The Golden State Valkyries are one of the best stories in sports. Just two years after joining the WNBA as an expansion team, the Valkyries have beaten the Atlanta Dream (in seven games) to win their first-ever WNBA Championship.
But winning isn’t what makes the Valkyries special. The Valkyries are special because their ownership group paid a $50 million expansion fee, then leveraged assets they already owned and controlled to build a juggernaut generating $100 million in annual revenue. The team has sold out 44 straight home games and is now valued at $1 billion — a WNBA record and a 20x return on the expansion fee.
Here’s how the Valkyries did it (and why their playbook will be hard to copy)…
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