The WNBA is exploring a significant buyback of its equity stake, a move signaling a new era of financial strength and strategic growth.
The WNBA is exploring whether to buy back a portion of itself, revisiting a deal struck during one of the most fragile moments in league history as its business outlook has rapidly changed.
According to Front Office Sports, the league is in the early stages of examining a potential buyback of the 16% equity stake it sold in February 2022 for $75 million. Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the league’s business discussions told Front Office Sports that the concept remains exploratory, with no clear structure or funding plan in place. The WNBA declined to comment for the report.
The original sale came at a time when the league badly needed capital. Coming off a pandemic-impacted season, commissioner Cathy Engelbert led a capital raise that the league promoted as the largest ever for a women’s sports property. The money was earmarked for brand growth, marketing initiatives, and global expansion, stabilizing a league still working to regain momentum.
The investor group included a mix of strategic partners and prominent figures, including Nike, Pau Gasol, and Condoleezza Rice, as well as several NBA and WNBA owners. According to Front Office Sports, those investors now stand to earn back their original investment multiple times over should a buyback occur.
At the time of the sale, the deal was widely reported as valuing the WNBA at roughly $1 billion. However, a source with direct knowledge of the transaction told Front Office Sports that the true valuation after the capital infusion was closer to $475 million. Even at that figure, league valuations have since accelerated sharply.
Expansion has played a central role in that growth. The WNBA has added three teams and plans to add five more over the next four years, bringing the league to 18 teams by 2030. Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia each paid $250 million in expansion fees, figures that signal far greater financial stability than existed just a few years ago.
The league’s ownership structure, however, has grown increasingly complex. When the WNBA launched in 1997, all eight original franchises were owned and operated by NBA teams in the same markets. That model shifted in 2002, when the NBA Board of Governors voted to allow independent ownership and teams in non-NBA cities. Since then, independent owners such as the Mohegan Tribe have joined the league, including its purchase and relocation of the Orlando Miracle to Connecticut in 2003.
Before the 2022 capital raise, ownership of the WNBA was split evenly between NBA owners and WNBA team owners. The sale diluted both groups to 42% stakes, according to Front Office Sports, creating a third ownership tier of outside investors. Several of those investors are also NBA or WNBA owners, giving them overlapping stakes in the league.
According to Front Office Sports, a union proposal submitted around Christmas sought a 30% share of gross revenue and a $10.5 million salary cap. The league has not formally responded, but its most recent proposal, shared in early December, included roughly a 70% share of net revenue and a $5 million cap.
While expansion fees and rising valuations suggest strength, many around the league believe the current ownership model complicates efforts to meet the players’ demands. A potential buyback of the 16% stake would not resolve those issues overnight, but it would represent a symbolic shift.
Four years after selling equity to survive, the WNBA is now weighing whether greater control of its future is worth the cost.