Why Private Equity Is Watching the WNBA’s Meteoric Rise
by Marley Hughes, CEO Magnolia Hill Partners
The WNBA is having a moment—and the money is paying attention.
According to PitchBook, viewership records shattered this season. A May showdown between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese pulled in 3.1 million viewers—the league’s most-watched regular season game in 25 years. That’s not just good for women’s basketball. That’s headline-grabbing, investor-alerting momentum.
Despite the league’s $1.15B valuation being a fraction of the NBA’s $132.5B, its trajectory is steep. League-wide merchandise sales jumped 236% year-over-year. And in a major win, the WNBA recently inked a $2.2B media rights deal—nearly six times the value of its previous contract. That kind of growth has private equity (PE) buzzing.
For PE firms, the opportunity is simple: get in while it’s still undervalued. As Jason Wright of Ariel Investments put it, “We see women’s sports as the small caps of sports investing.” Translation: high growth potential, if you’re early and smart.
Big players like Ariel, The Carlyle Group, and Avenue Capital are already making moves—buying stakes in teams like Seattle Reign FC or funding new facilities like the New York Liberty’s $450M-valued club and its soon-to-be 75,000-square-foot Brooklyn practice facility. The capital isn’t just about glamor; it’s about scaling operations, increasing media reach, and professionalizing infrastructure.
But there’s still a big “if”: Can this hype sustain?
That’s the billion-dollar question. Fragmented media consumption makes it harder to build a sticky, scaled fanbase. And while attendance and merch are rising, monetization (aka revenue) is lagging behind viewership.
Still, many see this as a rare window. As Clara Wu Tsai of the NY Liberty put it: “There’s value because the viewership is growing but the revenue hasn’t quite caught up.” That’s the gap investors are racing to close—and profit from.
Women’s pro sports are no longer a niche; they’re a category on the rise. And if this WNBA season is any indication, we’re just getting started.
