The Golden State Valkyries are worth $1 billion, according to CNBC's 2026 franchise valuations released Thursday. The team completed its first season in October.
No WNBA franchise had previously reached ten figures. The Valkyries launched in May 2025 after majority owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid a $50 million expansion fee in 2023. The franchise played its home opener at Chase Center on May 17, 2025, drawing 18,064 paying customers. Season-ticket deposits exceeded 15,000 within six weeks of the announcement. The team finished 19-21 and missed the playoffs by two games.
The valuation reflects three structural shifts. First, the Chase Center co-tenancy. Warriors infrastructure means the Valkyries avoid venue capital expenditure and inherit premium seating inventory already conditioned to $400-plus average ticket prices. Second, media rights. The WNBA's eleven-year deal with Disney, Amazon, and NBCUniversal began in May 2025 and pays the league $2.2 billion through 2036, a six-fold increase over the prior contract. Each team's annual media distribution climbed from roughly $1.5 million to $16 million before local revenue. Third, sponsor velocity. The Valkyries announced eighteen founding partners before tipoff, including Rakuten as jersey sponsor at a reported $8 million annually. For context, the Las Vegas Aces' MGM Resorts deal pays an estimated $3 million per year.
The billion-dollar threshold arrives as three expansion auctions approach closure. Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia expect to pay $115 million to $125 million per franchise, according to people familiar with the process. The WNBA and NBA boards of governors vote on final approvals in July. Cleveland's ownership group includes Cavaliers vice chairman Nic Barlage and designer Tracy Reese. Detroit's bid is led by Pistons vice chair Arn Tellem with Karen Davidson, widow of Harley-Davidson heir Bill Davidson. Philadelphia's group includes Elevate Sports Ventures co-founder Brian Mirakian and Sixers minority owner David Adelman. All three groups submitted financial projections assuming valuations above $400 million within five years, per league filings reviewed by people close to the process.
The Valkyries' path was smoothed by adjacency. Lacob and Guber paid half the going rate for Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia bidders, and they inherited a front-office apparatus that had closed $1.5 billion in Warriors sponsorship revenue since 2019. Valkyries president Ohemaa Nyanin previously ran partnership sales for the Chase Center. The team hired away Atlanta Dream COO Morgan Shaw in February 2025 to lead ticket operations. Shaw had increased Dream season-ticket holders by 140 percent over two seasons despite a 14-26 record in 2024.
League-wide sponsorship has followed. The WNBA added twenty-three new corporate partners in 2025, including Unilever, Ally Financial, and CarMax. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in December that total league sponsorship revenue exceeded $200 million in 2025, up from $60 million in 2023. Player salaries rose in step. The maximum salary for a player with six-plus years of service increased to $500,000 in 2025, up from $241,984 in 2024. Rookie scale salaries began at $82,000, compared to $62,000 the prior year.
The valuation also benefits from scarcity. The WNBA has operated with twelve franchises since 2008. Expansion to fifteen teams by 2026 and sixteen by 2028 still leaves the league smaller than any major North American professional circuit. MLS operates thirty teams. The NHL runs thirty-two. Demand for women's sports assets has no comparable outlet. Engelbert mentioned a sixteenth team in a November interview with CNBC but declined to name a market. Portland and Toronto are considered front-runners, according to two team executives who have spoken with league officials.
Watch the July board vote. If Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia clear, the next expansion cycle opens. Portland's bid is expected to include Melvin and Lisa Stone, who led a failed Seattle Reign FC buyout attempt in 2023. Toronto would likely involve Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Raptors, Maple Leafs, and Toronto FC. The company has explored WNBA entry since 2022, per a person familiar with internal strategy meetings. The Valkyries' investors include Sixth Street Partners, which has acquired sports stakes totaling $9 billion across Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and the San Antonio Spurs since 2020. Sixth Street managing director Alan Waxman joined the Valkyries' board in June 2025.
Expansion fees at $120 million value the thirty-team endpoint above $600 million per franchise before accounting for growth. The Valkyries closed the gap in eighteen months.