WNBA Expected To Lose $50 Million This Season Despite Popularity Bump: Report

Despite a massive uptick in popularity and interest, the WNBA is expected to continue its streak of losing money, according to the Washington Post. 

The league has operated at a loss in every year of its existence and survives by being subsidized by the WNBA. This year, the Post reports that the league is going to lose about $50 million. 

"On average [we’ve lost] over $10 million every year we’ve operated," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told The Associated Press in 2018 when speaking about WNBA finances. 

This is the 28th year of the league's existence, which means the NBA has sunk over $250 million into the league over the past nearly 3 decades with no return on investment. 

According to a report from the Washington Post, the WNBA is expected to lose around $50 million this season, even though ratings and attendance are up.

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Now that the WNBA is gaining popularity, it's looking to break free from the NBA to sell its own TV rights. 

It's unclear how that might look, but it seems unfair not to cut the NBA heavily into that deal, since the NBA is really the only reason that the WNBA came into existence and certainly the only reason it still exists despite massive losses over 25+ years. 

"The truth is, this league would be hard-pressed to exist without the NBA," one anonymous WNBA team executive told the Washington Post. 

That's an understatement. The NBA has always funded the WNBA, so they could show that they care about women's basketball. Losing the money was worth it because the WNBA provided excellent PR for the league. 

I can't imagine another company taking hundreds of millions of dollars in losses on a business and continuing to operate that business for over two decades. 

Now, we have