All the way up

The GIST: According to Forbes, WNBA teams are valued at a league-high average of $272M, a monstrous 183% increase from the estimated average valuation in 2024. It’s all about supply and demand (and a little dash of optimism). Let’s dig in.

The details: The defending champ NY Liberty topped the league’s valuation table with an estimated worth of $400M, followed by the Indiana Fever at $370M and the Seattle Storm’s $330M. Out of the 12 teams (the Golden State Valkyries were not included), the Atlanta Dream rounded out the list with an estimated $190M valuation.

The context: Despite having limited data, the skyrocketing valuations are miles ahead of the league’s recent team sales. Case in point? The owners of the Liberty spent between $10M and $14M to acquire the team in 2019 while the Las Vegas Aces were sold for a mere $2M in 2021 and are now the league’s fourth most-valuable franchise at $310M.

• Though the price points are a far cry from the NBA — the average team is worth $4.66B — the WNBA is a much younger entity that’s only in its 29th season compared to the NBA’s 80 years of existence.

• In fact, when the NBA was competing in its 40th season in 1986, the league’s most expensive franchise, the Boston Celtics, was worth $120M — or $351M when adjusted for inflation. This would rank them just behind the Fever in the W’s 2025 valuation rankings.

The takeaway: It’s important to note that these numbers are not necessarily representative of where the league is right now. The W’s average valuation is 14.4x greater than average revenue, and while this isn’t unusual, it is much larger than other leagues, like the NWSL, which sits at 8.8x average revenue or the NBA at 11.7x.

• That means these valuations are a bet on the future — and for good reason. With a new $2.2B media rights package and back-to-back rookie classes of megastars, interest in the W is peaking, and with only 13 franchises (for now), the demand dwarfs the supply.

• Although the perfect time to partner with the league was yesterday, the next best time is now. If the NBA’s past trajectory is any indication, the W is ahead of schedule as the league’s reach and revenue continue to expand. Now that’s a bucket.

The GIST: Just like the PWHL’s inaugural season, the league’s sophomore campaign was chock-full of successes — on and off the ice. Let’s take a closer look at the numbers.

📈 106: The number of countries represented in PWHL viewership numbers, nearly doubling the 88 countries that were included in last season’s statistics.

• And it wasn’t just viewership that skyrocketed: The league also welcomed nearly 740K fans to its 102 regular and postseason games, up 52.5% from last year in 17 more games.

🤝 100%: The percentage of American states and Canadian provinces and territories represented in ticket buyers. The hugely successful Takeover Tour allowed hockey lovers from across North America to watch PWHL action IRL.

⬆️ 50%: Since last season, the amount partnership portfolios grew for both the league and individual teams, with some big names including Ally, EA Sports, Intact Insurance, and SharkNinja. The more the merrier.

🧢 100%: The increase in merchandise sales YoY during the league’s second season. This checks out given the league unveiled new team names and logos ahead of the campaign and engaged in new collaborations with Barbie, Peace Collective, and Lululemon.

🎟️ 10K: Combined season ticket member deposits made for the league’s two expansion teams in Seattle and Vancouver. With these two new teams preparing to enter the fold next season, the PWHL’s meteoric rise is only just beginning — and the sky’s the limit.

The GIST: Last Friday, the $2.8B lawsuit settlement that will remake the business of college sports, House v. NCAA, was officially approved. This will usher in a new era where athletic departments can share up to about $20.5M of revenue per year directly with student-athletes via name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals.

• The watershed agreement will take effect starting July 1st, but with each school left to determine if and how it distributes revenue (not to mention myriad unresolved legal matters), many questions about the settlement’s implementation still linger.

How will the settlement impact women athletes? It won’t be consistent across the board. One of the most pressing questions is whether Title IX protections apply to shared revenue, which will likely be decided in future lawsuits. If they don’t, some non-revenue sports, including most women’s sports, could face cuts.

• But as Texas Tech softball star NiJaree Canady proved in last week’s NCAA Women’s College World Series, a comparatively small $2M investment in a women’s sports powerhouse can spawn a title run, where it could take up to $20M to capture a football title.

What control does the NCAA maintain over NIL deals? When it comes to NIL deals over $600 with entities like collectives and businesses, the org now has final say in whether a deal achieves “a valid business purpose” and reflects fair market value. Intended to prevent pay-for-play dynamics, the vague language opens up more legal debates and establishes another guardrail for brands seeking student-athlete partnerships.

Is the NCAA out of the woods? Before the parties settled, an unsuccessful trial could have put college sports’ governing body out of business. But the org still faces existential threats as some current and former student-athletes opt out of the settlement to retain the right to future lawsuits, while others push for employee status.

• The NCAA is continuing to lobby Congress and the White House for antitrust protections that would protect the current model, but whether the federal government will act remains to be seen. Watch this space.

New name, same game. The United Soccer League (aka the USL, a brand new pro women’s soccer league) just got a makeover and will be known as the Gainbridge Super League starting with the 2025-26 season. Woah.

• It’s no surprise Gainbridge® capitalized on this opportunity to invest — after all, more than 40% of their sports sponsorship dollars support women’s sports.

Gainbridge® understands that where you grow your money matters — so when it comes to your hard-earned cash, choose Gainbridge®, a financial institution that supports women on and off the field. She shoots, she saves, she scores.