CNBC's Official WNBA Team Valuations 2026: The league has its first $1 billion team

The value of WNBA teams is escalating rapidly, as evidenced by the sharp increase in expansion fees and team purchases. CNBC calculates that the WNBA's current 15 teams are worth an average of $460 million, 84% more than the league's most recent expansion fee of $250 million, with average revenue for the 13 teams that participated in the 2025 season at $31 million. The Golden State Valkyries, which joined the league in 2025, lead the pack at a valuation of $1 billion. It's the first time a women's team in any sport has been valued at $1 billion. The landmark valuation for the Valkyries may not be an outlier for long. "Well-run WNBA teams will be worth $1 billion within five years," a person looking to invest in a franchise said in mid-April. The person asked not to be named because the matter is private. The league's latest expansion teams — Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia — which were announced last June and will start play from 2028 to 2030, have agreed to pay expansion fees of $250 million. In contrast, Valkyries owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid the league a fee of $50 million in 2023. And the Portland Fire paid $75 million to join this season, according to people with firsthand knowledge of the agreements who asked not to be named because the matter is private. CNBC puts the value of the Portland Fire at $380 million. …