The WNBA Needs to Get It Together
The WNBA is experiencing record growth and popularity, but faces internal and external controversies regarding player safety and social issues. The league is struggling to manage these tensions as it expands.
Why it matters
It captures the growing pains of a professional sports league navigating rapid commercial success alongside intense cultural polarization.
The league’s unprecedented success has come with unprecedented controversy. Something has to change.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Brian Spurlock / Icon Sportswire / Getty; Ihor Reshetniak / Getty; Michael Hickey / Getty. August 21, 2026, 7 AM ET Share Save Let’s start with the good: The WNBA is more popular than ever. During the offseason, the league and the WNBA Players Association reached a landmark collective-bargaining agreement resulting in a 400 percent increase, on average, in player salaries . The average franchise valuation has soared 59 percent in the past year ; the Golden State Valkyries were appraised at a league-high $850 million. Between now and 2030, the WNBA will add three new teams, in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. And the WNBA saw a 44 percent jump in ratings for this year’s All-Star Game—which, for the first time ever, hosted more in-person fans than the NBA’s .
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