The Golden State Valkyries reached a $1 billion valuation in their second season, becoming the first WNBA franchise to cross ten figures, according to CNBC's 2026 franchise rankings released Thursday. The team began play in May 2025.
No WNBA franchise had previously been valued above $200 million in public estimates. The Valkyries' expansion fee, paid in late 2023, was $50 million—the league record at the time but a figure that now looks like a clerical error. The team shares Chase Center with the Warriors, inherits the NBA franchise's corporate hospitality infrastructure, and operates under Joe Lacob's ownership group, which means the same sponsorship relationships that deliver $2.3 billion in Warriors enterprise value now extend to a second inventory stream. Salesforce, JPMorgan Chase, and Rakuten all signed dual-team packages within six months of the Valkyries' announcement.
The appreciation matters because it resets the floor for the next expansion cycle. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said the league will add two franchises by 2028. Portland and Philadelphia ownership groups have been assembling quietly since late 2025, and both now face a valuation benchmark 20x higher than what Golden State paid. If the league prices new slots at even half the Valkyries' current mark, expansion fees jump to $500 million, which changes the buyer profile from mid-market real estate groups to sovereign wealth adjacent capital. The Toronto group that missed the last round has been seen in New York twice since January, per two people with knowledge of the meetings. Miami remains the other name in serious circulation, backed by a family office that already holds MLS and Formula E stakes.
The Valkyries also clarified what the Chase Center real estate actually buys. The Warriors play 41 home dates. The Valkyries play 20 in the regular season, with potential playoff additions, but those dates fall in May through September—the exact window when the NBA arena sits dark and the events team is booking one-off concerts at compressed margins. Lacob's group now runs premium inventory seven months a year instead of five, and the Valkyries' courtside sections price within 15% of Warriors equivalents during the regular season, per team media guides. That's not a novelty. That's yield management.
The valuation also reflects the debut television contract signed in November 2025. The WNBA's eleven-year deal with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon carries a total value near $2.2 billion, or $200 million annually—more than triple the prior agreement. Golden State's local media rights, negotiated separately with NBC Sports Bay Area, were structured as a rider to the Warriors' regional package, giving the Valkyries clearance on 18 locally televised games with the same production crew. The Warriors' deal runs through 2032, which means the Valkyries have seven years of distribution certainty baked into a market that reaches 7.8 million TV households.
Team president Ohemaa Nyanin, hired from the Warriors' front office in March 2024, built the business operation by cloning the NBA franchise's playbook but pricing it for accessibility. Season tickets start at $680 for upper-bowl seats—well below Warriors minimums—but the Valkyries also introduced a $15,000 courtside membership that includes both teams' games, which effectively converts basketball households into year-round customers. The team sold out its 18,064-seat lower bowl for all home games in year one, a streak that continued into 2026.
The on-court product delivered immediately. The Valkyries selected Stanford forward Cameron Brink with the second overall pick in the 2025 draft, added Tennessee guard Jordan Horston, and traded for Las Vegas guard Kelsey Plum in a late-summer deal that sent two future first-rounders west. The team finished 22-18 in the regular season and reached the second round of the playoffs, losing to New York in five games. Brink won Rookie of the Year. Attendance averaged 14,200, third in the league.
Watch Portland's ownership group. If WNBA expansion slots price near $500 million by late 2026, the Rose City bid will need to add institutional capital to the local backers currently fronting the application. The Valkyries' valuation also puts pressure on legacy franchises in smaller markets—Connecticut, Indiana, Phoenix—to either find new arenas with better revenue models or accept that the gap between big-market expansion teams and old-guard franchises now runs to nine figures.
The next datapoint arrives in April, when the league office circulates 2026 attendance and revenue figures to existing owners ahead of the summer expansion vote.
The takeaway
Golden State's **$1 billion** mark resets WNBA expansion pricing to **$500 million** minimums, forcing Portland and Toronto bids to add institutional capital by year-end.
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