Women's sports expansion fees have exploded. How expensive are they?
Expansion fees in the WNBA and NWSL have climbed rapidly in recent years.
Two new WNBA teams began play this past weekend: the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire. When those franchises were announced in 2024, their reported expansion fees were among the highest in women’s professional sports history ($50 million for Toronto and $75 million for Portland). But in the two years since, expansion fees have skyrocketed.
In 2025, the NWSL announced a pair of clubs in Denver and Atlanta. Denver’s fee was listed at $110 million, while Atlanta reached $165 million. In the WNBA last year, a trio of franchises was announced in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
Per Sportico , each franchise paid a record sum of $250 million. And then finally, the NWSL announced in April 2026 that a new club would be formed in Columbus for the league’s 18th franchise. Per reports , Columbus’ fee sat at $205 million, a record for the NWSL.
Compared to its men’s counterpart, the WNBA’s $250 million fees are just behind what the NBA’s Toronto and Vancouver expansion franchises dished out in 1993 and 1994 . The NBA’s Canadian pairing paid $125 million each, or around $275 million in June 2025 dollars. The latest WNBA fees far outstrip those of earlier NBA expansion teams.