According to three people with knowledge of the details, who were given secrecy because the subject is personal, Allen &amp, Company has been hired to help the expansion of a 16th company. On Wednesday, the WNBA unveiled Portland as its 15th staff with the Bhathal household as entrepreneurs.
Allen &amp, Company, a New York-based store investment bank, served as the team’s financial advisor when it raised$ 75 million in corporate capital in 2022. The firm, led by Steve Greenberg, Terry Morris and Mike Melnitzky, represented the buyer ( Buffalo Bills ) or seller ( Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos ) in the three NFL transactions before the Washington Commanders ‘ deal last year.
In the NBA, Allen &amp, Co. represented the buyers of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2014 and the Brooklyn Nets in 2018. Last month, the bank brokered Willow Bay and Bob Iger’s purchase of a controlling stake in the NWSL’s Angel City FC at a$ 250 million valuation.

Reps for Allen &amp, Co. and the NBA did not respond to requests for comment.
The WNBA’s 2022 capital increase went toward building the team’s system, positioning it to take advantage of the interest this year’s arrival of Caitlin Clark and a stored rookie class would take. The WNBA increased the size of its marketing division from one to 25 people, adding its second CMO. The group also increased the number of its engineers and social media workers, as well as the first main growth officer.
The WNBA has set information by nearly every metric this year, including participation, TV rankings and income. The Las Vegas Aces made the announcement that their 2025 time tickets were sold out last year, while the growth Golden State Valkyries revealed 17, 000 season ticket deposits ahead of their first season in 2025.
The WNBA growth company added to the Golden State and Toronto in the previous 11 months is Portland. The Atlanta Dream was the final group that was added before that in 2008. Both Golden State and Toronto agreed to pay$ 50 million in expansion fees, with the latter agreeing to spend$ 115 million, including a new practice facility, and other expenses. Portland’s total commitment is$ 125 million.
There has been some skepticism in the marketplace that the recent expansion additions were slippery and less than open, and there has been some complaining about this. The WNBA has long coveted team in Toronto and the Bay Area, and the pairing of Joe Lacob and Larry Tannenbaum, a touchdown, was the opposite. Portugal had also been a team’s front-runner.
With many cities competing for the title of the final WNBA expansion franchise in the near future, the 16th company will likely be more challenging. By 2028, director Cathy Engelbert has stated that she wants 16 teams. Internal Circle Sports was recently used by the NWSL to expand.
With the majority of the WNBA offer completed, which represents a 500 % increase annually over the previous one, the next company will generally know the conditions of its national Television profits. Denver, Miami, Nashville and Philadelphia have all been floated as probable places for the 16th gambling. The cost is anticipated to become significantly higher than the recently increased costs.

In May, Sportico valued the common WNBA group at$ 96 million.