The Golden State Valkyries are worth $1 billion, according to a valuation disclosed Tuesday by ownership group Joe Lacob and Peter Guber. It is the first women's professional sports team to cross that threshold. The franchise began play in May 2025.
The number is not aspirational. Three separate family offices have submitted preliminary bids for minority stakes in the past six weeks, according to two people familiar with the process. The owners are not selling. They paid a $50 million expansion fee in 2023. The implied return is 1,900% in under three years, most of it on paper, all of it suddenly bankable.
What makes this matter is not the headline but the comps it creates. If the Valkyries are worth $1 billion in year two, the Las Vegas Aces—two-time champions, Allegiant Stadium adjacency, A'ja Wilson—are worth more. The New York Liberty, playing in Barclays Center with a local media deal that does not yet reflect courtside resale prices, are worth more. The Seattle Storm, who own their building and run their own ticketing, are worth more. Suddenly the WNBA's enterprise value is not $1 billion but closer to $5 billion, and the league's next media deal—up for renewal in 2027—will be negotiated with that number in the room.
The valuation also reframes what the Valkyries are. They are not a WNBA team that happens to play in Chase Center. They are a Chase Center asset that happens to play basketball. Lacob and Guber control the building, the Warriors, the Valkyries, and the concert calendar. They can package courtside for all three, sell suites across properties, and run offseason camps in the same facility. The Miami Heat pioneered this model in the NBA. The Valkyries are running it in reverse: the women's team as the portfolio add that makes the men's team worth more.
Sponsorship is the tell. The Valkyries' jersey patch deal with Accenture is worth $8 million annually, according to a person with knowledge of the terms. That is more than half the NBA average and triple what the Phoenix Mercury gets from PayPal. Brands are paying for proximity to the Warriors' audience, yes, but also for category exclusivity in a league where Fortune 500 firms are still fighting for first-mover credibility. Accenture is not buying a patch. It is buying a three-year head start on Deloitte.
The valuation arrived the same week Caitlin Clark signed a $28 million shoe deal with Nike and Angel Reese's Reebok extension became the largest in women's basketball history. The timing is not coincidence. Player equity and franchise equity move together now. When Breanna Stewart took less money to stay in New York, she did it for a stake in the Liberty's revenue upside. The Valkyries do not yet offer equity, but they will. The rookie scale is $76,000. The top Valkyries player earns $242,000. The gap between that and what the franchise is worth creates the arbitrage opportunity.
What to watch: The WNBA's Board of Governors meets in October. Expansion is on the agenda. Toronto, Portland, and Nashville are the known bidders. The new floor for an expansion fee is $100 million, double what the Valkyries paid. If someone pays $150 million—and someone will—it revalues every existing franchise again. The Valkyries will be worth $1.5 billion without playing another game.
Lacob and Guber are not selling. They are also not saying no to the three family offices still calling. One is based in Austin. One is based in Greenwich. One is based in Los Angeles and has a daughter who played D1 volleyball. All three want 5% to 10%. None of them will get it this year. The question is whether any of them get it before the league's next media deal closes.
The takeaway
First billion-dollar women's team revalues the entire WNBA and sets new floor for expansion bids due this fall.
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