The WNBA stands to lose $40 million this season as NBA investors grow increasingly impatient

While the WNBA has sold-out crowds for the finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx, the league's owners will not see a return on their investment in the foreseeable future, sources familiar with the situation said.

The NBA owns almost 60 percent of the league.

When you add up NBA owners' personal stakes in WNBA teams and the WNBA itself, the amount rises to 75 percent, said a source with direct knowledge of the numbers.

According to sources, NBA team owners have invested hundreds of millions in the WNBA since its founding in 1996.

“The WNBA owes so much to the NBA that we won’t see a windfall in the next few years,” an NBA team executive told The Post.

This season, the WNBA will lose $40 million, slightly more than the $50 million projected by several media outlets months ago, but still a loss, sources said.

Starting with the 2026 season, the WNBA will receive up to $2.2 billion over 11 years under the new basketball media deals.

That likely represents an annual increase of at least $100 million over what the WNBA currently takes in from national media contracts, which is about $60 million.

The WNBA will also expand its regular season and playoff schedule to generate more revenue.

However, players are expected to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement by November 1st, and if they do, that means salaries are likely to increase, impacting the league's potential $60 million in profits Year 2026 – the $100 – would reduce M's television revenue, turning the projected loss of $40 million into a profit of $60 million.

“We don’t even get any money from the WNBA expansion fees,” the NBA team manager said. NBA owners see money from NBA expansion fees.

That is, when Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob agreed last year to pay a $50 million expansion fee over 10 years to create a WNBA team and Raptors minority owner Larry Tanenbaum, who paid $115 million this year for a Toronto team and a new training center, paid the nothing. The proceeds went to the NBA owners.

Some NBA owners want more transparency from NBA commissioner Adam Silver about when they will see a return of the suddenly popular WNBA.

According to sources, New York Knicks owner James Dolan pushed Silver behind the scenes.

“There are a lot of owners who see Dolan as their hero because he pushes Silver on these questions, but Silver isn't giving us answers,” the NBA team executive said.

Dolan declined to comment.

“The WNBA’s financial information, including detailed reports of revenue and expenses, is provided to both the NBA Board of Governors and the WNBA Board of Governors,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass told The Post, declining to comment further.

“That’s kind of nonsense and they’re consolidating it with NBA financials,” the team executive said. “By consolidating numbers, you don’t have to break any of them out.”

Game 2 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday averaged 1.34 million viewers on ABC, according to ESPN. Last season, the NBA Finals averaged just over 12 million viewers per game.