Bank Shot; WNBA Teams Valued A Combined $5.55B, Led By Valkyries
Friday, May 1, 2026 at 04:20PM By Barry Janoff
UPDATED May 5, 2026: CNBC released its ranking of the most valuable WNBA franchises in 2026, and it's the Golden State Valkyries that top the list with a $1 billion valuation.
After Golden State, the top five are the New York Liberty ($600 million), Indiana Fever ($560 million), Las Vegas Aces ($500 million) and Seattle Storm ($450 million). CNBC predicts that within the next five years, all well-run WNBA teams will reach the billion-dollar valuation. (Editor’s note: CNBC included expansion clubs Portland Fire, valued at $380 million, and Toronto Tempo valued at $325 milliiion; Sportico did not.)
May 1, 2026: The WNBA is playing its 30th anniversary season beginning May 8 and has plenty to celebrate, including new teams in Portland and Toronto, new media deals valued at $2.2 billion and strong numbers in attendance, viewership, marketing and merchandise.
More good news.
The 13 WNBA franchises that played in 2025 are worth a combined $5.55 billion, with the average of $427 million up 59%year-over-year.
The Golden State Valkyries, which joined the WNBA last season as its 13th franchise, are valued at a league-leading $850 million with a WNBA-record $78 million in revenue in their inaugural season, according to a new report from Sportico.
In their first season, the Valkyries said they sold out every home game at Chase Center, set the all-time WNBA attendance record for both average attendance (18,064) and total fans (397,408), and surpassed 10,000 season ticket sales, a WNBA record at the time.
The team said season tickets for the 2026 season are officially sold out, surpassing 12,000 season ticket holders. The Valkyries have also launched an official Season Ticket Waitlist for fans looking to secure their place in line.
"History isn’t just made on the hardwood; it’s forged in the stands by those who support this team,” Valkyries president Jess Smith said via the team. "Our season ticket holders are the heartbeat of this franchise and set a record in year one and then came back and pushed past it.
“That says everything about this fan base and what this team means to this community. The waitlist is proof that this is just the beginning.”
The Valkyries are followed by the New York Liberty ($600M value/$43.2M revenue), Indiana Fever ($560M/$52.8M), Seattle Storm ($425M/$29M) and Phoenix Mercury ($420M/$31.3M), via Sportico.
The Indiana Fever, with Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, said the team would be featured on national television in each of their 44 games, marking a franchise high for most national TV games in Fever history, as well as the most for a single team in WNBA history. The Fever also said they are the only team across the league to have 100% of their games on national broadcast this season.
Fever games will be aired across the league’s portfolio of broadcast partners including four games on ABC, six games on ESPN, two games on NBC, three games on Peacock, seven games on ION, eight games on Prime Video, four games on CBS, nine games on USA, and one game on NBA TV.
Following the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire joining the league in 2026, last month the WNBA and NBA Board of Governors formally approved WNBA expansion teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Cleveland will begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030.
That expansion will give the league 18 teams.
The league still has to make a final decision on the Connecticut Sun moving to Houston for 2027 after NBA Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta purchased the team from the Mohegan Tribe for a reported $300 million. The team will play this season in Connecticut in 2026
“This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball,” said Englebert. “This is far more than an expansion of our league — it’s an evolution of it.”
By comparison, according to ESPN, Sportico's team values in other U.S. sports leagues show the average team in the NFL at $7.13 billion, NBA at $5.51 billion, F1 at $3.42 billion, MLB at $3.17 billion, NHL at $2.1 billion, global soccer at $1.91 billion, MLS at $767 million, and NWSL $184 million.
WNBA Team Values/Revenue
1. Golden State Valkyries $850M valuation/ $78M revenue
2. New York Liberty $600M/$43.2M
3. Indiana Fever $560M/$52.8M
4. Seattle Storm $425M/$29M
5. Phoenix Mercury $420M/$31.3M
6. Las Vegas Aces $410M/$27.5M
7. Los Angeles Sparks $400M/$23.7M
8. Minnesota Lynx $355M/$W24.9M
9. Dallas Wings $325M/$24.9M
10. Chicago Sky $320M/$20.8M
11. Washington Mystics $310M/$18.9M
12. Connecticut Sun $300M/$18.9M
13. Atlanta Dream $280M/$16M
Source: Sportico
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