The WNBA, NWSL and PWHL are all increasing into new markets as the recognition of ladies’s skilled … [+] sports activities leagues proceed to develop. (Photograph by Julio Aguilar/Getty Photos)
As ladies’s sports activities develop in reputation with viewers and entrepreneurs, three skilled sports activities leagues have introduced plans to develop into different markets. The WNBA (basketball), NWSL (soccer) and PWHL (ice hockey) are all including groups to their respective skilled leagues.
The 12-team WNBA has already introduced growth plans. In October 2023 the league introduced Golden State was granted a franchise. They may start play beginning with the 2025 season. The workforce might be referred to as the Valkyries. (In Norse mythology Valkyries have been generally known as fearless ladies warriors). The Valkyries would be the WNBA’s first growth workforce because the 2008 season.
The workforce homeowners are Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the homeowners of the Golden State Warriors. In September the Valkyries introduced that they had exceeded 17,000 season-ticket deposits. The workforce will function out of Oakland and play residence video games on the 18,000-seat Chase Middle. The entry charge for Golden State is $50 billion. (By comparability, the final growth franchise, the Atlanta Dream, paid $10 million in 2008.)
The WNBA will then be increasing to fifteen franchises with the addition of Toronto (introduced in Could 2024) and Portland (introduced in September 2024), each are scheduled to start play with the 2026 season. Toronto would be the franchise would be the WNBA’s first in Canada.
The Toronto workforce might be run by Kilmer Sports activities Ventures. The workforce will play residence video games on the 8,000-seat Coca-Cola Coliseum in downtown Toronto. Further video games might be performed at Scotiabank Area (residence to the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Maple Leafs) together with different places all through Canada. Toronto possession is paying $115 million for the workforce and is constructing a apply facility.
The Portland workforce might be owned and operated by RAJ Sports activities and led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal. The workforce might be taking part in residence video games on the 20,500-seat Moda Middle (previously Rose Backyard), the identical enviornment because the NBA’s Portland Path Blazers. Beforehand, the Portland Fireplace had performed within the WNBA for 3 seasons 2000 to 2002. There are studies the Portland franchise will value $125 million.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert expects the WNBA to have 16 franchises in 2028. The commissioner is alleged to be evaluating 12 markets. It’s reported that Patrick and Brittany Mahomes are excited about an WNBA in Kansas Metropolis. Jayson Tatum is reportedly excited about a franchise in St. Louis. The Milwaukee Bucks possession can also be anticipated to make a bid. Different potential places embrace Orlando, Jacksonville, Denver, Miami, Nashville and Philadelphia.
In September 2023, the 14-team NWSL introduced they are going to be including Boston as their fifteenth franchise, starting with the 2026 season. The franchise just lately revealed the workforce’s title, BOS Nation FC. The entry charge for the Boston franchise value was $53 million, the identical quantity for the 14th franchise the Bay FC (San Francisco Bay Space) which started play this 12 months. Because the worth of NWSL has grown notably previously 12 months, the entry charge for the brand new franchise may strategy $100 million.
Final January, the Bhatel household paid $63 million to buy the Portland Thorns FC. In March, the San Diego Wave FC was acquired by the Levine Lichtman Household in a deal valued at $113 million. Extra just lately, final September, Robert Iger and Willow Bay acquired the Angel Metropolis FC for $250 million, a file worth for a ladies’s sports activities workforce.
Boston Unity Soccer Companions, an “all-female core possession group,” might be heading up the brand new NWSL franchise. Among the many workforce’s traders embrace actress Elizabeth Banks and Olympic gold medal gymnast Aly Reisman, each are natives of Massachusetts. BOS Nation FC might be taking part in their residence video games at White Stadium in Franklin Park. The possession group introduced plans to renovate White Stadium at an estimated value of $30 million. At current, the seating capability is simply over 10,000.
For the sixteenth franchise NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman mentioned final April they have been taking a look at twelve doable possession teams. Sports Business Journal studies there at the moment are 5 main candidates to land the sixteenth NWSL franchise; Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Nashville and Philadelphia. A choice is predicted earlier than the tip of the 12 months. Commissioner Berman has not made any feedback on whether or not the league will develop past 16 franchises.
Final month, PWHL introduced plans so as to add two new franchises, maybe as quickly because the 2025-26 season. In line with Sportico, the PWHL expects to have proposals by 12 months finish. The hockey league is taking a look at over 20 potential markets.
The PWHL started play with the 2023-24 season after the Mark Walter Group acquired the belongings of the Premier Hockey League. The Mark Walter Group additionally owns the World Sequence champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Not like different skilled ladies’s sports activities leagues, the PWHL doesn’t have any particular person workforce homeowners, all six groups are owned by The Mark Walter Group. Among the many members of the PWHL advisory board embrace tennis greats Billie Jean King and Ilona Kloss in addition to Los Angeles Dodgers president Stan Kasten amongst others.
The league at present operates six franchises; Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto. Among the many doable places for growth are Detroit and Pittsburgh, final season each markets hosted neutral-site video games with extra scheduled for this season. Different potential growth markets embrace Denver, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Quebec Metropolis and Calgary. The second season of the PWHL begins on November 30.
Final month, a brand new ladies’s sports activities league was introduced, The Girls’s Professional Baseball League. The league will start play in the summertime of 2026. At first, there might be six franchises all positioned within the Northeast, though no markets have been chosen. The founders of the WPBL are lawyer and businessman Keith Stein and Justine Siegel, founding father of Baseball For All. The All-American Ladies Skilled Baseball League, a topic within the function movie, A League of Their Personal, folded in 1954.
Entrepreneurs are paying attention to rising reputation in ladies’s sports activities. Earlier this 12 months, the WPP-owned GroupM, one of many world’s largest media businesses, introduced plans to double the quantity of promoting {dollars} their shoppers make investments with ladies’s sports activities. Final month, GroupM announced that they had exceeded their preliminary aim over the course of some months.
GroupM famous over 20 manufacturers had grown the funding in ladies’s sports activities together with; adidas, Adobe, Ally, Coinbase, Danone, Uncover, Domino’s, DoorDash, Google, certainly, Mars, technique, Nationwide, Goal, TJ Maxx, Unilever, Common Photos and Volvo Automotive USA.
Within the press launch, Denise Ocasio, Govt Director of Funding, GroupM US mentioned. “The Girls’s Sports activities Market opened a brand new frontier in promoting, the place we’re shifting past conventional media methods to embrace customization, premium content material, and revolutionary advert codecs. This proves that actual worth comes from deeper, extra impactful engagement. It’s not nearly visibility — it’s about fueling a cultural shift that connects with shoppers on a extra significant degree.”
