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The Dallas Wings currently sit dead last in the WNBA standings with a brutal 6-19 record.
The team boasts superstar Arike Ogunbowale as well as fellow stars Odyssey Sims and Natasha Howard, but its league-worst 89.7 points per game allowed have led to a brutal star to the season.
Despite that, however, the Wings are currently the league’s most valuable franchise according to Sports Business Journal. Dallas is currently valued at a league-high $208 million, that’s over a $100 million jump from what Sportico valued it at in the Spring.
So, why the massive jump for a team that has had little-to-no on-court success?
Thank new minority owners Jed Kaplan and Randy Eisenman, who each recently purchased just a half-percent of the team for $1.04 million from team CEO and part-owner Greg Bibb.
“I would say the value of anything is what the market’s willing to pay,” Bibb told SBJ. “I can make a compelling case for why that $208 million number is justifiable.
“Certainly, we’re not talking about a business that’s stagnating … it’s quite the opposite. What we are doing today is going to be significantly outpaced by what we do tomorrow.”
Sportico valued the Wings at just $75 million earlier this year. That ranked 11th out of the 12 teams in the WNBA
But in addition to new ownership, the franchise received a new investment from the city as well.
Dallas offered the team a $19M cash incentive to become the primary tenant of a renovated downtown Memorial Auditorium. The new arena is set to open in 2026 and has a capacity of 8,500 people. Bibb is also working with the city on a new practice facility. He claims the facility will rival the new Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury facilities.
The WNBA also recently agreed to a new $2.2 billion media rights deal and is set to expand to both the Bay Area and Toronto in the coming years.
So it’s clearly a good time to be a fan of women’s basketball.