How Does Storm’s Franchise Value Stack Up to Other WNBA Teams?
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The Seattle Storm are one of the top-5 most valuable women’s sports franchises in the world heading into critical CBA negotiations during the 2026 offseason. Credit: John Mac [/caption]
The WNBA is growing at a rapid pace in both popularity and team values, and the Seattle Storm are squarely in the middle of it.
But that’s also creating issues. It’s no surprise that the players want to be paid more with the rapid increase in franchise valuations, and that is stalling out CBA negotiations. A lot of uncertainty about the cadence of the 2026 offseason has resulted from that delay.
The WNBPA and the league have until Jan. 9 to agree on a new CBA. If they extend the deadline again, the offseason will become extremely congested with an expansion draft for two teams and an unprecedented amount of unrestricted free agents.
When you look at the values of franchises around the league, the players’ agenda makes sense.
Storm are third-most valuable women’s sports team
The Storm, which are primarily owned by Lisa Brummel, Ginny Gilder and Dawn Trudeau, are valued at $330 million, according to a December estimate by Forbes. That ranks third in all of women’s sports behind the New York Liberty ($400 million) and Indiana Fever ($370 million).
Here’s the rest of the top 15, per Forbes.
- New York Liberty ($400 million)
- Indiana Fever ($370 million)
- Seattle Storm ($330 million)
- Las Vegas Aces ($310 million)
- Phoenix Mercury ($300 million)
- Angel City FC, NWSL ($280 million)
- Kansas City Current, NWSL ($275 million)
- Arsenal, Women’s Super League ($260 million)
- Barcelona, Liga F ($255 million)
- Chelsea, Women’s Super League ($250 million)
- Dallas Wings ($250 million)
- Chicago Sky ($240 million)
- Los Angeles Sparks ($235 million)
- Minnesota Lynx ($230 million)
- Washington Mystics ($205 million)
The Connecticut Sun and Atlanta Dream were just outside the top 15, but still made it into the top 25.
Seattle’s placement isn’t necessarily surprising considering the franchise’s history of success and star players. That doesn’t make it any less impressive, as the Storm are in a much smaller market and still competing with the Liberty, which is in the opposite type of economic environment.
The Storm own four WNBA championships, which were won between 2004-20. They haven’t been championship-caliber for the last five seasons, but they have brought excitement back to Climate Pledge Arena with the addition of Dominique Malonga.
Assuming a 2026 season happens, which isn’t a guarantee at this point, the Storm are only going to get more exciting via the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft. That could be another franchise-altering selection that injects life into the franchise.
It’s interesting to see how many WNBA teams are above the $200 million mark. There’s still a massive gap between WNBA franchises and the most valuable NBA teams (the Golden State Warriors are first at $11 billion, per Forbes), but the difference is smaller than it used to be.
When the CBA is finalized and WNBA players are making more money than ever before, team valuations may skyrocket again. The Storm will still be right in the middle of the highest-valued teams, especially if they can get back to contending for championships.
