The WNBA expects to vote on three expansion franchises within the next 60 days, according to league sources, as final financial structures and ownership backgrounds complete diligence. Entry valuations are clearing $100 million per franchise, a tenfold increase from the $10 million paid by Golden State when it entered in 2023. The league declined to name the markets, but Toronto, Philadelphia, and Portland have advanced past initial screening.
The acceleration follows Forbes's midweek valuation of the New York Liberty at $180 million, up 87 percent year-over-year and the highest for any women's professional team globally. The Liberty posted $49 million in revenue last season, driven by a championship run and sold-out Barclays Center playoff dates at $300 average ticket. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told analysts in December that expansion revenue would flow directly to existing owners as one-time distributions, not league operating funds. That matters because the league is still structurally unprofitable—Front Office Sports reported this week that the WNBA posted nine-figure losses in 2024, even as attendance rose 48 percent and media rights doubled under the new $2.2 billion NBA package.
The timing reflects two forces. First, private equity is now permitted under modified league bylaws approved in October, and at least one of the three finalists includes a family office with prior NBA minority stakes. Second, the new media deal begins in 2026, and the league wants expansion teams operational by then to capture the lift. Each new franchise pays an expansion fee—likely $125 million based on current negotiations—but also receives full revenue-sharing from the media contract starting year one. That front-loads economics and explains why the vote is happening now, not after the 2025 season. An ownership source noted that the league is requiring $50 million in liquid operating capital separate from the franchise fee, a screen designed to avoid the cash-flow issues that plagued Atlanta and Las Vegas in their early seasons.
What to watch: The Board of Governors meets virtually on March 12 and in person at the league office in New York on April 8. Either date could host the vote, assuming background checks and market studies close on time. Separately, the league is negotiating arena commitments in each finalist city—Toronto is offering Scotiabank Arena with 12,000 seats configured for basketball, while Philadelphia's proposal involves a new 8,500-seat facility adjacent to the Sixers' training complex. Portland has flocker support from Nike, whose co-founder Phil Knight's family already owns a partial stake in the Trail Blazers. If all three clear, the league expands to 15 teams by 2026. That's relevant because the current collective bargaining agreement, signed in 2020, assumes a 12-team league for salary cap math, and expansion triggers renegotiation.
The Liberty valuation provides the comp. At $180 million for an established franchise in the league's largest market, a $125 million entry fee in a secondary city prices in scarcity and the media-rights step-up. The league has added only one team since 2008, and the waiting list now includes 15 serious groups, per Engelbert's January remarks at the MIT Sloan conference. Family offices are calling, which is the signal. The vote happens when the calls stop.