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Tuesday, September 17, 2024

$2M Cash Injection Sends WNBA’s Worst Team to League-Leading Valuation

  • The team’s valuation has surged more than $100 million since the spring. 
  • It comes weeks after Angel City FC became women’s sports’ most valuable franchise.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The WNBA’s worst team may be, at least temporarily, its most valuable.

The Dallas Wings, tied for last in the league at 6–19, are now valued at $208 million after two investors bought a 1% stake in the team at $2.08 million. That surpasses every team’s listed value from Sportico’s published estimates earlier this year.

Greg Bibb, the team’s CEO and part-owner, sold the stake to Jed Kaplan and Randy Eisenman.

“I would say the value of anything is what the market’s willing to pay,” Bibb told Sports Business Journal. “I can make a compelling case for why that $208 million number is justifiable.”

Kaplan is no stranger to basketball, as he is a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies and previously owned the Erie BayHawks and Iowa Energy in the NBA’s G League. Eisenman founded a local hedge fund. 

The investment comes amid a wave of off-the-court momentum for the franchise. The city of Dallas gave the Wings a $19 million incentive to move from their current arena—College Park Center at the University of Texas at Arlington—to a renovated downtown Memorial Coliseum in 2026. Memorial Coliseum has a capacity of 8,500 fans compared to CPC, which seats just over 6,000 fans. And, in April, Bibb told D Magazine, “We’re creating a practice facility that is on par with any NBA facility out there.” 

Sportico’s June valuations had the Wings at $75 million, 11th in the 12-team league.

BSE Global, the parent company of the Nets and Liberty, recently got an investment from the Koch family that values the company at $6 billion. The New York Post reported in June that the stake valued the Liberty at “roughly” $200 million. Sportico’s estimates had the Liberty at $130 million, just behind the $140 million Las Vegas Aces and $135 million Seattle Storm.

Those numbers may be already outdated with the league’s new $2.2 billion media-rights deals.

The Wings’ valuation surge comes less than a month after Angel City FC of the NWSL became the most valuable women’s sports franchise in the country after a $120 million investment by Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, valued the team at $250 million. 

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