Proof That the WNBA is Indeed Profitable—Interesting League and Player Facts

Have you ever heard this: “the WNBA doesn’t make money.” Most likely, at some point you’ve heard this argument if you have even remotely tracked or come across women’s basketball. In the past, that statement may have been true. However, now this narrative is completely archaic. Let’s simply review some proof that the WNBA is indeed profitable.

Shall we begin with the new media deal? Back in 2024, the WNBA announced a new 11-year media rights deal featuring partnerships with Disney, Amazon Prime Video and new rights holder NBCUniversal. The deal is valued at about $2.2 billion, or $200 million per year, a source had told ESPN, but future agreements with additional partners would bring the league’s overall media deals closer to $3 billion.

Some of those other agreements include networks, CBS and ION. At the time, due to the big “Boom” of interest in the WNBA, the league decided these agreements would need some renegotiation. The WNBA revealed the restructured deals would bring in at least $60 million in additional revenue. Thus, bringing the league’s overall media deals to six times the total of its past/current deals.

WNBA Revenue Sharing Triggered

Obviously, if there’s not any revenue, there are no funds to be shared. However, in 2025 the league turned a profit activating revenue sharing with its players. Union leaders said the league notified player leadership that they hit the benchmark. Therefore, the 13 teams across the WNBA would receive a total of $8 million from the league to disperse among players.

What’s wild is when you really think about the benchmark the women needed to hit to get paid. To quote Mission Impossible, “follow us around the room.” The revenue targets in the old 2020 CBA were based on 2019 revenue numbers and compounded by 20% across subsequent years. Yes, COMPOUNDED. Plus, the ladies would have an even bigger hole to dig out of financially. The COVID-19 pandemic depressed revenue in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, seemingly making the cumulative targets out of reach. Yet, the WNBA still made enough to rise above all of these setbacks and criterion. Pulling off a feat they were not expected to ever overcome. As we said, wild.

Nevertheless, so how much will players make from the 2025 profits? Under the 2020 CBA, players would receive 50% of shared revenue — defined in the CBA as the amount of revenue over a predetermined threshold minus 30% for expenses. In 2025, the players’ portion of shared revenue amounted to about $16 million, according to the union. Of that, $8 million will be paid to players who were active in 2025. Additionally, as mandated by the CBA, the other half ($8 million) will be allocated to league marketing agreements. Which are offseason initiatives offered to some players to promote the league and its partners.

WNBA Expansion Fees Pull in Hundreds of Millions

Something that was not discussed much during CBA negotiations were the WNBA expansion fees. A little more than two years ago an individual could buy into the WNBA for $50 million. Like Golden State Warriors owner, Joe Lacob and his partner did with the Valkyries. In 2025, the Valkyries had their first season. Before the season could conclude the Valkyries were already valued at over $500 million. 10 times Lacob’s investment… in less than two years. Overall, WNBA franchises increased in value by 180% in 2025.

We’ll get back to the Valkyries in a moment. By the way, the New York Liberty are basically valued at half billion as well. And during the past two years other WNBA owners have proudly revealed that the valuation of their teams have increased significantly as well.

This is what attracted the NFL. Several NFL teams (plus players and NBA owners/players) decided to put in bids for a WNBA team to be in their cities. As we know, the NFL is all about making money; therefore, there is not a single National Football League owner that would want to give one cent to something that is considered a bad investment.

How much are investment groups now willing to shell out for a piece of the WNBA action? WNBA expansion fees have reached a record $250 million per team for new franchises in Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029), and Philadelphia (2030). The three new expansion teams bring a total of $750 million in fees to the league. ESPN reports, that the WNBA has generated over $900 million in expansion fees through the addition of new teams between 2023 and 2026.

Proof That the WNBA is Indeed Profitable—Jersey Sales and Merchandising

The Caitlin Clark Effect is easily evident in the numbers. People tune into watch her games. Clark’s rookie season led to the most-watched regular season in 24 years. Her WNBA debut (via Indiana Fever) saw matchups with over 2 million viewers (e.g., 2.3 million vs. Chicago Sky). In the 2024 WNBA season, she headlined 21 of the 22 games with over 1 million viewers, driving historic ratings growth. Even in 2025, with injuries, her presence continued to drive high ratings, with a 2025 matchup against Paige Bueckers drawing 2.1 million viewers.

Nevertheless, it’s not just viewership where her numbers shine. Let’s talk jersey sales. She outsold Luka. She outsold LeBron. Heck, Fanatics revealed that her jersey (priced at $130 a pop) sold more than all WNBA and NBA players except for Steph Curry.

Furthermore, several other WNBA players have had jerseys sell out. Like Sabrina Ionescu, Sophie Cunningham, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Kate Martin and Kaitlyn Chen, to name a few. Union leaders back in February revealed that they will be divvying up $9.25 million to players from licensing revenue generated from jersey sales, trading cards, video games and other merchandise. The union expects to share their cut from the league ($9.5M) revenue money by June 1 (2026).

Golden State Valkyries Come Out Hot

As promised, back to the Valkyries. In 2025, they were the newest team on the block. And they made a killing in merch. The Golden State Valkyries achieved the milestone of selling merchandise in all 50 US states and over 70 countries within the first few months of announcing their team name, logo, and branding, even before playing their inaugural 2025 WNBA season.

Success was also witnessed at home games. Golden State sold out every home game at the Chase Center (18,064 capacity), setting league records for total (397,408) and average attendance. The Valkyries sold out all 22 home games, and achieved the highest valuation for a women’s pro sports team at $500M, setting a new benchmark for expansion success.

Proof That the WNBA is Indeed Profitable—Naming Rights and Conclusion

Lastly, there’s also naming rights. For instance, individual teams also increasingly have their own revenue streams. The Seattle Storm last year sold the naming rights to their new $64 million practice facility for an undisclosed amount to BECU in what the team said was a first for the WNBA. Furthermore, according to USA Today, the Indiana Fever has already said it plans to sell naming rights to its $78 million practice facility, currently under construction.

Now, we know we have discussed a lot. In fact, we didn’t even get to everything we wanted to (we’re long-winded lol); but there’s still plenty of other aspects to consider. Such as sponsorships and other advertising. Plus, the new CBA shows there is money to pay players. Up from $1.5M salary cap to $7M per team. But hopefully this article provided some food for thought and insight. The WNBA is not the same old league, it’s profitable.

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