The Golden State Valkyries are worth $1 billion, according to CNBC's 2026 franchise valuations released this week. The expansion club, which began play in 2025, becomes the first WNBA team to cross ten figures—a threshold the league's oldest franchises spent decades approaching but never reached.
The Valkyries entered the league alongside Toronto in the 2025 expansion round, paying a $50 million entry fee. Sixteen months later, the franchise carries a 20x return on that initial stake, though the figure reflects enterprise value rather than a transacted price. CNBC's methodology weights revenue, operating income, and market-size multipliers. The Valkyries benefit from shared ownership with the Golden State Warriors, a Chase Center lease structure that eliminates venue capex, and a Bay Area sponsor base conditioned to write eight-figure checks.
The valuation arrives as the WNBA negotiates its next media rights package, expected to close before the 2027 season. League revenue grew 83% between 2023 and 2025, driven by attendance gains, kit sales, and a compressed playoff schedule that delivered higher per-game ad rates. The Valkyries' debut season averaged 11,400 tickets per game—third in the league—and sold out their first five home dates within ninety minutes of general availability. Their jersey partnership with Rakuten, undisclosed but estimated near $8 million annually, represents the league's second-largest kit deal behind Las Vegas.
What the valuation signals for other franchises: a floor, not a ceiling. If an expansion team in year two commands $1 billion, legacy markets with decades of brand equity and municipal infrastructure now carry implicit valuations in the $700 million to $900 million range. The New York Liberty, Las Vegas Aces, and Los Angeles Sparks—each in top-ten media markets with private ownership groups—become immediate M&A candidates for family offices and sovereign wealth funds seeking women's sports exposure. The WNBA's revenue-sharing model caps downside; no team loses money once league distributions and local sponsorship cover payroll, which runs $2.3 million per roster under the current CBA.
For sponsors and media buyers, the Valkyries' valuation reframes cost-per-impression math. A franchise worth $1 billion implies an audience worth reaching at CPMs closer to men's sports than charity adjacency. Brands allocating women's sports budgets now negotiate against a franchise multiple that assumes growth, scarcity, and platform risk—the same inputs that drove NBA team values from $400 million in 2010 to $3.5 billion today. The Valkyries' corporate partnership roster includes Google, United Airlines, and Kaiser Permanente, each paying mid-six-figures for category exclusivity inside Chase Center's WNBA inventory.
The valuation also clarifies the league's next expansion timeline. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said the WNBA will add two more franchises by 2028, with applicant cities expected to pay entry fees north of $100 million—double the 2025 rate. Markets under consideration include Philadelphia, Houston, Nashville, and Denver. Each bid group now underwrites against a $1 billion comp rather than speculative modeling, which tightens the pool of credible buyers but raises the floor for institutional capital.
Watch for the Liberty's ownership group, led by Joe Tsai, to test the market in private soundings over the next eighteen months. The team plays at Barclays Center under a long-term lease, carries overlapping sponsorship with the Nets, and finished 2025 with the league's second-highest revenue. A sale at or near $900 million would confirm the Valkyries' valuation as signal, not outlier. Separately, the Aces—owned by Mark Davis, who also controls the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders—remain a near-term liquidity candidate given Davis's leveraged position across two leagues and a new $2 billion stadium debt load.
The Valkyries' investor base includes Joe Lacob, Peter Guber, and Chamath Palihapitiya, the latter of whom disclosed a minority stake in the franchise during a 2025 podcast appearance. Palihapitiya noted at the time that the Valkyries' revenue model resembled "a tech company with a twenty-year runway," a comment that now reads as understatement. The franchise broke even in year one—a rarity for expansion clubs—and projects $45 million in revenue for 2026, per league sources.
The WNBA's next CBA negotiation, set to begin in late 2026, will determine how much of the league's valuation surge flows to players. The current agreement allocates 50% of league revenue to salaries, with a hard cap that limits individual team payrolls. Stars like A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart earned $250,000 base salary in 2025, supplemented by playoff bonuses and off-season overseas contracts. A $1 billion franchise valuation implies a max contract closer to $1.5 million under a restructured cap, which would make year-round WNBA play financially rational for top-tier talent.
The Valkyries open their 2026 season on May 14 against Las Vegas at Chase Center. The game sold out in under six hours.