iStockphoto / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
WNBA player over hundred dollar bills
The Golden State Valkyries entered the WNBA last year as a $50 million expansion franchise and apparently decided the normal expansion-team growing pains sounded boring. Less than two seasons later, they are generating so much demand that some Valkyries tickets are actually outpricing Golden State Warriors games inside the exact same arena.
Golden State generated $78 million in revenue during its inaugural season, sold out every home game, and has kept that sellout streak rolling into Year 2. Valkyries president Jess Smith discussed the ridiculous business growth during a recent Front Office Sports interview, which also noted that prices for certain Valkyries games have climbed above Warriors games at Chase Center.
The Valkyries Basically Broke The Expansion-Team Playbook
There is an important distinction here.
Valkyries tickets are not generally more expensive than Warriors tickets. Golden State’s NBA team still carries some of the steepest prices in basketball, particularly for season tickets and premium seats.
But the fact that there are individual WNBA matchups where the market has flipped at all is pretty insane.
The Warriors have Steph Curry, four championships since 2015, and decades of accumulated fandom. The Valkyries did not play their first regular-season game until May 2025.
Demand showed up immediately.
Golden State averaged 18,064 fans during its first season, selling out all 22 regular-season home games and setting WNBA records for both average and total attendance. Before this season even began, the Valkyries announced that more than 12,000 season tickets had already been sold, up from more than 10,000 during Year 1.
For reference, Chase Center only holds a little more than 18,000 for basketball.
They are not exactly begging people to come inside.
That $50 Million Expansion Fee Looks Hilarious Now
The economics become even better when you look at what Golden State paid to enter the league.
Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber secured the Valkyries for a $50 million expansion fee in 2023. Two years later, ESPN reported that Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia each agreed to pay $250 million for their incoming franchises.
That is a fivefold increase before Golden State had even finished its first season.
The Valkyries also do not appear to simply be borrowing Warriors fans and changing the color of their shirts. Reuters reported before their debut that only about 5% of their 10,000-plus original season-ticket holders also owned Warriors season tickets.
Same sport. Same ownership group. Same building.
Almost entirely different customer base.
And that customer base helped produce $78 million in revenue immediately.
Revenue obviously is not the same thing as profit, but for an expansion team that had never played a game until last year, this is about as convincing a business case as the WNBA could possibly ask for.
The Valkyries paid $50 million to get in.
Now fans are occasionally paying more to see them than the Warriors.
That escalated quickly.