The Golden State Valkyries reached a $1 billion valuation in their second year of operation, according to CNBC's franchise assessment released Thursday. No other WNBA team breaks $500 million. The expansion franchise began play in 2025.
The Valkyries share ownership with the Warriors—Joe Lacob's group paid a $50 million expansion fee in 2023—and play at Chase Center, where they average 18,064 paid attendance, the highest in league history. Their local television deal with NBC Sports Bay Area pays roughly $8 million annually, triple what most WNBA teams collect. Corporate partnerships cleared $22 million in year one, led by naming deals with Accenture and Kaiser Permanente. Merchandise revenue sits near $14 million, behind only Las Vegas and New York.
The valuation reflects two realities. First, the WNBA's new media deal begins in 2026: $200 million per year from Disney, Amazon, and NBC, up from $60 million under the prior contract. Second, the Bay Area market allows premium pricing that doesn't exist in Connecticut or Indiana. Courtside season tickets run $30,000. A Valkyries jersey costs $140 at the team store, $25 more than league average. The arena was built for this: Chase Center has 18,064 fixed seats, no temporary configurations, and suite inventory that moves at NBA rates.
What matters here is the arbitrage available to groups with stadium infrastructure and sales teams already in place. Portland's expansion bid—announced last month for a 2028 start—includes Trail Blazers ownership and Moda Center access. The application fee is now $100 million, double what Golden State paid. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has mentioned 16 teams as a medium-term target, which means four more franchises by 2030. Expect bidding in Houston, Philadelphia, and Nashville, where Titans ownership has been circling since the WNBA's last CBA signing. Each will cite Golden State's model: sell premium inventory to Fortune 500 regionals, skip the community-rec-center aesthetic, price like you're building enterprise value.
Ownership groups are also watching how quickly Lacob extracted returns. He's not selling, but the math is now public: $50 million in, $1 billion marked, 20x in under three years. That's private-equity velocity on a sports asset most allocators still mentally file under CSR. The Valkyries' corporate partnership deck is being studied by teams in three other leagues, according to two consultants who've seen it. One slide shows brand-lift metrics that outperform Warriors equivalents in the 25-39 female demo, the exact cohort that chief marketing officers claim they can't reach outside Instagram.
The rest of the league is not close. Las Vegas checks in at $475 million, helped by Aces playoff gates and MGM's slot-floor advertising buys. New York sits at $450 million despite Barclays Center access, weighed down by a local TV deal that pays roughly $3 million and a fanbase that still hasn't forgiven the move from Madison Square Garden. Phoenix, Seattle, and Los Angeles cluster near $350 million. Everyone else is south of $300 million, where the business case depends more on cause marketing than operating leverage.
The Valkyries' cap situation also helps. WNBA salary caps sit at $1.46 million per team in 2026, a ceiling that doesn't move with franchise value. Golden State's payroll is functionally identical to Dallas's, but their sponsorship base is $18 million wider. The new CBA, set to be negotiated after the 2027 season, will try to fix that gap. Players are already making the argument: if one franchise is worth $1 billion, the aggregate league value is well past $5 billion, and the current 50-50 revenue split should tilt their direction. Expect that conversation to begin in December 2026, once this season's playoff gates are counted.
Watch Portland's expansion process, which closes in August 2026. If the bid floor is $100 million and Golden State just validated ten-figure exits, the IRR math flips for family offices that previously wouldn't consider women's sports. Also watch whether Lacob brings in a secondary investor before the next CBA cycle. A 10 percent stake sale at $1 billion would set a public comp and confirm that this valuation is more than a CNBC model.
The Valkyries play in Seattle on May 14. Courtside seats are going for $2,800 on the secondary market.