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The Golden State Valkyries have yet to play their first WNBA game, but they’re already the first team in league history to sell 10,000 season tickets.
“This community has shown up, and then some to create this milestone,” team president Jess Smith said to Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen. “This is something that we knew was possible and really just signifies the beginning of our journey in a way that will set a trajectory for the WNBA moving forward.”
The WNBA announced in October 2023 it was putting an expansion franchise in San Francisco, and the Valkyries’ name and branding arrived last May.
Fans wasted no time in getting behind the organization. Golden State said in November it had received more than 20,000 season-ticket deposits. No other women’s sports team had ever eclipsed 15,000 deposits.
This is one area in which staging their home games at Chase Center is a big advantage.
The two-time WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces announced they sold out all of their season tickets for 2025, the second straight year in which that happened. The Aces play at Michelob Ultra Arena, though, which has a much smaller capacity (12,000) than Chase Center (18,064).
The WNBA’s hard salary cap prohibits the Valkyries from spending their way to success out of the gate. Between how the expansion draft and free agency shook out, Golden State could finish with one of the league’s worst records in 2025.
In terms of their overall infrastructure, though, the Valkyries have the potential over time to become a juggernaut.
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