The Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA's newest expansion franchise, are valued at $850 million, making them the first women's professional sports team to breach that tier and establishing a new benchmark for women's league asset pricing. The valuation, disclosed as the franchise prepares for its inaugural 2025 season, is 17 times the $50 million expansion fee paid by the last entrant, the Los Angeles Sparks' 2008 iteration, and more than double the $410 million estimate Sportico assigned to the New York Liberty in early 2024.
The Valkyries, owned by venture capitalist Joe Lacob and his Golden State Warriors ownership group, will play at Chase Center in San Francisco. The franchise was announced in October 2023 with a reported expansion fee near $50 million, a figure that now looks quaint against the current valuation. The team joins a 13-franchise league entering its 30th season, a milestone that arrives alongside a new media rights package worth $200 million annually across Disney, Amazon, and NBCUniversal—more than triple the prior deal—and average attendance figures up 48% year-over-year through the 2024 playoffs.
The valuation matters because it resets the acquisition math for institutional buyers and family offices who have spent the past 18 months quietly circling WNBA assets. The league now has a concrete reference point above $800 million, a threshold that prices out hobbyist ownership and attracts the same capital pools sizing MLS and NWSL positions. It also clarifies the exit multiple for early backers: Lacob's group, which paid an expansion fee likely between $50 million and $75 million, is holding an asset that just jumped 11x to 17x on paper in under two years, a return profile that will inform the next franchise auction. The league has already greenlit expansion to at least 15 teams by 2028, with Portland and Toronto frequently mentioned. Those bids, which will be priced against the Valkyries precedent, are expected to clear $100 million in expansion fees, creating a direct revenue stream to player salary pools and infrastructure.
The Valkyries valuation also clarifies sponsor economics. The Warriors' existing Chase Center partnerships—including Rakuten's $60 million total deal and JPMorgan Chase's $300 million naming rights package through 2040—create a shared revenue infrastructure that makes WNBA inventory more valuable than standalone arena deals. The Valkyries can sell courtside, club access, and digital activations against a venue that already hosts 200-plus events annually, giving sponsors year-round touchpoints. That bundling advantage is not replicable in single-use WNBA arenas, which is why the Seattle Storm (Climate Pledge Arena, shared with the NHL's Kraken) and the Phoenix Mercury (Footprint Center, shared with the NBA's Suns) are considered undervalued relative to their on-court performance.
The valuation report does not name its methodology, but comparable sales are scarce. The last full WNBA franchise sale was the Dallas Wings in 2011 for an undisclosed sum estimated near $10 million. Minority stakes have traded higher—Mark Walter's Dodgers ownership group bought into the Los Angeles Sparks in 2014, and the Liberty sold to Joe Tsai for a reported $50 million in 2019—but those transactions preceded the current media cycle. The $850 million figure likely reflects a multiple of projected revenue under the new broadcast deal, plus a premium for scarcity: only 15 teams by 2028, in a league where commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said she expects team values to reach $1 billion within three years. The Valkyries have now frontrun that timeline.
Watch for three follow-on moves. First, the Toronto and Portland expansion bids, both expected to formalize terms by mid-2025, will test whether the Valkyries valuation was a Golden State premium or a new league floor. Second, minority stake sales in existing franchises, particularly the Atlanta Dream and Washington Mystics, which have been shopped informally since early 2024. Third, the Valkyries' head coach and front office hires, expected by February, which will signal whether Lacob's group is running this as a Warriors subsidiary or a standalone brand.
The league is 30 years old and its most valuable team is worth less than the Toronto Raptors' practice facility. But the asset class is moving.
The takeaway
The Valkyries' $850M valuation resets WNBA acquisition pricing and will inform the next expansion auction, likely above $100M per bid.
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