SAN FRANCISCO — “Roaracle” is back. But it’s been reborn in Ballhalla.
On this night, the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard totals were correct. The home team trudged back into the tunnel supposedly on the losing end. Yet, incredibly, cheers rang out from every corner of Chase Center and 18,000-plus fans rose to their feet.
Welcome to the epicenter of the Bay Area’s hottest new sporting attraction, where fans have waited so long for the chance to cheer for a local WNBA team that they’re showing their support for the Golden State Valkyries at every opportunity.
Even in defeat.
Golden State Valkyries fans light up their cell phones during the third quarter of their WBNA game against the New York Liberty at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)“If you’ve been to a Warriors game and you’ve been to a Valkyries game, it’s much different, right? That’s intentional, and it’s built something that is unmatched,” said Jess Smith, the inaugural president of the franchise.
Less than 18 months since she arrived, Smith, 39, is taking a well-earned victory lap of sorts.
It’s been only a little longer since Joe Lacob, co-owner of the Warriors, paid $50 million to expand his portfolio into women’s sports. The investment announced on Oct. 5, 2023, that the WNBA’s 13th team — and first expansion franchise since 2008 — would be awarded to Golden State, has already paid off tenfold, according to some accounts.
A surprising success on the court, above .500 through 15 games with more wins than the past two first-year franchises, the Valkyries have been an even bigger hit at the box office.
The Warriors, buoyed by Steph Curry and a dynasty that has produced four NBA championships, have famously sold out 565 consecutive dates. The Valkyries, with none of that, are 9-for-9 so far at the 18,064-seat arena that’s been dubbed Ballhalla, and will play before another packed house today. And, if you close your eyes, it almost resembles something the Warriors haven’t been able to quite replicate since they moved from Oakland into their state-of-the-art waterfront arena six seasons ago.
“It’s 10 times better than any Warriors game. I’m into it, man,” said Tripper Ortman, 56, a season-ticket holder for both teams. “It’s as close to Oracle as we’re ever going to get. I’d give up my Warriors season tickets for these.”
Golden State Valkyries' Kayla Thornton (5) high fives Joe Lacob, owner of the Golden State Valkyries, during a game against Chicago Sky in the fourth quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, June 27, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)The WNBA has exploded in popularity in recent years and shows no signs of slowing down, with two more expansion teams on the way and $2 billion in media rights set to kick in next year.
Still, the only games as likely as any Valkyries home date to fill every seat in NBA-sized arenas are those featuring Caitlin Clark, the transcendent Indiana Fever star in her second season.
League-wide, the WNBA averaged 9,807 fans per game in 2024, nearly 50% more than the year before — but still just half that of Golden State’s typical draw.
“The core women’s sports audience is much different than the core men’s sports audience, and it’s additive,” Smith said. “People assume it’s a smaller audience, but the reality is that it’s just been understudied. … And what we’re learning here in the Bay Area is that it’s a large audience.”
Marisa De Hazes, who attended her first game Wednesday night, said it was “way overdue” for the top women’s league to set up shop in the Bay Area, three decades after it was founded.
She accompanied Mary Hile-Nepfel, the longtime women’s coach and all-time leading scorer at USF, who has witnessed a sea change from her playing days. She remembered attending San Francisco Pioneers games at the Civic Auditorium from 1978 to 1981 and said, “There’s an energy in this building that I’ve never felt before for women’s sports.”
Golden State Valkyries fans watch the action during the fourth quarter of their WBNA game against the New York Liberty at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)After the Pioneers came the San Jose Lasers (1996-98), and then the San Jose Spiders (2004-06), and then the San Francisco Legacy (2006). None lasted longer than three years, even the Lacob-backed Lasers of the American Basketball Association.
They laid the groundwork, though, including incubating some of the key figures today. Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase played for the Spiders of the National Women’s Basketball League, and current Stanford women’s coach Kate Paye suited up against the Lasers.
Paye said it was “emotional” to see a sold out arena in comparison to the crowds that the sport used to generate and credited the Valkyries’ quick success to one woman.
“It’s because of Tara,” Paye said, referring to her predecessor, Tara VanDerveer, who led Stanford to 13 Final Four appearances and three national titles from 1985 to her retirement in spring 2024. “Tara built Bay Area women’s basketball. Period.”
The WNBA might be kicking itself for leaving such a ripe market untapped for so long. In less than two years, the Valkyries have already become the league’s most valuable asset, according to a recent analysis by Sportico, which estimated the franchise to be worth $500 million.
The next most valuable franchises were the defending champion Liberty, at $420 million, and the Fever, at $335 million. The publication hedged that its figure for the Valkyries “might be conservative.”
