The WNBA is coming off of its most-popular season in league history with the arrival of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and the rest of the 2024 rookie class. It is still going to lose a lot of money and NBA owners are reportedly furious with the continued financial struggles.
They are tired of paying to prop someone else up.
According to the New York Post, the WNBA will lost $40 million this season. This is the 26th-straight year where it will fail to turn a profit. Never before has the professional women’s basketball league made a single dollar since it first came to exist in the spring of 1996.
The NBA owns approximately 60% of its female counterpart. That number is actually closer to 75% when the owners’ personal stakes are factored into the equation.
NBA team owners want to see a return on their investment into the WNBA. They are frustrated.
The WNBA owes the NBA so much we won’t see any windfall for years.
— NBA team executive, via The New York Post
To be fair, the WNBA was projected to lose $50 million in 2024. It did $10 million better than expected — in a year that saw unprecedented viewership, attendance and popularity — and… still lost money.
The WNBA can’t turn a profit.
Things are going so well for the WNBA that it will add multiple expansion teams over the next few years. That does not guarantee the league is going to be a profitable venture in the near future. A new media rights deal worth approximately $200,000,000 per year goes into effect in 2026. That is going to help.
However, NBA owners want to know how they are going to get their money back and New York Knicks owner James Dolan is supposedly asking commissioner Adam Silver for answers he does not have.
There’s a bunch of owners who see Dolan as their hero for pressing Silver on these questions but Silver is not giving us any answers.
— NBA team executive, via The New York Post
NBA spokesman Mike Bass told the New York Post that financial reports on WNBA revenue and expenses are shared with the Board of Governors for both leagues. Owners don’t care.
That is somewhat BS and they are consolidating it with WNBA financials. By consolidating numbers, you don’t have to break out any of them.
— NBA team executive, via The New York Post
The clock is ticking but there is no clear path to financial success in sight. The WNBA lost tens of millions of dollars once again.