Fans showing up for Valkyries 'in a big way' amid WNBA's ascent
Fans and employees of the Golden State Valkyries say they are ready to capitalize on both the surging national interest in the WNBA and the longstanding support women’s basketball has enjoyed locally.
Tipoff is a little less than a year away for the Valkyries, the first WNBA team to call San Francisco home and the first to play in Northern California since the Sacramento Monarchs folded in 2009. The league’s final season without them is already historic.
On the heels of the emergence of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and their fellow 2024 rookies, the WNBA is setting attendance and TV viewership records. The league’s three most-watched games since 2001 have occurred in the first six weeks of the 2024 season, and the WNBA said it averaged nearly three times as many viewers on its national broadcasts (1.32 million) in the first month of the season than last year (462,000). The 400,000 fans who attended games through the end of May were the most in 26 years, according to the league.
The Valkyries are readying for their inaugural season amid the WNBA’s ascendancy, and following the longstanding success of the Stanford University women’s basketball team. The Cardinal have won three national championships and made 15 Final Four appearances......
Veale said that people of all ages, genders, races and socioeconomic backgrounds have embraced the Valkyries. Almost 14,000 people from across the Bay Area have placed $25-per-seat deposits for season tickets — Chase Center has a capacity of around 18,000 — while fans in 12 states have already bought team merchandise.
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