Thanks to the star power of the Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky's Angel Reese, the Women’s National Basketball Association is on a winning streak.
To help finance the league's growth, some experts believe the WNBA may be ripe for investment by private equity firms.
It's not a big leap, given that the National Football League recently decided to allow passive private equity investments. And in the U.K., the national governing body of eight cricket teams has initiated a process to attract private equity investors, to capitalize on that sport's soaring popularity.
Women's sports, said Shana Orczyk Sissel, founder and chief executive officer of Banrion Capital Management, are “one of the most attractive emerging areas for sports investment.”
She pointed to the city of Portland, Ore., which in September was awarded the WNBA’s 15th franchise. The as-of-yet unnamed club will start play in the 2026 season and will be owned by investment firm RAJ Sports, which is already a co-owner of the Sacramento Kings of the NBA, as well as the controlling owner of the National Women’s Soccer League’s Portland Thorns.
RAJ Sports, part of RAJ Capital, an alternative investment firm based in Newport Beach, Calif., founded by brother and sister duo Alex Bhathal and Lisa Bhathal Merage, could not be reached for comment.
Noting that it’s “pretty unusual” for a private equity firm to buy a franchise outright — as RAJ Sports did with the Portland club — she expects to see more private equity funds allocate a portion of limited partner capital to WNBA franchises “as they look for ways to diversify portfolios and improve overall returns.”
Valuations and other metrics
Metrics surrounding women's sports are only growing stronger, said Greg Portell, senior partner and global markets lead at global strategy and management consulting firm Kearney.
“Valuations in sports come down to three elements: revenue, fan interest and scarcity of assets,” he said. “The WNBA has seen unprecedented jumps in revenue and fan engagement, which bring more excitement to owning a franchise,” he said. “Investors are betting that these trends will continue, which draws fresh capital to the sector and raises valuations.”
Private equity ownership of sport franchises has been increasing for the past decade across all leagues across the globe so it “would not be surprising to see more private equity ownership in the WNBA too,” said Nola Agha, professor of sport management at the University of San Francisco and a sports economics consultant. A representative for the WNBA could not be reached for comment.
In early September, WNBA Commissioner Catherine Engelbert told CNBC that “there’s a lot of capital coming into women’s sports” and “now we’re getting calls, many calls, from people, private equity, everybody who wants to invest in women’s sports.”
Shattering records
The 2024 season was key for the WNBA, which has existed for 28 years.
On July 24, the WNBA inked a new 11-year media rights deal that renewed partnerships with Disney and Amazon Prime Video and also added a new rights holder, NBCUniversal. The total deal is reportedly valued at about $2.2 billion.
In addition, this past season the WNBA attracted an all-time record of more than 54 million unique viewers across various media networks, including ABC, CBS and ESPN. The Aug. 18 game between the Seattle Storm and Clark's team, the Indiana Fever, drew 2.2 million viewers on ESPN — the highest figure ever for a WNBA game.
The WNBA also said it recorded 2024 attendance of about 2.35 million, the highest total attendance in 22 years, and up 48% from last season. The league had 154 sell-out games, a 242% increase from last season’s figure of 45. The Fever’s total home attendance of 340,715 fans marked a single-season record for a WNBA team, and a 36% improvement over the prior record. Indiana itself saw a 319% year-over-year surge in attendance, tops in the league.
WNBA dwarfed by NBA
Despite all the attention now surrounding the WNBA, the league remains well behind the NBA in terms of financials.
The most valuable franchise in the WNBA, the Las Vegas Aces, is reportedly valued at $140 million — a figure dwarfed by the priciest NBA club, the $8.3 billion Golden State Warriors.
Salaries lag as well.
The average annual NBA salary is expected to reach $11.9 million next season, up from $9.7 million in 2023-2024.
By comparison, the WNBA average annual salary was $147,745 in 2023, with the top players earning about $250,000 in 2024.
David Berri, professor of economics at Southern Utah University, who also co-wrote a book on women’s sports titled "Slaying the Trolls! Why the Trolls are Very, Very Wrong About Women and Sports," noted that investors are still valuing men’s sports teams higher than women’s teams.
Berri pointed out, for example, that the aforementioned $2.2 billion media rights deal the WNBA secured a few months ago was just a small fraction of a $76 billion media deal the NBA signed.
Why invest in WNBA?
So what would make a WNBA team an attractive investment for a private equity firm or any investment firm?
“Private equity investors look for strong growth in asset value,” the University of San Francisco's Agha said. Teams in the WNBA, as well as the National Women's Soccer League, are attractive investments, she noted, “because they are historically undervalued, but have both reached inflection points which suggest strong future growth.”
George Pyne, founder and CEO of private equity firm Bruin Capital and nonexecutive chairman of Courtside Ventures, which specializes in early-stage sports, media and technology investments, said the WNBA presents an early stage investment with much upside potential. Bruin Capital has no ownership in a WNBA team, he said.
The WNBA has no domestic or international competitors that could take their top talent, he added.
Some benefits of owning a sports team are not necessarily financial.
“While there are economic benefits, a big attraction for owning a sports team is the prestige that comes with it,” Portell explained. “The (rapidly) rising popularity of the WNBA is an investment positive, but even with recent success, the WNBA remains one of the more affordable leagues for investors.”
And the growth of the WNBA also makes it an appealing investment, he noted.
“Assets like the NBA, NFL and MLB are mature and don’t come for sale very often,” Portell added. “In contrast, the investor base for women’s leagues including the WNBA are becoming increasingly diverse,” with more women owning teams.
However, Portell pointed out that it “would be a mistake for any sports investment to be considered something that is easy to move out of quickly.” But as the league grows and develops, there could be more turnover among owners, he said.
New franchises
The WNBA recently awarded new franchises to the Bay Area (the Golden State Valkyries, who begin play next year) and to Toronto — increasing the number of teams in the WNBA from 12 to 15. The league reportedly wants to add a 16th team by 2028.
Pyne of Bruin Capital, who formerly served as president of media firm IMG Sports and Entertainment, as well as the chief operating officer and board member of NASCAR, noted that private equity firms might need a longer time horizon and some patience with such an investment in order to realize attractive returns.
The WNBA may also be following on the same trajectory as its elder brethren, the NBA.
From 2019 to 2023, revenue in the WNBA doubled from $100 million to $200 million, said Berri of Southern Utah University. In the NBA’s third decade — the same decade the WNBA is in now — its revenue also doubled to $200 million in a few years, adjusted for inflation, he noted.
“This suggests the WNBA is on the same path as the NBA,” Berri said. “From 1970 to today, NBA franchise values have gone from being in the millions to the billions. If the WNBA does the same — and I think they will — then now is the time everyone should want to invest.”
