The 2024 WNBA season, which dramatically changed the immediate and future business outlook of the league, concluded on Sunday as the New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx in a decisive Game 5 of the Finals to become champions for the first time in their history.
While the just-finished campaign will be remembered as a watershed year that bolstered the WNBA’s long-term financial sustainability, it may also be viewed as a road to even bigger developments on the horizon. Not everything ahead will be simple to traverse, though.
A $2.2 billion media deal will kick in soon, potentially leading to league profitability for the first time and affecting collective bargaining negotiations. Additionally, the WNBA has announced that three expansion teams are set to join in the next two years: Golden State, Toronto and Portland. And as the league’s audience balloons, it must navigate differences in values between longtime supporters and some of its new ones—an issue that has already contributed to conflict between fans, players and WNBA leadership.
WNBA’s business highlights from 2024
The WNBA’s influential rookie class led by Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese helped the league set records for annual attendance, single-game attendance, annual TV viewership, single-game TV viewership and draft viewership, among many other accomplishments. Their popularity from college carried over, and their on-court production made them far more than first-year gimmicks.
Clark, who won Rookie of the Year, inspired a league-best 319% increase in home attendance for the Fever. Every WNBA team improved year-over-year ticket sales in 2024.
Meanwhile, Reese set the WNBA record for consecutive double-doubles and scored a bevy of sponsorships, including one from Reese’s, while starting her own podcast.
The WNBA’s veterans also delighted fans in 2024. Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson set the record for single-season scoring average en route to unanimous MVP honors, while the WNBA Finals were a showcase of hard-fought basketball, with Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Napheesa Collier, Courtney Williams and more each delivering in key moments.
The Finals set viewership records even though they didn’t feature any of the highly touted new college grads. Team valuations have increased leaguewide, and the Aces, who didn’t have a first-round rookie, lead the way.
With longstanding interest in women’s college basketball now translating to tangible growth for the WNBA, top prospects set to enter the league in the next few years could add momentum to the pros after they are done generating NCAA excitement.
UConn’s Paige Bueckers and USC’s JuJu Watkins are already Nike-sponsored athletes with social media followings that exceed many WNBA All-Stars, and fans are eager to see them eventually play at the next level. They were both invited as VIPs to multiple WNBA games this year.
Media rights and CBA sticking points
The WNBA’s fresh $2.2 billion media package with Disney, NBC and Amazon, which is set to kick in for the 2026 season, provided firm evidence that broadcasters view the league as a long-term growth opportunity.
That revenue, though, will likely contribute to more requests from players, who recently saw the NWSL’s players association leverage the popularity of women’s sports to land an extraordinarily player-friendly new CBA.
“I think that making sure the salary cap continues to grow and correlates with the TV deal (is important),” Liberty forward Stewart said to reporters this year. “I don’t know how you break that down.”
The WNBPA has until Nov. 1 to opt out of its current CBA, which otherwise would expire in 2027. If it does, it would have through next season to negotiate new terms with the WNBA or face a work stoppage that threatens to halt the league’s progress.
Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images
WNBA expansion brings optimism
Next season, the Golden State Valkyries will become the first of three WNBA expansion teams to begin play in a short period of time. Teams in Portland and Toronto will arrive in 2026. The expansion push is another indication of the league’s optimism.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said she could see a 16th market receiving an organization this decade. “We’re getting a lot of calls, we’re continuing to engage with cities,” she told reporters in April.
The WNBA hasn’t added a team to its ranks since 2008, when the Atlanta Dream joined, and over the past 16 years, it has hyper-focused on a small group of markets to create a sustainable product. As the WNBA enters a franchise growth phase, it will likely need to adjust its marketing and media approaches to encompass more members while making sure not to neglect its original franchises.
Additionally, this week’s NWSL Boston branding fiasco demonstrated how a sports expansion process can cause PR headaches if poorly executed.
Growing pains accompany fame
Like any entertainment entity beloved by a niche audience before turning into a cultural supernova almost overnight, the WNBA is grappling with the side effects of its own success.
Throughout 2024, WNBA players have said they greatly appreciate the new eyeballs on their games. But they are also frustrated with how much of the energy pulsing around them feels negative; Stewart and Wilson are among the superstars to publicly call on the league office to combat online abuse more forcefully. Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington accused WNBA leadership of treating teams differently based on their perceived marketability—a sentiment echoed by many peers.
Tension came to a head last month when Engelbert drew backlash for a comment at a CNBC event that seemed to downplay social media vitriol from the fan bases of Clark and Reese, who have a competitive history dating back to college. Engelbert apologized in a letter to players afterward.
“I was asked a question about WNBA rivalries and the dark side of social media and race, and simply put, my answer missed the mark and I’m sorry,” Engelbert wrote. “I regret that I didn’t express, in a clear and definitive way, condemnation of the hateful speech that is all too often directed at WNBA players on social media.”
Engelbert and the WNBA seem to know the fan-related issues that emerged in 2024 won’t vanish in future seasons, particularly with more audience growth expected to come. In multiple statements over the past month, including one following a threatening anonymous email sent to Stewart’s wife during the Finals, officials have said they would work with teams and players to implement safety measures. How the league manages conflict will set a tone for its culture and perhaps influence which people tune in.
Overall, the year-over-year business outlook of the WNBA is almost unanimously seen as much-improved. Turning the corner, though, is only half of the process for an upstart business. A crucial home stretch awaits.
