The Golden State Valkyries are worth $975 million, according to Sportico's 2026 WNBA franchise valuations released Thursday, making them the league's first team to approach ten-figure territory. The franchise entered play in 2025 valued at an estimated $625 million—the highest expansion fee in WNBA history—and added $350 million in equity in twelve months.
The Valkyries play at Chase Center, share infrastructure with the Warriors' $7.7 billion enterprise, and sold out their inaugural season averaging 18,064 fans per game, the highest in league history. Joe Lacob and Peter Guber own the franchise through the same holding structure that controls the Warriors, giving the Valkyries access to Silicon Valley corporate hospitality inventory the rest of the league cannot replicate. Sportico's methodology weights venue control, local media rights, and sponsorship uplift; the Valkyries score maximum points in all three categories.
The rest of the league's top five: the Las Vegas Aces at $850 million, the New York Liberty at $780 million, the Los Angeles Sparks at $625 million, and the Chicago Sky at $520 million. The Aces' valuation reflects Mark Davis's cross-sport portfolio and the $2 billion Sphere effect on Vegas event pricing. The Liberty's number includes the $40 million minority stake sale to Sugar23 and Sixth Street in late 2025, which set a $720 million implied valuation before this year's playoff run. The gap between the top three and the rest of the league is now wider than the gap between the Minnesota Lynx ($420 million) and the Indiana Fever ($290 million).
The Valkyries' jump matters because it resets every negotiation in the women's sports infrastructure stack. The WNBA's next media rights package opens for bidding in 2027; the league is now anchored by a team worth more than the NHL's Ottawa Senators ($900 million in Sportico's last NHL valuation). That gives Commissioner Cathy Engelbert a different conversation with Disney and Amazon than the one the league had in 2024, when the average franchise was worth $185 million and the argument was still about floor space, not prime time. Sponsor conversations shift, too: a $1 billion franchise commands different kit pricing than a $300 million one, even if the on-court product is identical. Puma's Valkyries contract, signed pre-launch in 2024, is already underwater relative to what the Liberty and Aces are getting in their current renewals.
The valuation also changes the math on the league's expansion pipeline. Toronto and Portland are the next two cities in line, with applications expected by September. The Valkyries paid $50 million in expansion fees in 2023; Toronto's bid is now expected to clear $100 million and possibly $125 million if the group includes a sitting NBA owner. Four ownership groups are circling Portland, including one led by Phil Knight's family office, which has stayed quiet on WNBA involvement until now. Knight was courtside at the Valkyries' season opener in April, sitting two seats from Condoleezza Rice. That appearance was not random.
The next valuation test comes in October, when the Liberty's majority owners, Joe and Clara Tsai, are expected to field offers for a 15 percent stake that would value the team north of $900 million. If that sale closes above $135 million for the slice—roughly $900 million implied—it puts the Liberty within $75 million of the Valkyries and sets a floor for what Toronto's expansion group will pay. The Aces' ownership has received three unsolicited inquiries since February, all from family offices looking to pair WNBA equity with Formula One paddock access, a peculiar but recurring theme in women's sports M&A over the last eight months.
The takeaway
The Valkyries' $975 million valuation resets WNBA expansion fees, media rights positioning, and sponsorship pricing across the league.
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