The Golden State Valkyries, one of the WNBA’s two new expansion teams, have taken more than 15,000 season ticket deposits, the most for a U.S. women’s sports franchise before its first season.
Jess Smith, the Valkyries’ president, said the NWSL’s San Diego Wave held the prior record at “close to 5,000,” when the team launched in 2021.
Season ticket deposits cost $25 per seat, according to the Valkyries’ website, which—after 15,000 deposits—yields $375,000. The team, which will start play in the 2025 season, previously said it eclipsed 12,000 on May 29. Home games will be played at the Chase Center, where the NBA’s Warriors play their home games. The $1.4 billion arena opened in 2019 and seats around 18,000.
“It is nice, to be very candid, to be a part of the ownership group that owns the facility [you play in,]” Smith said in a video interview. “That’s something we will certainly have an advantage from [in terms of] availability which we hope to see replicated throughout the league.”
The Golden State Warriors ownership group, led by Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, paid a record $50 million expansion fee for the Valkyries, the W’s first new franchise since the Atlanta Dream joined the league in 2008. (The Tulsa Shock relocated to Dallas in 2016 and became the Wings, and the San Antonio Stars relocated to Las Vegas in 2018 and became the Aces.)
Smith, the former head of revenue for NWSL’s Angel City FC, acknowledged that newer teams of the women’s soccer league did not reach this level of season ticket deposits. She said her former employer tallied 3,500 season ticket deposits when the team launched in 2020.
“I don’t believe [any women’s sports franchise came] close to 10,000,” Smith said.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert confirmed the league was discussing a possible schedule expansion from 40 games to 44 before the WNBA All-Star Game on July 20 which saw Team WNBA defeat USA Basketball, 117-109.
“From the commercial side, we love it,” Smith said of the potential expansion. “That means more basketball for our fans and knowing that ahead of time is great, we can build it into our season ticketing packages. That’s a lot of basketball not even counting the preseason and postseason … my hope for the league is just to continue to expand.”
That decision to play an expanded schedule would come on the heels of the WNBA’s 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal with Disney, Amazon and NBC. The W’s media deal was part of the NBA’s $76 billion media rights deal with those networks. It represents a 6x jump from the WNBA’s prior ESPN deal.
Following the Valkyries’ entry to the W will be the Toronto WNBA franchise which was awarded to the city on May 23. Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Sports Ventures is committing $115 million for the franchise will begin play in 2026. Engelbert’s goal is to have 16 teams in the league by 2028.
Sportico values the average WNBA franchise at $96 million with the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces being the league’s most valuable at $140 million.