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The Valkyries proved a WNBA team can command NHL-level valuations if it controls premium inventory in a top-five market and executes.
$1.02 billion
in CNBC's 2026 WNBA franchise survey
$50 million
for the expansion slot in May 2023
$127 million
in trailing revenue
412%
premium to the league's median franchise value of
The Golden State Valkyries are valued at $1.02 billion in CNBC's 2026 WNBA franchise survey, making them the first women's basketball team to cross ten figures and the fastest expansion franchise in American professional sports to reach that threshold. The Warriors ownership group paid $50 million for the expansion slot in May 2023. They began play in 2025.
The valuation reflects $127 million in trailing revenue, a 412% premium to the league's median franchise value of $285 million, and a multiple that matches what you'd pay for a mid-tier NHL club. The Valkyries sold 17,200 season tickets before their first game, a WNBA record, and renewed 94% of that base for year two. Corporate sponsorship inventory is fully allocated through 2028. Kaiser Permanente holds naming rights on Chase Center's lower bowl for women's games under a separate $18 million annual deal that didn't exist when the Warriors play. Rakuten, the Warriors' jersey patch sponsor, pays the Valkyries $12 million per season for identical placement, roughly 60% of what they pay the men's team despite one-fifth the games.
The comp set has changed. When the Valkyries launched, the Las Vegas Aces were valued at $180 million, anchored by a $4.8 million local media deal and MGM's willingness to treat the team as a customer acquisition vehicle for women under 35. The New York Liberty, purchased for $78 million in 2019 by Joe Tsai, are now estimated at $850 million, driven by a Barclays Center revenue-share reset and a WNBA media rights package that tripled last fall. The Valkyries cleared $1 billion because they own a percentage of Chase Center's non-Warriors premium inventory and Chase Center sells. Courtside for a Valkyries game runs $2,400 per seat, higher than 22 NBA teams charge for equivalent sightlines.
Sponsor allocators are recalibrating. A West Coast consumer brand CMO told me his company paid $2.1 million for Valkyries category exclusivity, roughly 40% of what a comparable Warriors partnership costs, but delivered 68% of the social engagement and 90% of the brand-lift among women 18-34 in the Bay Area. His board has asked why they're still spending eight figures on the men's team. Another Fortune 500 holding company moved $14 million from its NBA sponsorship budget into WNBA inventory this fiscal year, splitting it between the Valkyries, Liberty, and Aces. The WNBA has 12 franchise slots and 48 interested ownership groups on file, per a league source. Expansion fees are expected to start at $150 million for the next round, up from $50 million in 2023.
The Valkyries' operating margin is 19%, below the Warriors' 31% but above the WNBA median of 11%. Player salary is capped at $1.8 million per team under the current CBA, which expires in 2027. That number will move. The players' association is expected to push for a 50/50 revenue split, matching NBA and NHL structures, which would triple payroll overnight and compress every team's margin by mid-single digits. The Valkyries can absorb it. Franchises valued under $200 million cannot, which is why you're seeing quiet diligence on six of the league's legacy markets from private equity shops that didn't return calls two years ago.
Joe Lacob, Warriors controlling owner, structured the Valkyries as a separate entity with distinct LP stakes, allowing him to bring in limited partners who couldn't clear the $200 million minimum for Warriors equity. Among them: a former Facebook executive who led commerce products, a Sequoia general partner, and the CEO of a direct-to-consumer activewear brand that uses Valkyries players in every campaign. The team has 41 individual owners. The Warriors have 19. That cap table is the tell.
Watch for movement on Portland and Nashville expansion slots, expected to be awarded by October 2026. Early diligence suggests $175 million minimum bids. The Liberty are not for sale, but three family offices have term sheets drafted if Tsai's posture changes. Cleveland and Minnesota franchises are both under quiet review by ownership groups that bought in pre-2020 and are comparing WNBA multiples to what they'd get selling minority MLS stakes. The Valkyries' next audit is April 2027.
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