‘Just win, baby’: On-court success is turning Las Vegas Aces into model for

Three weeks before the Las Vegas Aces won their second straight WNBA championship, the league announced it was adding a 13th franchise in time for the 2025 season.

The news might have led Aces owner Mark Davis to break out some additional dance moves.

Given that Davis paid a reported $2 million to buy the Aces from MGM Resorts International in 2021, the team’s valuation in the eyes of sports business experts has dramatically shot up in just two years — especially after the owners of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors agreed to pay a reported $50 million expansion fee to operate the league’s newest team.

“You would think that a two-time defending WNBA champion would have a greater franchise value than an expansion team,” said Patrick Rishe, a business professor at Washington University in St. Louis and the director of the school’s sports business program.

Rishe said other factors that determine franchise value weigh in the Aces’ favor beyond last month’s title-clinching victory over the New York Liberty. He considers the team one of the most valuable franchises in the WNBA.

“Chief among them is the revenue-generating capabilities of the asset,” Rishe said, adding that the Aces “have built up a large fan base in Las Vegas” and often fill the 24-year-old, 12,000-seat Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay. WNBA television viewership was up 21 percent this season, and this year’s Finals averaged 728,000 viewers, a 36 percent increase from last season and the most-watched Finals in 20 years.

Beyond the team’s basketball prowess and the civic pride associated with winning a championship, the Aces have become a success story off the hardwood. Spurred by a consistent investment by Davis, owner of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, the team has attracted major celebrity support (including legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady becoming the team’s minority owner) and has become a model of how to successfully market and increase the visibility of a women’s professional sports team.

But all of that success wouldn’t be possible without the team following the legendary advice of Davis’ father, Al Davis: Just win, baby.

“The commitment of our fans is pretty phenomenal,” Aces President Nikki Fargas said. “We know everybody is a fan when you’re winning championships. But this community will show its support and get behind you if you bring a quality, professional sports team into the market.”

UNLV economics professor Bill Robinson, who specializes in sports, gaming and entertainment, said the Aces also benefit as one of three WNBA teams not affiliated with an NBA franchise.

“Some WNBA teams are just the [public relations] arm of the NBA team,” Robinson said. “They have not caught on in their market. There are questions about how the league is going to evolve right now. Some teams would like to break away. But you need a rich, interested individual who’s going to come in and make them competitive.”

Robinson…