Mark Walter filed to sell the Los Angeles Sparks for a valuation exceeding $700 million, including the team's practice facility, according to a person familiar with the process. The ask is more than triple the $240 million Joe Tsai paid for the New York Liberty in 2019, the current WNBA high-water mark.
Walter acquired the Sparks in 2014 through Guggenheim Baseball Management, the same group that owns the Dodgers. The sale filing lands seven months after the WNBA announced a new media deal worth $2.2 billion over eleven years, up from $60 million annually under the prior contract. The Sparks posted a 7-21 record in 2024, fourth in the Western Conference.
The $700 million number matters less as franchise value and more as market positioning. Walter is establishing a floor for premium-market WNBA teams in the post-media-deal era. Golden State's recent WNBA expansion fee was $50 million; the league's Toronto and Portland slots went for the same. A successful Sparks sale at Walter's ask recalibrates what institutional buyers—private equity, sovereign wealth, family offices already holding NBA stakes—will pay for existing franchises with revenue streams and player contracts in place. The practice facility inclusion is strategic: it gives the buyer immediate infrastructure and removes the two-year timeline most expansion teams face before breaking ground.
Two groups are watching. First, the five WNBA teams still held by their NBA parent clubs (Indiana, Minnesota, Phoenix, Connecticut, Washington). Those teams are suddenly comp-able differently if Walter closes above $500 million. Second, the Liberty's current ownership, who bought at $240 million and now sit on an asset potentially worth 3x in five years if Walter's pricing holds. Tsai's team won the 2024 WNBA championship in October; the timing of Walter's filing, three weeks later, is noted by people close to both transactions.
The Sparks' on-court product complicates the pitch. The team has missed the playoffs three of the past four seasons. Head coach Curt Miller is entering year two of his contract. The roster has $1.4 million in committed salary for 2025, below the league's $1.46 million cap, leaving room for a new owner to reshape the roster through free agency in January. The practice facility—a 30,000-square-foot complex in El Segundo—was completed in 2021 and is owned outright, not leased, giving the buyer a tangible asset on the balance sheet.
Los Angeles supports the math in theory. The market has two NBA teams, two NHL teams, two MLS teams, and until recently two NFL teams. Crypto.com Arena, where the Sparks play, seats 18,997 for basketball; the Sparks averaged 7,893 in paid attendance last season, per league data, leaving upside for a buyer with better marketing or a competitive roster. The city's corporate base—entertainment, technology, apparel—has historically supported women's sports sponsorships at higher rates than secondary markets.
Three names are circulating among people who track WNBA transactions. A West Coast tech founder who looked at the Warriors' expansion bid but passed. A New York-based investment group that holds minority stakes in two European soccer clubs. An individual with ties to both Dodger Stadium sponsorships and LA28 Olympic planning. None have confirmed interest publicly. The sale process is being run by an investment bank with prior WNBA deal experience, per two people briefed on the arrangement.
Walter's exit timing aligns with Guggenheim's broader portfolio moves. The firm sold its minority stake in the Lakers in 2021. It recently restructured its soccer holdings in Europe. Selling the Sparks while WNBA franchise values are climbing—and before the league's next collective bargaining negotiation in 2027—is consistent with private equity discipline: liquidate when comps favor the seller, not when the asset demands capital or management focus.
The league office will watch the bid list closely. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has stated publicly that WNBA teams should eventually command NBA-comparable valuations on a per-seat basis. Walter's ask, if met, would represent roughly 12% of the Clippers' $6 billion sale price in 2014, adjusted for inflation and asset mix. The Sparks play in the same building.
Bids are expected by mid-November. The new CBA negotiation window opens in February 2027, giving a prospective buyer one full season to assess roster costs before player salary structures potentially shift. The practice facility lease runs through 2041, locked at $1.2 million annually, below market for El Segundo commercial real estate. The deal will close, if it closes, before the WNBA draft in April.