The WNBA could be growing to 16 teams sooner rather than later.
The sport of women’s basketball is growing exponentially.
It’s been particularly noticeable at the college level, but it’s growing at the professional level, as well. With several big-time college stars — including Caitlin Clark — about to be picked in the 2024 WNBA draft, that trend isn’t likely to change.
With growth comes expansion. The league will expand from 12 to 13 teams in 2025 with the addition of a team in San Francisco, but it’s not stopping there.
At the draft, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that the WNBA will expand to 16 teams, likely by 2028. Among the possible cities are Philadelphia, Toronto, Denver, Portland, Nashville and South Florida.
Cathy Engelbert says the plan and goal is to get to 16 teams within the next few years.
Says the league is currently engaged with Philadelphia, Toronto, Denver, Nashville and South Florida.
Says by 2028 she feels confident the league will be at 16 teams. #WNBADraft
The women’s March Madness Championship game outperformed the men’s side of the game in terms of viewership by 4 million.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert joined ESPN’s “First Take” to discuss the league and the growing viewership of women’s basketball. The women’s NCAA Tournament championship game outperformed the men’s side of the game in viewership by four million, with an average viewership of 18.7 million viewers.
“We’re seeing this confluence of a ton of positive things on both the basketball and the business side of women’s basketball,” Engelbert said. “Obviously, generational talent with big followings because of social media and increased media coverage thanks to ESPN and Disney, our asset values are going up. We raised some capital a couple of years ago and where we can expand the league. We’ve announced one expansion team and more to come, so we’re really excited to carry this momentum into the WNBA’s 28th season.”
Stephen A. Smith asked Engelbert how she sees Caitlin Clark factoring into the growth of the WNBA. Clark will likely be the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, which takes place on April 15 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET).
“I think using the platform she has that she’s gained with all these followers nationally, but also globally now, she’ll be able to have a big global platform coming into the professional (level),” Engelbert said. “I just think her style of play resonates with the big basketball fan, the big game fan, but because in sports, as you know Stephen A., you need household names, rivalries and games of consequence.
“Obviously, March Madness had all of that and we’re hoping certainly to replicate it. Now we have a 40-game season, so not every game you might call ‘a game of consequence,’ but we’re really excited for what Caitlin and this really strong rookie class with Cameron Brink and Kamilla Cardoso and so many others coming. I’ve had fun the last couple of days calling them to invite them to Brooklyn for our draft next Monday night, so it’s kind of a fun time of year for us.”
Host Chris Russo believes Cardoso and Clark could elevate the WNBA like NBA legends Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did in the 1970s.
We’ve seen it before Kathy: I know it was two players, but you had Bird and Magic in 1979. Bird goes to Boston, Magic goes to L.A. — highest-rated college basketball game of all time. The NBA was really struggling and all of a sudden those two lifted the league. Obviously, the South Carolina center, you could see the same sort of thing developing here for the WNBA. She is that dynamic as a player and Bird and Magic same thing say 50 years ago.
Engelbert shared that a big rivalry coming out of college made way for the rise of NBA media rights and Michael Jordan with Nike. She believes the WNBA’s moment has arrived which is due to the hard work of players, teams and staff, both past and present.
Rookies are now coming into the WNBA having a strong grasp on name, image and likeness.
While some prominent names in collegiate and professional sports aren’t embracing the new name, image and likeness era for college athletes, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert takes a different approach.
“It’s just going to be really interesting to see those players come into our league with big followings and see what that does to lift the viewership and the engagement in our league,” Engelbert told Business Insider.
Engelbert mentioned that some women’s college basketball players who have partnerships with big-name brands like Mercedes, Powerade and Nike would easily transition those partnerships into professional basketball. Transitioning a global or national brand onto the professional stage is much easier than a hyper-local partnership.
“The local grocer and the local car dealer, well, that doesn’t come into
the next professional league, well,” Engelbert said.
WNBA players rely heavily on partnerships for added income, where the average player makes approximately $113,295 per season as of the start of the 2023 season. With the addition of a new expansion team coming to the Bay Area for the 2025 season, there will be more roster spots than ever. The rookies will be coming into the league having a strong grasp on NIL.
Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum went off for 30 points in the WNBA All-Star game on July 10, but all anyone wanted to talk about after the game was her MVP trophy. It was so, so small, especially compared to the NBA’s enormous Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP trophy that debuted in February.
The internet had a lot of jokes, and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert didn’t forget. She brought the jokes with her to the Commissioner’s Cup Final between the Aces and Chicago Sky on Tuesday.
After the Aces won, Englebert gifted Plum a new trophy, and it was even smaller than the original.
Safe to say @Kelseyplum10 wasn't feeling her new All-Star MVP trophy 😂
The new trophy was so small Plum initially thought the gag was an empty box. The laughs really came out after she dug through the Tiffany & Co. box for the little cup buried underneath all the plastic.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told The Athletic she hopes to identify one or two cities for an expansion franchise by the start of the WNBA playoffs in September or by year’s end at the latest. Those new teams could begin to play as early as the 2024 season, she said. This would be the first time the league has added an expansion team since the Atlanta Dream were founded in 2008. When the new team, or teams, enter the WNBA, it will mark the long-awaited end to a process that has already reached critical mass. The Athletic spoke to more than 20 people in and around the WNBA with knowledge of league expansion and its financial picture to learn more about the league’s plans. It is an attempt to not only suss out which cities have a chance to become a future WNBA outpost, but also to understand how much a franchise is worth in a league where team values are hard to ascertain.
The capital raise valued the league at $475 million, according to multiple sources, and the WNBA gave away roughly 16 percent equity in itself to investors as a result of that process. WNBA owners now own 42 percent of the league following the raise, while NBA owners hold the other 42 percent share — previously they had a 50/50 split — with the new investors owning the rest. Engelbert said that number does not account for the full value of the WNBA, only the league itself. She told The Athletic that the value of the WNBA’s 12 individual teams plus the league itself is worth over $1 billion. Though that method of valuation is unusual in comparison to how other professional sports leagues conduct their valuations, it also places the average value of a WNBA team at more than $43.75 million.
Also clouding the league’s expansion plans are the financial positions of current teams. Several sources said few WNBA teams are currently profitable. One person familiar with running a WNBA team and how its finances work said that breaking even is usually the goal for a franchise. Teams cannot rely on a large national media rights deal. They sometimes have to pay to appear on local TV, essentially debiting that outlay as a marketing spend just to air its games in its local market. Ticket sales and sponsorships are large revenue drivers. Engelbert would not disclose the number of teams projected as profitable for the 2022 season. “We’re definitely looking to significantly enhance the financial performance of many of our teams, but many of our teams are still in big investment mode,” she said.
