The Golden State Valkyries have already become a valuable asset, just one season into their existence.
Photograph: Jeff Chiu/AP
Women’s professional sports are experiencing a rapid growth phase. With soaring salaries and the addition—or revival—of teams, the league has plenty to celebrate and anticipate.
Opening night is usually filled with excitement rather than nostalgia. Yet on Friday, the New York Liberty, one of the WNBA’s eight original franchises, donned a “court origins” uniform to honor their history as they hosted the Connecticut Sun.
Protracted and contentious negotiations between the players’ union and the league threatened to delay or even derail the new season. But a deal securing significant pay raises for players means the league not only has much to reflect on but also plenty to look forward to as it celebrates its 30th anniversary.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert described the 30th season as a “transformational moment” and the “beginning of a new era.” An economic surge suggests these phrases carry real weight.
A $300 million deal struck in March to sell the Sun—based in Connecticut since 2003 and owned by the Mohegan Tribe—to Tilman Fertitta, an entertainment mogul who also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets and was recently named US ambassador to Italy, underscores the WNBA’s shifting fortunes. The league is setting the pace as interest, salaries, and team valuations rise across women’s professional basketball, soccer, and hockey in North America.
The departing Sun—whose exit has disappointed their New England fanbase—are expected to be rebranded as the Houston Comets, reviving the name of an original franchise that dominated the early WNBA with its formidable trio of Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson.
Founded in April 1996 with support from the NBA (which shares ownership of the league with individual team owners and other investors), the WNBA launched the following year, riding a wave of enthusiasm after the US women’s team won gold at the Atlanta Olympics. Since then, the league has expanded and contracted like a bellows, now fielding 15 teams this season. Only three of the original eight—the Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, and Los Angeles Sparks—remain in their initial cities.
True to their name, the Comets started blazing fast but then fizzled out. They won the first four WNBA championships but disbanded in 2008 after failing to find new owners for a franchise valued at $10 million—about $15 million in 2026 money. The Comets’ collapse was a stark warning of the league’s fragile state as the global financial crisis hit. Now, with Fertitta reportedly paying a record league fee, the value of a WNBA franchise in Houston has skyrocketed by 1,900% in less than 20 years.
The numbers are dramatic even looking back just two years. In 2024, the owners of the Portland Fire (another legacy name, recalling a team that folded in 2002) reportedly paid an initial $75 million to join the league this season. Fellow newcomers the Toronto Tempo, the first WNBA team in Canada, were charged $50 million. Yet in June last year, the league announced further expansions to Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. The fee per team is said to be $250 million, a new high for American women’s sports and above the NWSL-record $205 million paid by Columbus, who will join in 2028.
The Houston Comets were one of the WNBA’s most winning franchises before they folded in 2008.
Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images
One factor driving optimism—and inflation—is the instant success of the Golden State Valkyries, who share a principal owner and arena with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
