The Golden State Valkyries are the newest addition to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and are also the most valuable team in the league’s history.
In their first season, the new 2025 Bay Area Western Conference team’s net worth was over $500 Million. According to the https://Valkyries.com website, this amount surpasses the previous most valuable WNBA team, the New York Liberty, by more than 15 million dollars.
Valkyries starting guard Veronica Burton told KPIX Channel 5 that she is excited to be on the newest team in the franchise.
“I knew we were going to do something big this year,” Burton said. “We all want to win, and having this many supporters has truly been something special.”
Since the WNBA started in 1997, the Sacramento Monarchs who folded in 2009 was the last team in Northern California. The league remained steady with 12 teams until 2025 when the Valkyries became the thirteenth team in the league.
According to a report in The Athletic Golden State Warriors Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, finalized an agreement to start a WNBA expansion team in San Francisco. On October 5, 2023, they agreed to a franchise expansion fee of $50 million, to be paid over the next ten years.
On January 30, 2024, the plans for the new team to begin play in 2025 were reported along with the hiring of Jess Smith as the team’s president. Within a few hours of the news, there were over 2,000 season tickets sold.
On April 16, 2024, the new expansion team website named Ohemaa Nyanin as the General Manager along with Nataline Nakase as the team’s first Head Coach. Before the team’s name was announced, over 6,000 season ticket sales had already been made.
In May 2024, the team was officially named the Golden State Valkyries. The team selected violet, gold, black and white as their team colors that were revealed along with the team’s logo.
Inside the Valkyries “V” shaped logo is a depiction of the Bay Bridge, symbolizing the connection between Oakland where the team’s headquarters is located, and San Francisco where they play their home games. The logo’s design features cables doubling as wings and a tower replicating a sword. The thirteen lines split from the sword, as wings, represent the Valkyries as the thirteenth team in the league. The five triangles inside each wing represent the ten players on the court.
In December 2024, the new Bay Area team participated in the WNBA’s 2025 season draft. As the team was established this year, the Valkyries have sold out every home game inside the San Francisco Chase Center Arena. The team’s adoring fans have affectionately re-named the Bay Area venue as “Ballhalla,” noted the website.
“I like the direction we are going,” Burton said. “For me to be starting it off in this jersey means everything.”