How the WNBA’s surge in brand and broadcast deals is fueling a fight for its future

The WNBA is in the middle of a historic battle over the future of its league.

As the players’ union (WNBPA) and the league negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), both sides are wrestling over a simple question: What happens now that the WNBA is finally booming?

The contentious clash centers around how the league’s surging value translates into investment, from salaries and revenue sharing to childcare and chartered flights. In many ways, this is a stress test of the business engine that brands have helped create.

The WNBA’s momentum is undeniable — record attendance and viewership this past season, a multibillion media rights deal coming and skyrocketing team valuations. Starting next season, an 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal takes effect, alongside separate agreements with ION, Versant and Paramount. Streaming is surging on Peacock, ESPN, Amazon and Paramount+.

Marketers played a central role. Sponsorships jumped 52% compared to 2022; last season, 450 brands spent $76 million, with gaming, insurance and financial services as the top verticals leading the way. Ally Financial, a founding partner of the Las Vegas Aces, spent 25% of the company’s marketing spend across major sports on the WNBA.

Those bets worked, helped in no small way by the star power of players like A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Napheesa Collier. They built visibility, stability and legitimacy. And they raised player expectations.

The return on investment is real — and uneven

For proof that investment drives performance, look no further than the Las Vegas Aces. They’ve won three of the last four WNBA championships and were the first WNBA team to open a dedicated practice facility back in 2023.

“It’s an oasis,” Aces President Nikki Fargas told The Current. Fargas declined to comment about the CBA negotiations. “It’s a place for them to really escape.”

That oasis is a far cry from the high school gym the team used when Fargas became president in 2021. And back when the team played in San Antonio, (the Aces moved to Las Vegas in 2018) they practiced in a local YMCA.

Today, 11 of the 15 WNBA franchises have either opened — or plan to open — their own practice facility, and chartered flights were mandated by the league starting in 2024.

“For so long, these teams and the league held themselves back from the progress we needed to see,” WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson recently said on the In Case You Missed It podcast. Jackson noted the Aces and the New York Liberty are two ownership groups that “have just hit it out of the park and understand what to do.”

“This is really the way professional sports [are] going for women,” Fargas said. “And it’s going to take a little time, but at least everyone knows that when you do invest in these resources, the return is there.”

Aces owner Mark Davis has seen that return firsthand. Davis, who also owns the Las Vegas Raiders, bought the Aces for $2 million in 2021. Today, Forbes values the franchise at $310 million.

“He understands the growth that we’re faced with,” Fargas said. “And I think he knew that early on by establishing us as the first to [open this facility]. We’ve been the first in a lot of things.”

Pay us what you owe us

The gap between the WNBA’s success and player frustration exploded into public view during July’s All-Star Game, when all 24 stars warmed up in shirts reading “Pay us what you owe us.”

Players estimate they receive just 9% of total revenue — far lower than the NBA’s 51% share. The league disputes the comparison, citing its complex ownership structure: 42% team owners, 42% NBA and 16% private investors, including Nike.

Still, players point to valuations as proof that the money is real. This year, expansion teams in Philadelphia, Cleveland and Detroit reportedly paid a record $250 million expansion fee, $200 million more than what Golden State Valkyries owner Joe Lacob paid in 2023.

“They cry that they don’t have enough money to pay the players, that they don’t have the sustainability to pay the players when they’re selling teams for $300 million,” Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier said in September. “Valuations are going up to almost half a billion, it doesn’t make sense to us. It’s why we’re fighting so hard in our CBA and what we’re going to continue to fight for.”

Both sides want to avoid the WNBA’s first-ever work stoppage. But the stakes have never been higher — for the league, for the players and for brands that have bet big on women’s sports becoming the next major marketing frontier.