The Golden State Valkyries Are Big Business: How The WNBA’s Newest Team Is Changing the Game
The 29th WNBA season is underway, and the league has grown for the first time since 2008 with the addition of its 13th team: the Golden State Valkyries. The addition of the Valkyries marks the WNBA’s first expansion in over 15 years, since the Atlanta Dream joined in 2008.
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But this isn’t just any expansion: the Valkyries are the first domino to fall in a new growth era for the league. Since the announcement of the Valkyries, the WNBA has unveiled more teams, including the Toronto Tempo and a Portland-based franchise.
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All that said, the roll-out of the Valkyries has been a special case study when it comes to starting up a new professional franchise in this golden growth era of women’s sports that stands on business.
Ownership & Investment
When it comes to team leadership, the team is backed by the ownership group of the Golden State Warriors, who paid a $50M expansion fee to bring a WNBA franchise to the Bay Area. From day one, the Valkyries have been equipped with world-class investment, stakeholders, resources and infrastructure.
Key Leaders
One of the first moves of the Valkyries owners was to bring in a President to lead business operations. To fill this role, the team tapped Jess Smith – a seasoned and talented sports industry professional – who most notably led the massive sponsorship effort for ACFC before joining the Valkyries. Once in place, Smith brought on Natalie Nakase as the inaugural coach of the Valkyries and Ohemaa Nyanin as the team’s General Manager.
Brand Building
When it came time to name the team and create a logo, the Valkyries demonstrated incredible intentionality. The name draws inspiration from Norse mythology, as Valkyries are “legendary warrior women who are fearless and unwavering.” The brand itself was built after the team used surveys and social media to listen to input from fans. The “Valkyrie Violet” was intentionally selected to symbolize power, ambition, nobility, and women’s empowerment, and the “V” shape of the logo represents the V in Valkyries and “victory.” The creative design elements within the crest were also all very intentional, with nods to the Bay Bridge and a Valkyries sword with 13 lines that represent the Valkyries becoming the 13th active team in the league.
Fan Demand
Before playing a single game, the Valkyries made history by becoming the first professional women’s sports team in history to surpass 15,000 season-ticket deposits. That hype translated directly into a record-setting debut during the 2025 WNBA Opening Weekend. The team played its first game in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,064 at the Chase Center, which is the highest attendance ever for a WNBA expansion team’s first game – and worth noting, is right in-line with typical attendance at Golden State Warriors NBA games.
Facilities
When it comes to facilities, the franchise is making sure the team has a state-of-the-art performance complex. The team is redesigning the former site of the Warriors Headquarters in Oakland to be adapted specifically for elite women athletes. The complex is the fourth WNBA-dedicated performance center in the league, and includes 31,800 square feet of training and development space, two full-size basketball courts, a locker room, weight room, training room, hot and cold pools, and a dedicated player lounge.
Sponsorship
From a commercial perspective, the Valkyries have quickly found success within the WNBA, welcoming a significant number of national brand partners as Founding and Official partners, that include Chase, Sephora, Kaiser Permanente, United Airlines, CarMax, PG&E, Rakuten, La Crema Wines, OLLY and more.
a culture of success
Regardless of their play on the court, the Valkyries have already found success off of the court. Team President Jess Smith recently said in an interview, “We want to be the most successful women’s sports organization in the world.
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The Valkyries are not only helping shape the future of the WNBA; they’re redefining what’s possible for all of women’s sports by building a business and investing with intentionality.
MEET CAROLINE FITZGERALD
Caroline Fitzgerald is a contributing writer for TOGETHXR.com and a leading expert in women’s sports business and gender equity. A Sports Business Journal "2024 Power Player in Women's Sports," she covers the forces shaping the industry’s next era of growth.
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