Names like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and A’ja Wilson are not just circulating, but dominating sports and media conversations. Even though these names carry much of the WNBA’s success, the growth of the league beyond these athletes is remarkable.
The 2025 season proved that the league’s growth is not solely due to its biggest names. With the success of its newest franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA has demonstrated they can sustain audiences and establish a place for themselves in the sports media landscape despite expansion conflicts.
Valkyries fan Shayna Blum ‘29 shared her insight as a California native saying, “There’s an underlying appreciation for basketball [in the Bay Area]. Despite that background, of the Bay Area being known for basketball, the Valkyries…created their own fanbase.”
Expansion Wins
This past summer, the WNBA announced that three more cities with large media markets were awarded expansion. We can expect to see Cleveland take the court again in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia, a city that’s never had a WNBA franchise, make a debut in 2030 with the unveiling of the Xfinity Live arena. Fans can expect two new cities in the 2026 season, the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire.
18 teams will participate in the league by 2030. There is pressure to expand to cities like Houston, which had a successful WNBA franchise that won multiple titles before being disbanded in 2008.
Blum mentioned that the new franchise in her city drew her to the WNBA and that she began to follow the league as a whole. “Just having that connection to my city and having pride for your home team is really important to a lot of people to draw them into wanting to watch the WNBA,” said Blum.
The Valkyries’ record-breaking attendance, their achievement as the first expansion team to compete in the playoffs, and their recognition with both Coach of The Year (COTY) and Most Improved Player (MIP) honors, signal a new level of prosperity for incoming franchises.
A big part of that on-court success comes from how the team didn’t rely on a star player, but distributed the effort equally between everyone. According to the Valkyries roster list, each member has contributed fairly equally in points, assists, and rebounds per game.
“Even though [the Valkyries] had an all star player (Kayla Thorton) and Most Improved Player (Veronica Burton), it wasn’t like the success of the team didn’t lie in those two people’s hands. It was a very even distribution of points between players,” said Blum.
But as expansion success accelerates, not every city is celebrating.
Expansion Conflicts
Alongside these wins, expansion has also sparked tensions like the ongoing battle with the Connecticut Sun.
Shortly after the league announced the cities awarded expansion, Cathy Englebert, WNBA commissioner, announced without approval, that the Connecticut Sun would be moving to Boston.
For context, the Connecticut Sun is currently unable to compete with the WNBA’s current influx of money. This is caused by a lack of player resources such as private practice facilities. Hartford is also a smaller market compared to bigger cities that are looking to buy in.
However, the WNBA would not accept Boston’s $325 million offer because the city was never involved in the expansion process. Even cities like Houston were left out. The Sun fought back by saying “hands off our team” and putting forth a bid of their own to keep the team after months of tug-of-war.
This past week Senator Richard Blumenthal and Connecticut attorney General William Tong sent certified letters to Englebert strongly urging the WNBA to “refrain from any further actions that would interfere with the State’s efforts to keep the Sun where it belongs, in Connecticut.”
However, the league would not accept the Sun’s offer either, indicating they are planning on buying the Sun and moving the team to a city of their choice. This could result in a potential antitrust lawsuit against the WNBA.
That being said, this battle conveys how much the league has grown even in the past five years. The league went from relying on smaller markets like Connecticut and cities without NBA teams like Vegas to now being fought over by the largest media markets.
Before the 2025 season started, it was expected that this year, the WNBA would have surpassed viewership of Caitlin Clark’s rookie season. It ended up being the most watched since the league’s debut in 1996.
“I definitely think the Valkyries’ success flipped a narrative on how successful an expansion team can be…I think the Valkyries’ overarching success definitely will kind of alleviate some of the doubt for the future expansion teams,” said Blum.
The Bay Area’s success proves that expansion can anchor the WNBA’s future because the league is showing they are a worthy investment. Expansion has become more than a business move, but a cultural shift, setting a precedent that growth is no longer hypothetical: it’s here.
