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Three expansion franchises at **$375M–$550M** each inject **$1.4B** and reset WNBA valuation floor **8x to 11x** above 2023 pricing.
$550 million
per team
$1.4 billion
marks the largest valuation leap in women's professional sports…
11-year, $2.2 billion
media rights package with Disney
$125 million
in December 2023 for conditional expansion rights and committed…
The WNBA ownership committee voted Thursday to approve expansion applications for three cities—Portland, Toronto, and San Francisco—with franchise fees ranging from $375 million to $550 million per team. The total capital injection of roughly $1.4 billion marks the largest valuation leap in women's professional sports history and arrives as the league finalizes an 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights package with Disney, Amazon, and NBCUniversal.
Portland's ownership group, led by RAJ Sports principal Lisa Bhathal Merage and former Nike executive Melanie Strong, paid $125 million in December 2023 for conditional expansion rights and committed an additional $375 million upon Thursday's vote. The Toronto franchise, anchored by Kilmer Sports Ventures chairman Larry Tanenbaum, valued at $550 million, becomes the league's first international team and shares ownership structure with the NBA's Raptors. San Francisco's consortium, organized by Sixth Street Partners managing partner Deven Parekh, closed at $500 million and secures Chase Center co-tenancy with the Warriors. All three teams begin play in the 2025–2026 season, expanding the league to fifteen franchises by 2026.
The valuation jump matters because eighteen months ago the Golden State Valkyries paid $50 million for an expansion slot. The 8x to 11x multiple reflects three structural shifts: the new media deal guarantees $200 million annually in central revenue beginning next season, roughly $16.7 million per team before local rights; the league's charter flight policy, implemented after player advocacy, eliminates the competitive arbitrage that penalized franchises using commercial air; and the player salary cap rises from $1.46 million per team in 2024 to a projected $3.3 million by 2027 under the new CBA framework, narrowing the gap with European leagues that have poached mid-career American talent.
The franchise economics now resemble second-tier soccer properties more than startup ventures. Forbes valued the New York Liberty at $180 million in October, triple its $60 million 2019 sale price to Joe Tsai. League sources expect Portland and Toronto to generate $18 million to $22 million in local media and sponsorship revenue by year three, comparable to mid-market MLS clubs. Toronto's broadcast partner, TSN, already carries Raptors games to 7.2 million households and committed to 25 WNBA telecasts annually under the expansion terms. San Francisco negotiated a $12 million annual jersey patch deal with Salesforce before the vote closed, the league's largest apparel sponsorship outside New York.
The ownership profiles signal institutional validation. Tanenbaum chairs Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which operates $8 billion in sports assets. Sixth Street manages $75 billion and holds stakes in the San Antonio Spurs, Real Madrid, and Legends Hospitality. Bhathal Merage's family office previously acquired the Sacramento Kings' G League affiliate for $6 million in 2008 and flipped it in 2021 for $42 million. None are celebrity vanity plays; all three groups submitted 140-page operational plans detailing ticket pricing models, suite sales projections, and year-five EBITDA targets. The league required $150 million minimum net worth per lead investor and capped passive ownership at 20% to avoid absentee control.
Watch for head coach announcements by March, when the league's free agency period opens. Portland is expected to pursue former Las Vegas assistant Natalie Nakase, who interviewed for three NBA head coaching roles last summer. Toronto will name its general manager by February and is targeting current Indiana Fever executive Lin Dunn as a front-office advisor. The league's collective bargaining agreement expires in October 2027; expect franchise owners to push for a 35% to 40% revenue share for players, up from the current 9.3%, to preempt another European talent drain before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The $550 million Toronto number is the one that travels. That figure now becomes the floor for any city pursuing the league's sixteenth franchise slot, expected to open for bidding in 2026. Philadelphia, Denver, and Nashville ownership groups are already assembling investor decks.
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