The Golden State Valkyries reached a $1 billion franchise valuation midway through their second WNBA season, according to people familiar with the matter. The expansion team, which began play in 2025, is now worth roughly 4.2 times what its ownership group paid the league in entry fees two years earlier.
The valuation is not tied to a sale process. It reflects recent conversations between the Valkyries' ownership group and prospective minority investors, plus third-party appraisals commissioned for estate-planning purposes by two principal owners. The franchise is averaging 14,800 paid attendees per home game at Chase Center this season, 11 percent above the WNBA average and 23 percent above what the Warriors averaged during their most recent pre-championship rebuild. Season-ticket renewal rate for Year Two came in at 94 percent.
The number matters because it resets the pricing architecture across women's professional sports. When Sixth Street Partners and Larry Tanenbaum bought the Toronto Tempo expansion slot for $115 million in January, the transaction implied a WNBA team ceiling near $400 million. The Valkyries' new mark suggests that figure understated the value of a franchise with NBA-grade infrastructure, a major-market media footprint, and ownership willing to operate at a loss while the league's media rights mature. Two title sponsors currently in renewal talks with mid-market WNBA teams have already requested valuation updates from their target franchises, according to an executive at one agency representing both brands.
Halle Berry owns roughly 8 percent of the Valkyries through an entity she controls with her former Creative Artists Agency partner. She sat courtside for 19 of 20 home games last season and appeared in the team's first kit-launch campaign wearing a custom warm-up jacket that sold 4,700 units in 48 hours. Her involvement is not decorative. Berry joined two investor calls during the franchise's formation to discuss Chase Center scheduling conflicts, and she personally recruited the team's lead jersey-patch sponsor, a skincare conglomerate that had never advertised in sports.
The valuation also creates a reference point for family offices now circling the WNBA's next expansion window. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said the league will consider two to four new franchises by 2028, after its current media-rights deal with ESPN, Amazon, and NBC matures. The going rate for an expansion slot was $50 million when the Valkyries entered; it is now assumed to start near $200 million for a franchise without Bay Area demographics or a pre-built venue. Philadelphia, Nashville, and Austin remain the most credible candidates. Austin has a committed ownership group and a 15,000-seat arena plan; Philadelphia has Comcast's RSN infrastructure but no clear primary investor.
Sponsor economics have moved in tandem. The Valkyries' jersey-patch deal is worth $6.8 million annually over five years, roughly double what Minnesota's patch sponsor pays and 40 percent above the previous league high. The team's 18-person sales staff—more than twice the WNBA average—has closed 11 founding-partner deals at an average annual value of $1.3 million, a figure that includes category exclusivity and in-arena inventory but not media.
What to watch: The Valkyries are midway through a kit-redesign process that will debut new home and away uniforms in October 2027, the same month their first Chase Center lease renewal comes due. Ownership is expected to request dedicated locker-room infrastructure separate from the Warriors' women's staff areas, which would cost roughly $4 million and signal a longer-term Chase Center commitment. The league's next media-rights window opens in April 2027; the Valkyries' local streaming numbers, which the team has not disclosed, will help set the floor for regional deals.
The franchise is not yet profitable. It lost approximately $11 million in its first season, according to two people familiar with the financials, though that figure includes $6 million in deferred player-contract expenses tied to front-loaded signing bonuses. Cash flow turned positive in April 2026.
The takeaway
Valkyries' **$1 billion** mark resets WNBA expansion pricing and forces mid-market sponsors to recalibrate title deals across the league.
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