For years, buying a big-league sports team was sold as a can’t-lose investment. A new set of numbers says that story has changed, and that the fastest-growing assets in sport now belong to women’s leagues. Women’s sports valuations have outpaced the NFL, the NBA and even the stock market. Here’s why, and what it means for India’s own women’s leagues.
The numbers that surprised everyone
Men’s teams have done well, but not as well as you might think. The S&P 500 has risen 118% since Oct. 12, 2022, and the Nasdaq 162%, fueled by tech and AI stocks. That outpaces the 103% average gain in the five biggest North American men’s sports leagues.
Women’s teams are on another level. Sportico’s first NWSL valuations were in 2023, and the average was $66 million. It is up 179% in three years to $184 million. The WNBA is even stronger, with a two-year gain of 346% from $96 million in 2024 to $428 million this year.
In other words, the average WNBA team has more than quadrupled in value in two years, a pace no men’s league comes close to.
Inside the WNBA boom
One team is leading the way. The Golden State Valkyries topped the WNBA with an $850 million valuation after they posted a WNBA-record $78 million in revenue in their inaugural season, thanks to a season-ticket base that topped 10,000, and sponsorships. Rounding out the top five are the New York Liberty ($600 million), Indiana Fever ($560 million), Seattle Storm ($425 million) and Phoenix Mercury ($420 million).
Some owners have made extraordinary returns. In Seattle, three businesswomen kept the W in Seattle when they acquired the club for about $1 million. The team’s value has gone up 400x.
Investors now pay more per dollar of revenue than in the NBA. The WNBA now has the highest value-to-revenue multiplier of any major sports league. At 13.6, it also surpasses the NBA, which has a 13.5 multiplier, for the first time.
And entry prices keep rising. The Connecticut Sun were recently sold to the Fertitta family at a $300 million valuation, while the last three expansion franchises were awarded with a $250 million fee each. ESPN
Why women’s sport is growing so fast
1. Bigger TV deals. The WNBA embarks on its 30th season armed with a fresh CBA and a series of TV agreements that start in 2026 and pay far more than the league’s previous set of deals. More media money flows straight to the teams: each received more than $3 million from the league last year, and that distribution will at least double in 2026, according to executives at multiple clubs.
2. Fans are buying tickets. Record crowds and season-ticket waiting lists, led by the Valkyries, show genuine demand rather than hype.
3. Investors are early, and they know it. In our view, this is the key. Men’s leagues are mature, expensive assets. Women’s leagues are still near the start of their growth curve, so investors are betting on what they’ll be worth in ten years, not what they earn today.
4. Players are being paid more, and teams can still profit. The new agreement raised each team’s salary cap from $1.5 million to $7 million, yet “multiple WNBA teams were profitable last year under the lower cap.”
What it means for India
This story has a clear Indian connection.
The WPL is India’s version of this bet. When the Women’s Premier League launched in 2023, five franchises were sold for a combined ₹4,670 crore, and the league’s media rights went for ₹951 crore over five years. Those were big numbers for a brand-new league, and the US experience suggests early buyers of women’s teams can do very well.
The World Cup changed the story. It’s exactly one year since India’s women won their first World Cup: the Indian Women’s team, under Harmanpreet Kaur’s captaincy, won the World Cup for the first time on Sunday (November 2), beating South Africa in the final by 52 runs. Moments like that build the audiences and sponsors that drive valuations.
But the WPL is still tightly controlled. As we wrote about this week’s auction, each team has a ₹15 crore salary cap, and the five teams had just ₹8.15 crore to spend. The WNBA’s lesson is that rising player pay and rising team values can go together, as long as media deals, attendance and sponsorship grow too.
Women’s sport is getting backed beyond cricket. From Lxme’s title sponsorship of the Indian Women’s League to SportVot streaming IWL 2, investors and brands are starting to see the same opportunity at home.
The question that matters
If women’s teams are the fastest-growing assets in global sport, who in India is buying early? The WNBA went from a $1 million team in Seattle to a $428 million average in a generation. The WPL is only in its fourth year, and the smart money may already be watching.
At The Sports Columnist, we cover the deals, the money and the decisions behind sport. Every game has a second scoreboard, and women’s sport is climbing it fastest.
Sources: Sportico team valuations (WNBA, May 2026; NWSL and league comparisons, October 2026); league announcements.
Read more from The Sports Columnist
→ WPL auction 2027: a ₹8 crore auction in under an hour
→ Indian women’s football has a streaming partner. Can it build an audience?
→ The IPL’s most valuable teams
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