The Hottest League in Sports – WNBA Deep Dive
Inside the league's evolution from founding to expanding, contracting, and now expanding again
Whatsup Squad,
Women’s sports are undoubtedly having a moment.
And the WNBA remains front and center.
How We Got Here
The WNBA launched on the heels of a highly-publicized gold medal run by the “Women’s Dream Team” at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Led by players like Sheryl Swoops and Lisa Leslie, the 1996 team tested the viability of women's professional basketball in the United States.
At the time, there was no legitimate opportunity for women to play professionally stateside.
But that changed the next year, when the NBA decided to start a women’s league.
Eight cities were selected as the WNBA's charter teams: Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Sacramento and Utah.
Once the NBA sold WNBA teams to individual ownership groups in 2002, it led to a sequence of expansions, contractions, and relocations.
Today, the league currently consists of 12 teams.
But not for long…
WNBA Expansion
In recent years, the WNBA has experienced exponential growth, with attendance and viewership numbers reaching their highest in two decades.
The 2024 draft class, featuring talents like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, has fueled this progress.
That said, these gains build on steady growth the league has made in the last few years, driven by the expanding fanbases of powerhouse teams like the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty.
This growth coincides with a new, 11-year $2.2 billion media rights deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon that pays the league $200 million annually.
The WNBA is also likely to sell two additional packages for $60 million, pushing the total to over $250 million per year (up from $60 million in its last deal).
With more demand and more revenue, the WNBA is looking to expand to 16 teams by 2028.
Earlier this week, the league announced Portland as the 3rd new franchise in this cohort, joining Golden State and Toronto.
But the league is in a completely different place than where it was when it first expanded to 16 teams in 2000.
Set to debut in 2025, the support for the Golden State Valkyries, a team without a single player, demonstrate this transformation.
Golden State ownership paid a $50 million expansion fee to enter the WNBA, a 5x increase from the $10 million buy-in for the Atlanta Dream in 2008.
The Golden State Valkyries shared their plans for a locker room in the Chase Center and a new practice facility expected to open ahead of the team’s debut.
And with increased investment comes increased interest.
Last week, they became the first pro women’s sports team in history to collect more than 17,000 season-ticket deposits.
The Toronto and Portland teams will start playing in 2026, but there’s room for one more franchise in this cohort. And competition is heating up.
Denver, Miami, Nashville and Philadelphia have all been floated as possible spots for the last expansion franchise for the immediate future, but Houston deserves more attention.
The Case for Houston
With stars like Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson, the Houston Comets won the WNBA’s first four championships.
Their championship team in 1999 was the first women’s professional team to visit the White House Rose Garden — they represented the league’s first dynasty.
“The Comets were the impact…They made skeptics of the league and its ability to survive into believers. Houston set a tone. It created awareness and excitement, like a curiosity of, ‘What’s going on over there in that league?”
- Tina Thompson, 4x WNBA champion with the Houston Comets
Despite unprecedented success in the late 1990s, the team took a turn for the worst once they were no longer under the ownership of the NBA.
Attendance in 2008 fell to half of its 1998 average, and the team was put up for sale atf $10 million. But the league could not find a buyer.
Even with an expansion fee expected to be a significant step up from the $50 million paid by the Golden State and Toronto franchises, Houston has a buyer.
Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta plans to submit a bid on a WNBA expansion franchise in the coming weeks and is expected to include the Comets’ branding.
Outside of the success of the Comets, this just makes sense.
By population, Houston is a top 5 metropolitan area in the country. And it’s the only one without an without a WNBA franchise.
This translates to a larger fan base, more opportunities for corporate sponsorships, and more media revenue.
Even further, back in 2017 when Fertitta purchased the Rockets, Bloomberg reported that Beyoncé, a Houston native, was interested in buying a stake in the Rockets.
If (and this is a big if) Beyoncé expresses interest in joining the ownership group of Houston’s WNBA franchise, that’s checkmate for all other bidders.
Final Thoughts
As sold-out WNBA stadiums are demonstrating, the rise in enthusiasm toward women’s sports is becoming the norm.
The reason why people play sports, and follow sports, is to win championships.
What are we saying if we don’t honor the legacy of the Houston Comets? Letting the team dissolve in 2008 was a mistake. The WNBA can’t make the same mistake again.
Until next time ✌🏾
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