next month to the 18,000-seat T-Mobile Arena. The Los Angeles Sparks drew a 19,103-person, star-studded sellout at Crypto.com Arena for their May 24 game against the Fever.
Most teams have put the Indiana Fever in multi-game packages, so you need to buy tickets to multiple games if you want to see Clark play. This is no different than what MLS teams did when Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami and created an insatiable demand for tickets—yes, Clark’s impact on a league belongs in the same conversation as the most famous athlete (person?) on the planet.
Like MLS, it is now on the WNBA and teams to keep a percentage of those fans sampling the league for the first time. The league is better capitalized to do that thanks to a more developed infrastructure since Engelbert left her CEO position at Deloitte to be the WNBA’s first commissioner in 2019.
Under Engelbert, the WNBA raised $75 million from a group of strategic investors including Nike, Michael Dell, Linda Henry, Dee Haslam, Condoleezza Rice, Micky Arison and Laurene Powell Jobs. Some like Leonsis, Joe Tsai (Liberty) and Herb Simon (Fever) tripled down on the league. They were part of the raise, owned WNBA teams and owned a stake in the league through their NBA team ownership. The deal was negotiated in 2021, as COVID-19 dented sports team finances, and announced in early 2022.
Previously, the league’s equity was split 50-50 between WNBA owners and NBA owners. This deal carved out 16% for the new consortium at a $400 million valuation, or $475 million post-money value. The $400 million represented 5.4 times top-line league revenue at the time, according to one of the investors. Each of the current 12 teams now owns a 3.5% stake in the league, which will drop to 3% with the addition of Golden State and Toronto.
The cash helped build out the WNBA’s infrastructure coming out of COVID-19. The league has grown from one marketing person to 25, including its first CMO. The league hired a chief growth officer for the first time and added engineers and social media employees. “Cathy and the subsequent leadership team she's built at the league has been a huge tipping point for us.” Greg Bibb, Dallas Wings CEO and minority owner, said in an interview.
What’s Next
A finalized TV deal is what everyone at the NBA and WNBA is watching. The current $2.7 billion-a-year pact with ESPN and Turner Sports signed in 2014 expires after next year. It grants the WNBA roughly 1% of the agreement, with the remaining 99% going to NBA clubs. The WNBA later signed additional deals with Ion, CBS and Amazon that pushed its annual TV revenue to $60 million.
The leagues are once again negotiating their TV rights together, but the WNBA and NBA will have different term sheets, according to someone familiar with the current proposals who was not authorized to speak publicly. The WNBA’s cut of the new pact will likely be at least $150 million annually. Not all of that will filter down to the teams with 58% of the league’s equity held by NBA owners and the 2022 consortium investors.
The WNBA has three teams—Atlanta, Dallas and Washington—currently playing in arenas with 7,000 seats or fewer, which does not match the ambitions for this league. The smaller venues contributed to 2023 WNBA attendance posting a lower average than every season between 1997 and 2019.
Washington flexed multiple games to Capital One Arena this year and will likely to continue to do that even as the building undergoes a $515 million renovation. The Mystics offer a unique proposition in that they own their local media distribution with Monumental Sports Network. It allows for a 360-degree solution for corporate partners with the team, arena and media.
Dallas’ ticket revenue has more than doubled from the same point last year and is bumping up against capacity restraints. In April, the Dallas City Council approved a 15-year plan to move the club to the convention center downtown and offered $19 million in incentives. The plan includes a new practice facility exclusively for the team, and the center will offer an additional 2,000 to 2,500 seats over the team’s current 7,000-seat home on the University of Texas at Arlington campus.
The WNBA has undergone a sea change over the last five years and more change is ahead, including a new crop of college stars led by Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo.
“We have a lot of respect for what Cathy Engelbert and her team have done to be in a position to really capitalize on the momentum that's now here,” the Warriors’ Schneider said. “This is not a moment, this is a movement.”
(This story has been updated in the 14th paragraph to clarify the Storm co-owner to whom Sportico spoke for this story. It has also been updated to clarify the Los Angeles Sparks play their home games in Crypto.com arena.)