The league’s current media rights deals were set to expire after the 2025 season, and the NBA, which owns about 60 percent of the WNBA, negotiated the new deals, which are not yet official. The WNBA’s current media rights were valued at about $60 million per year, and the new structure would be in the annual range of $200 million. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said this spring she hoped to at least double the league’s annual rights revenue as interest has grown, and these terms would more than triple it.
“‘If you build it, they will come’ has actually come to light now that everybody’s talking about the WNBA,” Engelbert said then. “One thing that we wanted was an active free agency system, and we got it, right? Last year, huge free agent movements, and it creates excitement and creates household names. It creates rivalries. It created superteams. And that’s what you want in a league because that’s what makes people watch, which drives the value of whether it’s your media rights, your corporate partnerships or your valuation of your franchises.”
The increase in revenue will significantly affect league finances at a time when interest in the league and women’s sports in general has continued to grow. WNBA players are expected to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement after this year, which would end that deal after the 2025 season and allow the league and its players to negotiate a new agreement that details everything from salary caps to benefits and other financial details. Nearly every player in the league who is not on a rookie contract is signed to a short-term deal in anticipation of a new, increased salary structure. The league also will add two expansion teams over the next two years.
The NBA’s media rights deals are reportedly worth approximately $76 billion over 11 years, and some have criticized the arrangement in which the WNBA had its rights negotiated in tandem with the NBA. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Engelbert have pushed back against that idea.
“It’s a huge advantage to us to go to market with the NBA,” Engelbert said this spring. “Especially with streaming services who rely on a 12-month subscription model. If we’re only there for 4½ months … how attractive is that? But we and the NBA are maybe the only sports properties that can give 330 days of live programming — almost the entire year. That’s hugely valuable to a subscription platform.”
Terri Jackson, the executive director of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, still had questions about the reported structure of the deal.
“We have wondered for months how the NBA would value the WNBA in its media rights deal,” Jackson said in a statement Wednesday. “With a reportedly $75 billion deal on the table, the league is in control of its own destiny. More precisely, the NBA controls the destiny of the WNBA. We look forward to learning how the NBA arrived at a $200 million [annual] valuation — if initial reports are accurate or even close. Neither the NBA nor the WNBA can deny that in the last few years, we have seen unprecedented growth across all metrics, the players continue to demonstrate their commitment to building the brand, and that the fans keep showing up. There is no excuse to undervalue the WNBA again.”
