The WNBA has enjoyed some of the fastest growth a sports league has ever seen, thanks in large part to superstar rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. With their play and fan following this year, they’ve helped the already surging league break records for attendance, viewership, merchandise sales and more.
But top WNBA players don’t yet have the lofty salaries to match.
The three most valuable WNBA teams — the Las Vegas Aces, the Seattle Storm and the New York Liberty — were valued in June at between 13 and 70 times the price of their most recent sale, all of which took place within the last 16 years, according to Sportico’s first-ever WNBA team valuations.
Valuations will likely only rise: The league signed an 11-year $2.2 billion media rights deal with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBCUniversal this summer. The $200 million-per-year agreement will start in 2026. The current deal is about $60 million for 2024. As viewership and attendance rise, the league is also adding three teams.
“Elected officials, corporate, private equity, everybody are like how do I get into the WNBA, and how do I invest? And can I have an expansion team, or can I invest in a current team?” said league Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
Yet players are still earning modest salaries relative to their male counterparts in the NBA. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese make about $76,000 and $74,000 this year, respectively.
Brionna Jones, a seven-year veteran forward for the Connecticut Sun, earns $212,000 — close to what recent Most Valuable Player award winners A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart make.
Once the WNBA season is over, Jones plays a second season in Europe, mainly to complement her salary. About half of the league’s players played overseas in winter 2024 to boost their incomes.
“I’m getting paid to do something that I love year round, and that’s great. But as I’m getting older my body is feeling the constant wear and tear of playing all year round,” said Jones, who is 28.
The current collective bargaining agreement, the contract between the league and the players’ union, WNBPA, which determines salaries and other provisions, runs through 2027. However, in November, either side can opt out of the deal. If they do, the new contract would be negotiated at the end of the 2025 season and take effect in 2026.
It remains to be seen how much the league can increase its salaries, even as the value of media rights and franchises skyrocket. The WNBA and its teams are expected to lose about $50 million this year, according to one report in The Washington Post.
Engelbert said the flexibility to opt out of the CBA was always a part of the plan.
“I wanted that opt-out for us and for them, because I want to return more to the players through the collectively bargained things like salary,” she said. “But we’ve already done it outside of collective bargaining and probably surprised some people by doing that.”
Engelbert is referring to the charter flights program added league-wide for travel to and from games this year. That alone will cost about $25 million per year. The league also increased playoff bonuses this year. The money is allocated from the $75 million the WNBA raised in 2022 from a group of investors.
Though the WNBA’s success has not yet led to the massive salaries seen in men’s pro sports, many in the league believe it’s only a matter of time.
“It’s easy to look at other leagues and see the multimillion dollars that these folks are getting,” said Stephanie White, head coach of the Connecticut Sun. “And we’re going to be there one day. It’s just continuing the positive progress that we’ve made and making sure that the sustainability of this league for the future generations is still going to be there.”
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