Golden State Valkyries' Monique Billings (25),Golden State Valkyries' Kaitlyn Chen (2), and Golden State Valkyries' Tiffany Hayes (15) celebrate against the Chicago Sky in the first quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, June 27, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)Lacob told the Wall Street Journal in May that Golden State was on pace to double its initial estimate of $30 million in annual revenue for its first year, and the Valkyries are on pace to achieve that nearly through sponsorships and ticket sales alone, the source said.
The Valkyries brought on a number of brands seeking to appeal to the women’s sports fan, which are projected to net them more than $20 million in 2025. Ticket sales are projected to bring in more than $35 million, or an average of $1.5 million at the box office for each home date.
The highest-grossing home games have topped $3 million, according to Sportico, which would be a league record.
And that doesn’t account for other revenue streams, such as merchandise at the rebranded Golden State — not Warriors or Valkyries — team store. The San Francisco Chronicle, citing an anonymous source, reported a nightly average of more than $200,000 in merch sales.
Tapping into the existing base of women’s sports fans was only one piece of the puzzle, Smith said. Before joining the Valkyries, she led a similar effort with Angel City FC, a newcomer to the National Women’s Soccer League.
Much of that fan base accounted for the 2,500 season-ticket deposits placed on the day the franchise was announced — a number that has since grown to 20,000, including 10,000 bought-and-paid-for, the most in the league.
Golden State Valkyries fans cheer during the second quarter of their WBNA game against the New York Liberty at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)In other words, they were on board long before the team even had a name. That came by way of a fan vote. The name, a nod to fierce women warriors in Norse mythology, was “something that paid tribute to these incredible women’s sports fans that was uniquely powerful in our own right while complementary to the Golden State brand,” Smith said.
The logos and violet color scheme that appear on team merchandise and wash over the arena on game days were a result of “hours” spent inside conference rooms with Smith, the ownership group and the marketing department, headed by Amanda Chin and Kimberly Veale.
The objective “was even when you see the color, you know it’s the Valkyries,” Smith said. “I truly feel like we accomplished that, where even if it’s not our merch, if it’s Valkyrie violet, they think of us.”
From custom bomber jackets to sequined blazers, the stylish merch has turned the team’s gear into a fashion statement, bringing in a more casual fan. Ortman, who sported a flat-brimmed violet hat, is one of a tiny segment of fans with season tickets for both the Valkyries and Warriors, or what Smith calls the basketball diehards.
For everyone else, Veale said, they are building a lifestyle brand.
“There’s very clearly a difference between somebody who’s a basketball purist versus a Gen Z or Gen A fan who maybe isn’t so focused on the outcome of the game but is repping this team because they believe very deeply in the impact that the WNBA will be able to have,” she said. “Those beliefs kind of cascade down into their lives and, presumably, in their individual expression in terms of what they wear.”
The three pillars of fans come together to create an electric gameday atmosphere that others besides Ortman have compared to the Warriors’ days in Oakland, where then-Oracle Arena earned the name “Roaracle” for its decibel levels.
During introductions, the arena bowl is illuminated in violet. The sharp “V” logo at center court is outlined with lasers of the same hue. Public address announcer Jamie Coffee introduces the starting lineup to the beat of E-40’s “Blow The Whistle.”
Former US National Women’s Soccer team athlete Leslie Osborne leads the crowd in a cheer before the Valkyries compete against the Seattle Storm at the Chase Center in San Francisco, CA on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Don Feria for Bay Area News Group)Smith sits courtside, alongside Lacob, Golden State COO Brandon Schneider and Warriors star Brandin Podziemski, who has claimed the mantle as the Valkyries’ No. 1 celebrity fan. The team has tapped a number of local influencers to style their gear in their own way, too, dubbing them the Valkyries Collective.
Those prime seats go for as much as $3,900 a pop, comparable with some NBA teams. But the product has proven more accessible for the average fan, too, with tickets on the secondary market starting at $40 when Sabrina Ionescu and the defending champions came to town.
When a video review went long during a recent game, the arena broke out into chants of “Let’s Go Valkyries,” compelling the board-op to lower the in-house music in favor of the organic display of enthusiasm.
It can be disorienting for visiting players, who aren’t accustomed to the large crowds or their positivity. Trailing by four in a preseason game against the Sparks, Laeticia Amihere hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the margin of defeat to just one, and the crowd erupted.
“The Sparks players were looking up at the scoreboard, like, ‘We won, right?’” Veale said. “It’s so hard to leave that building without a joyous heart. There’s just so much joy in the building and surrounding this brand that it has started to ooze out of Chase Center.”
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