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Forbes’ Dec. 17, 2025 ranking of the world’s most valuable women’s sports teams is a welcome reality check for anyone who’s been told that markets don’t care about women’s athletics. The piece finds 25 women’s franchises each worth nine figures, adding up to roughly $5.6 billion, with the WNBA occupying the top five spots and all 12 of its teams inside the top 25. This is the product of real fans buying tickets, streaming games, and backing brands with their wallets—not kumbaya press releases from celebrity elites.
Leading the pack is the New York Liberty at an estimated $400 million, followed by the Indiana Fever and Seattle Storm, numbers that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. The surge driven in part by the “Caitlin Clark effect,” rising TV ratings, and booming attendance proves a simple conservative truth: when people want something, entrepreneurs meet the demand and value follows. That reality also exposes the hollow rhetoric of those who insist success must be handed down from institutions rather than earned in open markets.
Forbes’ list doesn’t ignore soccer or Europe—Angel City, Kansas City Current, Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea all make the cut—showing that investment in women’s sports is a global business decision, not merely a domestic talking point. Big-name owners and corporate sponsors are stepping up where opportunity exists, which should please anyone who believes in private capital, not government mandates, as the engine of growth. If some ownership groups wrap their logos in wearables of virtue signaling, the market will still reward the teams that actually draw fans and build sustainable revenue.
We shouldn’t forget how far we’ve come: women’s franchises were once “giveaways” tacked onto men’s team sales, and now they command serious valuations and independent investor interest. That turnaround is a tribute to coaches, players, staff and fans who stuck with these clubs through lean years while others wrote them off. Conservatives should celebrate that trajectory because it’s a textbook example of entrepreneurship, resilience, and the power of consumers to reshape industries without bureaucratic fixes.
At the same time, the rise invites sober conservatism about bubbles and governance. Average valuations around $224 million and splashy new expansion entries create temptation for overreach; union negotiations and political theater could threaten the momentum if mishandled. Owners and leagues would do well to keep their eye on the fundamentals—attendance, sponsorships, sensible contracts—and let the private sector determine winners and losers.
This moment is an opportunity for patriotic Americans who believe in free enterprise to put their support where their convictions are: buy a ticket, stream a game, invest in a local club, and let success be measured at the gate. Women’s sports are proving they deserve a place in the market, not a pedestal in the press room, and conservatives should back that achievement loudly and proudly while warning against turning a thriving cultural phenomenon into another lab for politics.
