The Golden State Valkyries carry an $850 million valuation, according to Sportico's annual WNBA franchise assessment released this week. That figure makes them the league's most valuable team for the second year running, despite playing zero regular-season games.
The Valkyries debuted last May as the WNBA's thirteenth franchise, backed by Joe Lacob and Peter Guber's ownership group—the same duo running the NBA Warriors. Sportico valued the expansion club at $800 million last year, before tip-off. Twelve months later, the number is up 6.3 percent, while the franchise operates out of Chase Center and shares back-office infrastructure with a championship-caliber NBA operation. The $50 million gain occurred without playoff revenue, without a marquee free-agent signing, and with a 7-13 inaugural record that landed them eleventh in the twelve-team standings.
For context: Sportico pegs the New York Liberty at $155 million and the Los Angeles Sparks at $135 million. The Valkyries are worth more than the Liberty, Sparks, Chicago Sky, Phoenix Mercury, and Seattle Storm combined. The gap reflects Bay Area corporate sponsorship density, Chase Center's luxury-suite inventory, and the halo effect of sharing a building with a franchise that grossed $765 million in basketball-related revenue last season, per Forbes. Lacob's group paid a $50 million expansion fee in 2023; the implied return is 1,600 percent in two years, assuming a willing buyer at Sportico's mark.
The valuation also suggests the WNBA's next expansion cycle will price above $100 million per team. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has publicly targeted franchises in Portland, Philadelphia, and South Florida. If the Valkyries hold an $850 million comp in a league where the average team is worth $135 million, incoming ownership groups with similar market fundamentals—tech corridor, new arena, NBA partnership—can credibly pitch nine-figure checks. The league collected $2.2 billion in media rights from Disney, Amazon, and NBCUniversal last May, a deal that triples prior payouts and runs through 2036. Expansion fees flow directly to existing owners, not league operations, which makes dilution attractive when the per-team media haul is rising faster than the ownership split is fragmenting.
The Valkyries' on-court product remains speculative. They selected Stanford forward Cameron Brink first overall in the 2024 draft; she tore her ACL in June and missed the remainder of the season. Head coach Natalie Nakase returned all five starters from last year's roster, added Oregon guard Te-Hina Paopao in the draft, and will operate with a $1.46 million salary cap in 2025, up from $1.35 million last season under the league's new CBA. The roster has no All-Stars, no Olympic medalists from the Paris cycle, and no player who averaged more than 14.2 points per game last year. The franchise is valuable because of where it plays, who owns it, and what it shares, not because of who suits up.
Watch for the Valkyries' first naming-rights deal on Chase Center's court or practice facility, expected by midseason. The Warriors renewed their Kaiser Permanente jersey patch in December for $12 million annually; the Valkyries' equivalent patch remains unsigned, though Sportico estimates WNBA jersey inventory now commands $2-4 million per year for top-market clubs. Also track whether Lacob's group pursues a Brink extension before she hits restricted free agency in 2028—her ACL recovery and on-court production this summer will set the baseline for what the Valkyries consider franchise-cornerstone money.
The league's median franchise value sits at $115 million, per Sportico. The Valkyries are worth seven times that figure, and they have yet to win a playoff game.
The takeaway
Golden State's $850M valuation, six times the WNBA median, sets the floor for next expansion cycle and proves arena-sharing math works.
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