As the WNBA’s 29th season enters its second half, the league is experiencing skyrocketing attendance and revenues. One would think that would translate into skyrocketing profits, but no, for the 29th consecutive season, the WNBA is projected to lose money. Here is a look at the numbers, the history, how the league can finally become profitable, and how NBA comparisons are a bit unfair.
The WNBA has had some fantastic athletes come through its ranks over the years. Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, Tina Thompson, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, and others put the young league on the map. Yet the league averaged a net loss of over $10 million per year for most of its history. That number ballooned to approximately $50 million in 2024. In its first year, the estimated revenue was just $10 million, whereas last year the league was estimated to have taken in over $710 million. The WNBA is expected to bring in over $1 billion this season, but it is still unlikely to break even.
The WNBA is taking in more money, but it is also spending more money. Increased player salaries, as low as they may be in comparison to the men’s league, are part of that. Increased marketing costs play a part, too. The biggest expense, though, has been its growth. New facilities, new franchises, and deals to move games to bigger arenas have all contributed to the league’s losses.
The NBA Board of Governors formed the WNBA in 1996, and NBA Commissioner David Stern was instrumental in getting the league off the ground. The NBA owns about 60% of the WNBA and has subsidized the league’s losses. While that has kept the WNBA afloat, at times it has also held it back. New ideas, expansions, etc., all have to run through the NBA. If they say “no,” it doesn’t happen. As one will see below, a lot of things did not happen when they could have or should have.
The NBA was not profitable at first either. It didn’t take off financially until after it merged with the ABA in 1976. Of the first 23 NBA franchises, 15 went out of business, and six of the eight survivors moved to another city. Television ratings were not good early on either. It wasn’t until 1970 that every game of the NBA Finals was televised. If one compares the first three decades of the NBA to the first decades of the WNBA, the attendance and revenue numbers are very similar (if you adjust for inflation/cost of living changes).
So, what got the NBA over the hump? The early NBA teams were mostly located in the eastern United States. When the ABA merger happened, the new league covered much more of the country, and those new teams brought their fans. Stern implemented a salary cap, created the draft lottery, and started marketing the league’s stars. The WNBA started with the salary cap and draft already in place, and has improved in its marketing of stars. One can see Caitlyn Clark’s and Angel Reese’s faces everywhere.
The WNBA doesn’t have merger options, but it does have numerous markets to expand into. Cities like Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, San Francisco, Portland, Miami, Cleveland, Toronto, and Houston have all been untapped markets that could easily support a WNBA franchise. That changes starting next year. The league will add franchises in Toronto and Portland in 2026, Cleveland in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030. New markets equal new revenue, and of course, new expenses.
It is not just new teams that are needed, though. For the WNBA to succeed, the league has to be popular beyond the United States. While a franchise in Toronto is a start, the main way to reach other countries is for them to see the product live and on television. To date, the WNBA has only played a few preseason games in three foreign countries. In August of this year, though, they will play their first regular-season game outside the U.S. (in Vancouver). Starting in 2026, the WNBA will start a new media rights deal that will greatly expand its foreign and domestic reach. Both of those are key to drawing in foreign fans and players.
Detractors of the NBA will tell you that the reason why the league has not made a profit is that it is a women’s league. This came to a head at the WNBA All-Star game this season when the players wore shirts advocating for higher salaries. The minimum WNBA salary for a player with zero to two years of experience is just over $66,000. Minimum rookie deals in the NBA start at almost $1.3 million. The highest WNBA salary in 2025 is just under $250,000, while the NBA has 15 players whose salaries topped $50 million.
The WNBA’s attendance in their 29th year is very comparable to what the NBA’s was when they hit the three-decade mark. While the WNBA has always had fantastic players, the league’s popularity exploded with last year’s draft class, headed by Clark and Reese. The two rivals have been in headlines, commercials, and SportsCenter highlight reels ever since. Hence, the giant leap in attendance, revenues, and TV ratings, as well as the signing of the new TV deals. The league will top a billion dollars in revenue this year. The NBA did not accomplish that until the 1990s, fifty years in.
The bottom line is that the WNBA is growing slightly faster than the NBA did in its first thirty years. It has had to expand the hard way in much more unpredictable economic climes. Will it get to the same level of popularity and revenue as the NBA after 79 years? Who knows? To say that it won’t simply because it is a women’s sport is unfair. Women get less pay and respect in nearly every occupation in the U.S., so it is like comparing apples and oranges.
Remember that the WNBA is run by the NBA and owners who didn’t always see the league as anything more than a charity project. It can succeed only as much as it is allowed to. Here is an example. Candace Parker joined the WNBA in 2008, but didn’t have her locker until 2023. She won a WNBA title with the Chicago Sky, and the next year, her team was still practicing in a public rec center full of Chicagoans working out. This wasn’t happening in the 1950s; this was happening in 2021. One can’t become a destination league for women worldwide while practicing alongside the local rec league.
The WNBA has come a long way in the last few years. At the pace that the league’s popularity and revenue are growing, the next five years’ expansion could not only make the WNBA profitable but also pay off its past debt. Maybe then, its players can finally make a living in the league instead of having to play in foreign leagues during the off-season. So, let’s cool it with the misogynistic tweets saying that the WNBA players should be paying the league for the privilege of participating. The WNBA is essentially on the same track as the NBA, just 50 years later.
The difference is simple. Only the players believed in the WNBA when it was founded. If the NBA had gone all in on Day One and built practice facilities, offices, and other infrastructure, the WNBA teams wouldn’t have had to do it all later in the process. Yes, it would have been more debt up front, but it would have been all paid off by now, and the WNBA would have already been profitable. Having to go back and build things retroactively has stunted the growth of the league. Now that the WNBA is caught up, it can finally move forward.
By the mid-2030s, the WNBA will be the women’s version of the NBA that the Board of Governors wanted. That is the version that they would have had had they fully built the foundation 30 years ago. A WNBA with 20-plus teams will be the predominant women’s basketball league on the planet, attracting players and fans from all over the world. I believe that the WNBA will get there. So do the players. I think the NBA Board of Governors and the WNBA owners are finally realizing that as well. Now they just need to pay the players who are making it all happen.
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