The WNBA's Most Valuable Teams 2025

Forbes

14 hours ago

Over the last two years, the WNBA's business has soared above the rim, with league-wide attendance reaching 2.4 million during the 2024 regular season—up 48% year-over-year—and more than 54 million unique viewers tuning in to national telecasts. Still, beyond a handful of transactions involving tiny slivers of teams, there hasn't been much data to suggest how the momentum is translating to franchise valuations.
That is about to change. The New York Liberty recently sold a significant minority share—a percentage in the 'mid-teens,' according to a person with knowledge of the deal—at a $450 million valuation, and the Connecticut Sun are currently on the market, seeking either a new limited partner or a control sale.
For now, some investment bankers around the sport believe that the economics of the Sun—and other teams near the bottom of the WNBA's financial leaderboard—don't justify even a $100 million price tag. But with demand from would-be owners far outstripping supply in the 13-team league, many WNBA insiders believe the cost to acquire Connecticut could approach Cleveland's ongoing bid for an expansion franchise, believed to be roughly $250 million.
In recognition of that scarcity value, and of future league-wide growth, Forbes pegs the Sun at $200 million this year in its first-ever ranking of the WNBA's most valuable teams. The Atlanta Dream, just behind the Sun, set the league's floor at $190 million, and the average for the WNBA's existing 12 teams sits at $272 million. (Forbes did not value the Golden State Valkyries, who are three weeks into their inaugural season.)
The Liberty lead the list at $400 million, a price that nods to the recent stake sale but also acknowledges that any majority deal that separated the team from its current ownership would likely come at a discount because the franchise would no longer control its home arena, Brooklyn's Barclays Center.
Whichever number you look at, it is sky-high compared with the transactions in the league just a few years ago. For instance, Liberty owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai reportedly paid between $10 million and $14 million for the team in 2019, and in 2021, Mark Davis bought the Las Vegas Aces for $2 million while a group led by Larry Gottesdiener purchased the Atlanta Dream for a price similarly believed to be in the seven figures. (In the WNBA's most recent control sale, Mat Ishbia spent $4 billion on both the Phoenix Mercury and the NBA's Suns in 2023, although the valuations of each individual team were not made public.)
The new WNBA team values may look like overpays given the current state of the league. Consider that the $272 million average valuation from Forbes' list is 14.4 times average revenue—far exceeding the multiple in the National Women's Soccer League (8.8x) as well as in men's leagues including the NBA (11.7x), MLS (9.3x) and the NFL (9x).
These prices, however, don't reflect the WNBA as it exists today. Rather, they are bets on the potential of the league, and an expectation that it is reaching a tipping point.
Most obviously, there is the so-called Caitlin Clark effect—the wave of interest surrounding the Indiana Fever's superstar guard, who is currently sidelined by a muscle strain in her leg but has sent attendance and ticket prices spiking wherever she has played. According to marketing agency Two Circles, the 23-year-old Clark was the most-talked-about female athlete from any sport on social media over the past year, and posts mentioning her had the highest engagement, a fact that is helping attract new sponsors to her stable as well as Indiana's and the broader league's.
Across the WNBA, teams generated $76 million in sponsorship revenue in 2024, spanning 551 deals, according to research firm SponsorUnited. The Fever, meanwhile, led the league last season in revenue (an estimated $32 million) and attendance (17,000 per game, a hair better than the NBA's Pacers notched in the same arena) while becoming the most followed women's basketball team online.
At the same time, the WNBA's upward trajectory extends well beyond Clark, starting with other young stars such as Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese and Dallas Wings rookie Paige Bueckers—who, Two Circles notes, each have more Instagram, TikTok and X followers than Clark's 4.4 million, with 11.2 million and 6.6 million, respectively. 'There's a reason why you call [a player like Clark] a generational talent,' says Raquel Braun, cofounder of sports consulting firm Mulier Fortis, 'but it doesn't mean there aren't other massive stars that drive audience and attendance and merch.'
Perhaps most important for the league's outlook is the new national media rights package it announced last July for a reported $2.2 billion over 11 years, or $200 million a year, six times its previous fees. The payout could actually climb even higher in 2029, league insiders say, and in the meantime, the WNBA expects to sell additional game inventory in supplementary broadcast agreements. So while Forbes estimates that several WNBA teams are already flirting with profitability, the new TV deals, which begin next year with ESPN, Amazon Prime Video and NBC, could make a significant difference on franchises' balance sheets.
One looming hurdle is the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement, which would take effect next season and is expected to produce a major raise for player salaries, currently capped around $250,000. Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, a vice president with the Women's National Basketball Players Association, has already said publicly that players are prepared for a lockout.
But whatever storm clouds may be gathering, investors don't seem particularly troubled. Expansion teams in Toronto and Portland, which will take the court next year, reportedly paid fees of $50 million and $125 million, respectively—and the league's 16th franchise, which most expect to be in Cleveland, should come with a substantial increase. Meanwhile, the Valkyries have booked jaw-dropping sponsorship and ticket sales for 2025, and WNBA insiders expect them to lead the list of the league's most valuable clubs in their debut appearance next year, showing just how quickly the landscape is evolving.
'It took a long time, but we're just hitting our stride,' says billionaire Ted Leonsis, an NBA and NHL owner who paid $10 million in 2005 for the Washington Mystics, now valued at $205 million. 'To me, the most important thing is, no one should be cocky; no one should take any success for granted.
'This year has to be another year of investment, another year of enthusiasm just to continue the momentum, and it could take another 10 years to make this something really of substance and size. But the sky is blue right now.'
The Most Valuable WNBA Teams 2025
To rank the most valuable WNBA franchises, Forbes examined recent transaction data and spoke to more than 30 industry insiders, including team and league executives, owners, investment bankers, advisors and consultants.
Revenue figures are estimated for the 2024 season and are rounded to the nearest $1 million. Playoff games were excluded from the revenue calculations.
Team values include the economics of the team's arena but not the value of the arena real estate itself. The valuations similarly take into account ancillary revenue streams that are captured in the team's financial statements, such as income from sponsorships or events at the team's practice facility, without directly measuring the value of those other assets.
The Golden State Valkyries, an expansion club that began play in May 2025, were omitted from this year's ranking.
Additional reporting by Justin Birnbaum and Justin Teitelbaum.