The Liberty’s valuation has tripled over the last two years as momentum around women’s sports continues to soar.
The Liberty ranked second in Sportico’s annual WNBA franchise valuation report, released Friday, with a valuation of $600 million.
That’s a major jump from the franchise’s reported valuation of $200 million in June 2024.
New York trails only the Golden State Valkyries, who are valued at a whopping $850 million, which is believed to be the highest-valued women’s sports franchise in the world.
The Indiana Fever ($560 million), Seattle Storm ($425 million) and Phoenix Mercury ($420 million) round out the top five highest-valued franchises.
As a league, the average franchise value jumped from $269 million in 2025 to $427 million this year.
Sabrina Ionescu hadn’t seen the report before Friday’s practice but she wasn’t surprised to hear about the skyrocketing franchise valuations.
“It’s amazing,” Ionescu said. “It’s kind of a testament to us, this organization, the fans, our owners and the investment that they continue to put in the product that they see on the court. It takes a lot of people for that to happen … I think we know our worth and what we’re doing and how every year it just continues to build the business. But that’s pretty cool to see for everyone to kind of be able to see it like that.”
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton shared that sentiment, saying the new valuation is “great.”
“The numbers don’t lie,” she said. “I think that we continue to build and it’s just gonna continue to get better.”
Clara Wu Tsai, who bought the team with her husband, Joe, in 2019, has not been shy about her lofty desire to make the Liberty the first women’s sports franchise valued at $1 billion within the next 10 years.
New York is more than halfway there based on Sportico’s calculations.
Injury updates
Jonquel Jones was out sick Friday, coach Chris DeMarco said.
Meanwhile, Satou Sabally, who missed Tuesday’s practice as part of her ramp-up program, was back in the mix.
The Liberty are taking a cautious approach in preparing Sabally for the season after she was sidelined for most of the offseason because of lingering concussion symptoms.
Sabally returned to basketball activities in March but didn’t play in last week’s preseason opener against the Fever.
“We’re just building her back up right now,” said DeMarco, who anticipates Sabally playing in Sunday’s preseason finale in Connecticut. “This is just part of the process for all of our players.”
Other players who are gradually easing into the season are Laney-Hamilton and Rebecca Allen. Both were limited participants in Friday’s practice.
“Just making sure we’re staying on top of everything as I’m getting back out there,” said Laney-Hamilton, who missed all of last season because of knee surgery.
DeMarco said Allen (reconditioning) hasn’t been a full participant in practice yet “but she’s getting there.”
Allen won’t play Sunday, according to DeMarco.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
