The Golden State Valkyries are worth $1.05 billion, according to CNBC's franchise valuations released May 4. The figure makes the team the first women's sports franchise to cross ten digits and arrives eleven months after the Valkyries played their inaugural game.
The number is significant for three reasons. First, it is 3x the $350 million expansion fee Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid in 2023 to launch the franchise. Second, it is roughly 2x the valuation of the next-highest WNBA team on CNBC's list. Third, it suggests that positioning a women's franchise inside an existing NBA market infrastructure—Chase Center, Warriors sponsorship stack, Bay Area corporate density—creates enterprise value faster than standalone operations can generate it.
The Valkyries share a venue, front office, and broadcast apparatus with the Warriors. That means no separate arena lease, no redundant sales team, no split media rights negotiation. Sponsors writing one check to the Warriors now have WNBA inventory bundled into the package. The team's average ticket price in Year 1 was $127, the highest in the league and closer to NBA rates than WNBA norms. Sellout rate was 94% across twenty home dates. Rakuten, the Warriors' jersey patch partner since 2017, extended through 2027 and added Valkyries inventory without a disclosed separate fee, though people familiar with the deal say the total annual value rose to $25 million from $20 million.
The valuation also reflects timing. The Valkyries launched into a league where average franchise values had already doubled between 2021 and 2024, driven by new media deals and a rising salary cap. The WNBA's eleven-year, $2.2 billion media package with Disney, Amazon, and NBC—finalized in 2024—guarantees each team roughly $18 million per year in national media revenue starting in 2026, up from $3 million under the prior deal. The Valkyries entered at the inflection point, not before it.
What matters for other operators is the implied playbook. The Portland Trail Blazers are finalizing a WNBA expansion bid with an expected $400 million fee. The Raptors are exploring a Toronto franchise. Both would follow the Valkyries model: existing NBA venue, shared sponsorship pipeline, overlapping executive structure. The Milwaukee Bucks quietly began WNBA feasibility work in March, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. None of these groups are building separate arenas or hiring separate CFOs. They are buying access to the WNBA's rising media floor and plugging it into an NBA balance sheet.
The valuation is also a test of the CNBC methodology, which weights revenue, profit, and debt but also uses market comparables and recent transaction prices. The Valkyries have not yet filed audited financials covering a full season. The $1.05 billion figure is not based on disclosed EBITDA, because there is no public EBITDA. It is based on the price Discovery paid for the Phoenix Mercury in December ($85 million for a legacy franchise with lower revenue), the Lacob expansion fee, and the Chase Center revenue environment. If the number is directionally correct, the next franchise sale—Portland's bid is expected to close by September—will confirm or revise it.
Watch the Portland expansion decision, expected by the WNBA Board of Governors before the All-Star break in July. If the fee exceeds $400 million, the Valkyries comp holds. If it comes in lower, the $1.05 billion mark reflects Bay Area scarcity more than league fundamentals. Either way, the Raptors' internal model and the Bucks' feasibility deck are now benchmarked to a ten-figure women's franchise.
The Valkyries' next revenue event is the 2027 Chase Center naming rights renewal, currently held by JPMorgan Chase at an estimated $18 million per year. The Warriors are expected to pursue a joint NBA-WNBA package north of $25 million annually, with the Valkyries' schedule—twenty dates, prime weekend inventory—used as incremental value in the pitch.
The takeaway
The first **$1 billion** women's franchise is also the first to fully share NBA infrastructure, setting the template for Portland, Toronto, and Milwaukee bids.
wnbavaluationsgolden state valkyriesexpansionwomen's sportsnba
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