The WNBA, NWSL and PWHL are all increasing into new markets as the recognition of ladies’s skilled … [+] sports activities leagues proceed to develop. (Picture by Julio Aguilar/Getty Photographs)
As ladies’s sports activities develop in recognition with viewers and entrepreneurs, three skilled sports activities leagues have introduced plans to broaden 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 had been often called fearless ladies warriors). The Valkyries would be the WNBA’s first growth workforce for the reason that 2008 season.
The workforce homeowners are Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the homeowners of the Golden State Warriors. In September the Valkyries introduced they’d exceeded 17,000 season-ticket deposits. The workforce will function out of Oakland and play house video games on the 18,000-seat Chase Heart. 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 Might 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 house video games on the 8,000-seat Coca-Cola Coliseum in downtown Toronto. Further video games might be performed at Scotiabank Area (house to the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Maple Leafs) together with different areas all through Canada. Toronto possession is paying $115 million for the workforce and is constructing a follow 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 house video games on the 20,500-seat Moda Heart (previously Rose Backyard), the identical area because the NBA’s Portland Path Blazers. Beforehand, the Portland Hearth had performed within the WNBA for 3 seasons 2000 to 2002. There are studies the Portland franchise will price $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 be anticipated to make a bid. Different potential areas 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 not too long ago revealed the workforce’s title, BOS Nation FC. The entry charge for the Boston franchise price 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 might 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 not too long ago, final September, Robert Iger and Willow Bay acquired the Angel Metropolis FC for $250 million, a document value 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 buyers 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 house video games at White Stadium in Franklin Park. The possession group introduced plans to renovate White Stadium at an estimated price of $30 million. At current, the seating capability is simply over 10,000.
For the sixteenth franchise NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman stated final April they had been twelve attainable possession teams. Sports Business Journal studies there are actually 5 main candidates to land the sixteenth NWSL franchise; Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Nashville and Philadelphia. A choice is anticipated earlier than the tip of the 12 months. Commissioner Berman has not made any feedback on whether or not the league will broaden past 16 franchises.
Final month, PWHL introduced plans so as to add two new franchises, maybe as quickly because the 2025-26 season. In response to Sportico, the PWHL expects to have proposals by 12 months finish. The hockey league is over 20 potential markets.
The PWHL started play with the 2023-24 season after the Mark Walter Group acquired the property of the Premier Hockey League. The Mark Walter Group additionally owns the World Collection champion Los Angeles Dodgers. In contrast to 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 attainable areas 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 situated 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 Women Skilled Baseball League, a topic within the function movie, A League of Their Personal, folded in 1954.
Entrepreneurs are paying attention to rising recognition in ladies’s sports activities. Earlier this 12 months, the WPP-owned GroupM, one of many world’s largest media companies, introduced plans to double the quantity of promoting {dollars} their shoppers make investments with ladies’s sports activities. Final month, GroupM announced they’d exceeded their preliminary objective 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, methodology, Nationwide, Goal, TJ Maxx, Unilever, Common Footage and Volvo Automotive USA.
Within the press launch, Denise Ocasio, Government Director of Funding, GroupM US stated. “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 customers on a extra significant degree.”
