The WNBA Board of Governors voted last week to admit three expansion franchises—Portland, Toronto, and the San Francisco Bay Area—at valuations exceeding $200 million per team, more than quadruple the $50 million Golden State paid for its 2025 entry less than two years ago. The league will grow to sixteen teams by 2028, with new ownership groups including Rajiv Joseph and Lisa Bhathal Merage in Portland, Canadian investor Larry Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports Ventures in Toronto, and a Bay Area group yet to be formally announced.
The expansion fees represent the largest capital raise in women's professional sports history. Collectively, the three franchises bring over $600 million into the league, split among existing team owners and league operations. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert had publicly stated the league was targeting expansion fees "in the low nine figures," but final bids cleared $200 million after competitive processes in each market. Toronto's fee is believed to be closer to $225 million, reflecting enthusiasm for a first international franchise and Tanenbaum's existing NBA, NHL, and MLS holdings through Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
The valuation reset matters most for existing owners sizing exit multiples. Forbes published its inaugural WNBA team valuations in February, valuing the New York Liberty at $145 million and the league average at $87 million. Those figures are now obsolete. A Portland expansion team—playing in a 12,000-seat arena with no star roster and no local broadcast deal—is worth $200 million before it tips off. The Liberty, coming off a championship season in the nation's largest market with a billionaire owner and a Barclays Center lease, is worth materially more. Family offices and private equity groups that modeled WNBA stakes at 5x-6x revenue are updating their assumptions. The new floor is $200 million, and it moves up from there.
The timing is leverage. The WNBA's current media deal with ESPN and CBS expires after the 2025 season. Negotiations are underway for a new package beginning in 2026, with the league seeking a 10x increase from the current $60 million annual average. Adding three markets—including a Canadian footprint that opens DAZN and TSN conversations—strengthens the league's negotiating position. The NBA, which owns approximately 60% of the WNBA, also benefits. Commissioner Adam Silver has said the WNBA operates at a $40 million annual loss, but expansion fees and rising franchise valuations improve the balance sheet before any media bump. Owners who bought in at $10 million or received teams as part of NBA arena packages now sit on assets worth 20x their basis, even if the operating businesses remain subsidy-dependent.
Portland tips off in 2026, Toronto in 2026 or 2027 depending on arena readiness, and the Bay Area in 2025 or 2026. Each market will begin hiring front-office staff within 90 days, with general manager searches expected before summer. The league will conduct an expansion draft after the 2025 season, allowing new teams to select from unprotected rosters. Existing teams can protect six players each, meaning stars stay put but depth charts get thinner. Coaches and coordinators currently on one-year deals have new landing spots. Agents with second-tier clients have three new GMs to call.
The next question is whether the league stops at sixteen. Las Vegas has been mentioned as a seventeenth market, though the city already has the Aces. Philadelphia, Nashville, and Austin have engaged in preliminary conversations. The league has not publicly committed to a final team count, but executives privately say sixteen is the target through 2030. After that, it depends on the media deal and whether the NBA divests its majority stake, a possibility that has circulated since the league's collective bargaining agreement was signed in 2023.
The $200 million floor is now set. The Bay Area ownership group is expected to be announced within 30 days, and Portland has already begun architect meetings for practice facility renovations. Toronto's franchise will operate independently of MLSE's existing properties, though Tanenbaum's infrastructure creates shortcuts on sponsorship and ticketing. The league's next valuation event is the media deal, expected to close by late 2025. Until then, every WNBA owner just saw their basis reset upward.
The takeaway
Expansion fees above **$200M** per team reset WNBA franchise valuations **4x** higher and strengthen media negotiations ahead of the 2026 TV deal.
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