Currently riding a historic wave of popularity, the WNBA carved out a new national TV deal valued at more than $2.2 billion over 11 years, tipping off with the 2026 season.
The contract will pay the league an average of about $200 million a season, about four times as much as the current $50 million-a-season rate. (The deal was first reported by The New York Times sports news platform The Athletic.)
The Walt Disney Co., CBS, Amazon and Ion will remain WNBA broadcast partners, but the league has the options to add more partners going forward, potentially rendering the new deal as much as six times larger than the current agreement that expires with the 2025 season.
The league can add two more rights packages under the new agreement, which could bring in an additional $60 million each season.
Notably, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in April her goal was to merely double the league's current national TV deal.
The deal was negotiated by the National Basketball Association on behalf of the WNBA.
On Tuesday, the NBA Board of Governors approved the NBA’s new 11-year, $76 billion national media rights deals with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon. However, the arrangements cannot be made official until clarity is worked out with the incumbent left out in the cold, Warner Bros. Discovery, which is still insisting it has the ability to match any competing deal.
WNBA Players Association president Terry Jackson released this statement: “We have wondered for months how the NBA would value the WNBA in its media rights deal. With a reportedly $75 billion deal on the table, the league is in control of its own destiny. More precisely, the NBA controls the destiny of the WNBA. We look forward to learning how the NBA arrived at a $200 million valuation — if initial reports are accurate or even close. Neither the NBA nor the WNBA can deny that in the last few years, we have seen unprecedented growth across all metrics, the players continue to demonstrate their commitment to building the brand, and that the fans keep showing up. There is no excuse to undervalue the WNBA again.”
