It’s practically a given for leagues and owners to cry poverty at some point during contract talks.
David Stern famously did it in 2011, saying the NBA was losing money. Adam Silver raised similar concerns four years later. Major League Baseball’s current contract doesn’t expire until the end of next season, yet Rob Manfred is already putting the idea out there.
The implication of this kind of hand-wringing, of course, is that the leagues can’t possibly have the money needed to give the players what they’re asking. But it’s usually more negotiating tactic than reality, a way of moving the bar lower.
The WNBA won’t have that luxury this time around.
Sportico released its latest valuation of the 13 WNBA teams on Tuesday, and the numbers are jaw-dropping. The Golden State Valkyries lead the league with a $500 million valuation, which is a whopping 10 times what owners Joe Lacob and Peter Gruber paid to get the expansion team just two years ago.
