There is a claim the WNBA will lose $50 million this year.
The Women’s National Basketball Association allegedly is on pace to lose $50 million as a business this year. At least that is what so-called experts at the Washington Post are predicting. But Sportico, a sports website, has gotten into the silly let us evaluate the operations of sports teams and leagues and let’s see what WNBA franchises are really worth. A sports team is worth whatever a potential owner thinks it is worth. Sportico has Mark Davis’ Las Vegas Aces franchise as the most valuable of the WNBA teams at $140 million. The Seattle Storm business comes in at $135 million. The Brooklyn-based New York Liberty franchise is valued at $130 million according to Sportico. Mat Ishbia’s Phoenix Mercury business has a $105 million value. In Chicago, the Sky franchise comes in at $95 million. Caitlin Clark’s team, the Indianapolis-based Indiana Fever franchise, is worth $90 million. Market size apparently doesn’t matter as the team in the United States’ second biggest market, Los Angeles, the Sparks, is only worth $85 million according to Sportico.
The Minnesota Lynx franchise owned by Glenn Taylor at the moment, although Alex Rodriguez is trying to get the team along with the National Basketball Association’s Minnesota Timberwolves comes in at $85 million. The Connecticut Sun, a team that plays at a casino resort in Montville, Connecticut which is about 40 miles southeast of Hartford, has an $80 million value as does the Washington Mystics franchise. The Dallas Wings business is worth $75 million and the Atlanta Dream franchise is last at $55 million. In actual money the WNBA sold an expansion franchise to San Francisco investors last year for $50 million which seems to be a bargain as the league sold a franchise to a Toronto group recently for $115 million. A team is worth whatever someone wants to pay for it.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Englebert
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