The Golden State Valkyries sold out every home game in the 2025 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season, from their season opener on May 16 to their final game on Sept. 17. Fans arrive at Valkyries’ home games in droves, ready to cheer and ride the emotional rollercoaster of the game. In the past year, the Valkyries have gone from an unknown WNBA expansion franchise to a playoff-qualifying team with a tight-knit fan community.
The Valkyries began organizing events for their fan base before the competitive season started. One block party on May 18, 2024 included performances by popular Bay Area artists Kehlani, P-Lo and E-40, and thousands of fans — ranging from young children to the mayors of San Francisco and Oakland — showed up. Since the season began, there have been other celebrations outside of Chase Center, including the egg-hatching of their newly announced mascot, Violet the Raven.
The bonding opportunities have brought together a variety of San Franciscan fans. “I’ve never seen the city bond like it has with the Valkyries,” Remy Kauffman ’26 said. “We’ve seen in their first year that … they’re packing Chase Center.”
At home games at Chase Center, attendees’ moods are up. “I’ve been to a bunch of Warriors games, but [Valkyries games] just feel more open, less argumentative and more welcoming,” Ari Wayne ’27 said.
Bethany Hellerich, UrbanX Labs director and Valkyries season ticket holder, enjoys how welcoming Chase Center feels. “We were able to become actual friends with the people sitting around us,” she said. Now, a group of season ticket holders in her section regularly text in a group chat.
Many Valkyries fans are drawn to the team because of their emphasis on women’s empowerment. The Valkyries have vocally supported women’s rights on social media. In a lavender-hued Instagram post from March 1, the team celebrated the beginning of women’s empowerment month.
Even the Valkyries’ signature color — Valkyrie Violet — represents this. According to an article posted on the Valkyries’ website, the team’s violet color is symbolic of power, ambition, nobility and women’s empowerment. “[Violet is] a more feminine-presenting color,” Hellerich said. “I actually really enjoy that.”
The Valkyries’ color’s significance is not limited to the women’s movement. Lavender was once a color used against LGBTQ+ people, but the queer community later claimed it as a color of resistance. “Talking about queer people and lavender makes a lot of sense,” Hellerich said. “That connotation is pretty cool.”
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Spanish teacher Raina Mast — who co-hosts a podcast called “Valkyries, Say Less!” — feels welcomed by the Valkyries fan base. “The WNBA didn’t [use to] embrace queerness in a way that made it feel as good as it feels now,” Mast said.
The Valkyries have found ways to continuously support queer community members. Their first promotional video was headlined by Kehlani, who identifies as a lesbian. The Valkyries also had a month-long Pride celebration, unlike most WNBA teams’ single game celebration.
The WNBA has sold the most tickets ever this season — in part due to the Valkyries’ committed fan base. To sell out every game, they have worked to appeal to fans throughout the Bay Area. “To plop a professional women’s basketball team into the Bay was … such a smart and creative blessing to us,” Mast said.