It’s no secret that women’s sports have been growing leaps and bounds in the past few years in terms of audience, viewership and fandom. Everyone is looking to cash in, from team owners and league stakeholders to the players themselves.
This past offseason, the WNBA inked a groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement with its players after lengthy negotiations that brought big jumps in salaries and revenue sharing. The league is also in the midst of its richest media rights deal and television ratings for the WNBA have never been higher.
Advertisement
As all those things continue to grow, so do the values of teams. And one of them is nearly worth $1 billion.
Sportico released its annual WNBA team valuations on Friday morning and values the Golden State Valkyries at $850 million. The least valuable WNBA team, the Atlanta Dream, are valued at $285 million. The average WNBA team is worth $425 million — an increase of 58% from last year’s annual average.
According to Sportico, the Valkyries reported a WNBA-record $78 million in revenue in their inaugural season largely due to more than 10,000 season tickets sold and an impressive collection of sponsorships, including JPMorganChase, Sephora and United Airlines. The Valkyries are worth 150% more than the most valuable NWSL club — Angel City FC — which is valued at $335 million.
In 2023, the Valkyries paid an expansion franchise fee of $50 million. Some quick math says the investors are absolutely seeing a profit.
Advertisement
Coached by Natalie Nakase, the Valkyries went 23-21 last season and made the playoffs in their first year of play in the WNBA. This year, Golden State cut off season-ticket sales at more than 12,000.
Sportico says its valuations are based on “conversations over the past month with more than 30 people involved with the league, including bankers, investors, lawyers, team executives and owners.”
The report also says the WNBA now has the highest value-to-revenue multiplier of any major sports league, surpassing the NBA at 13.6.
Behind the Valkyries, the next most valuable franchises are the New York Liberty at $600 million, Indiana Fever at $560 million, Seattle Storm at $425 million and Phoenix Mercury at $420 million.
Advertisement
Those valuations are major jumps from when Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis bought the Las Vegas Aces for $2 million in 2021. Last summer, small stakes in the Seattle Storm were sold at a valuation of $325 million. In March, Texas-based billionaire Tilman Fertitta bought the Connecticut Sun for a reported $300 million and plans to move the team to Houston.
Sportico’s valuations did not include the two new expansion teams beginning play this season, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo.
Here’s the full list:
-
Golden State Valkyries: $850 million
-
New York Liberty: $600 million
-
Indiana Fever: $560 million
-
Seattle Storm: $425 million
-
Phoenix Mercury: $420 million
-
Las Vegas Aces: $410 million
-
Connecticut Sun: $300 million
-
Atlanta Dream: $280 million
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Which WNBA team is the most valuable? The answer might surprise you
