The Women's National Basketball Association, America's top women's basketball league. It celebrated its 25th anniversary season in 2021.
In the past decade women's basketball has become far easier to find and watch. In 2015 ESPN televised only 11 games in the season; by the mid-2020s more than 175 games were being televised or streamed each year. Tens of millions of viewers tune in over a regular season. Games broadcast on ESPN attract an average of 1.2m American viewers; 1.5m watch equivalent men's league matches across all channels. Men make up 60% of the WNBA's audience, in part because the league plays when the NBA does not.
A new media-rights deal worth $200m a year is set to take effect in 2026, making the WNBA the most valuable women's sports league in the world, surpassing the National Women's Soccer League. New teams in Portland, San Francisco and Toronto are to join by 2026; the league plans to add five more beyond those already announced.
WNBA players earn around $120,000 a year on average, compared with $10m in the NBA. Unlike in the NBA, pay rises are not linked to revenue growth, so higher ticket sales do not filter down to players.
The NBA is the majority owner of the WNBA and claims the women's league still loses money, though it does not publish accounts. A media deal unveiled in 2024 could boost revenue to $500m. The New York Liberty was sold for about $15m in 2019; by 2025 an equity sale valued it at $450m.
Attendance has climbed to record levels, up 50% from ten years ago.
Caitlin Clark, a point guard for Indiana Fever, scored 122 three-pointers in her debut season in 2024, after finishing college in Iowa. She earned $11m in sponsorship deals. Paige Bueckers, a point guard, joined the Dallas Wings for the 2025 season, boosting the team's ticket sales by almost 350%. The Minnesota Lynx have won four titles, a joint record.
Some men who fear that they are playing second fiddle aren't in the band at all.