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WNBA franchises now trade above $900M, driven by 3x media rights growth and scarcity; ownership class shifting from NBA adjacency to institutional capital.
$1.15 billion
making it the most valuable women's professional sports franchise…
$1.03 billion
and the Chicago Sky at
$925 million
Joe Tsai bought the Liberty in 2019 for
$50 million
entry fees apiece
The New York Liberty is now valued at $1.15 billion, making it the most valuable women's professional sports franchise globally, per Forbes methodology released this week. The Las Vegas Aces sit at $1.03 billion and the Chicago Sky at $925 million. Joe Tsai bought the Liberty in 2019 for $10 million.
The league's Board of Governors approved three expansion franchises—Golden State, Toronto, Portland—at $50 million entry fees apiece, all slated to begin play between 2025 and 2026. The Valkyries tip off in San Francisco next season. Toronto and Portland follow in 2026. That $150 million gross inflow lands as existing team valuations climb tenfold in half a decade, driven by media rights acceleration (the league's new 11-year deal with Disney, NBC, and Amazon averages $200 million annually starting 2026, up from $60 million) and a sponsorship pipeline that added 22 new corporate partners in 2024 alone.
What matters here is the ownership composition shift. Traditional WNBA investors—local real estate developers, NBA tandem owners treating the asset as charitable adjacency—are being priced out by family offices, private equity scouts, and entertainment crossover capital. The Aces are controlled by Mark Davis, who also owns the NFL Raiders; Tsai runs a $9 billion family office. The three expansion groups include Sixth Street Partners (Golden State), Larry Tanenbaum's Kilmer Group (Toronto), and the Bhathal family plus RAJ Sports (Portland). None are first-time sports operators. All bring institutional LP networks.
The valuation math reflects two realities. First, scarcity: twelve teams currently, fifteen post-expansion, with Commissioner Cathy Engelbert capping total franchises at sixteen by decade's end. Second, margin trajectory. The league lost $40 million operationally in 2023 per WNBA financials, but that figure includes allocated NBA overhead and excludes equity value creation in franchise resale. The Liberty's local media rights alone—currently held by YES Network, Tsai's RSN—are being repackaged for the 2026 cycle with bids expected in the $8-12 million annual range, triple the current rate. Multiply that by fifteen teams, add national underwriting tailwinds (Nike just extended as uniform partner through 2037 for undisclosed terms, previous deal was $12 million per year), and the EBITDA picture starts looking less like charity and more like pre-growth consumer product.
The comp set is shifting too. Liberty and Aces valuations now track closer to NWSL franchises—San Diego Wave sold for $120 million in 2023, Angel City for $250 million the year prior—than to minor league baseball clubs. Sponsors read that signal. State Farm, Google, and Coinbase all entered WNBA partnerships in 2024 at reported mid-seven-figure annual commitments. Attendance averaged 9,800 per game league-wide last season, up 16% year-over-year, but the real lever is digital: WNBA social accounts gained 90 million video views in playoffs alone, triple the 2022 figure.
Three things to track. First, the Liberty's 2025 local TV deal, expected to close by March and set the comp for Chicago and Las Vegas renewals. Second, whether Engelbert greenlit a sixteenth expansion bid in the next eighteen months—rumored markets include Houston, Philadelphia, Nashville—and whether that entry fee jumps above $75 million. Third, whether any of the current twelve owners take minority liquidity before the 2026 media rights kick in. The Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever remain under original ownership structures; both are sitting on unrealized nine-figure paper gains. Private equity has term sheets ready.
The Aces are hosting a season-ticket event in Las Vegas next Thursday. Davis will be there. So will three sovereign wealth fund reps who weren't on the guest list last year.
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