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Sunday Edition

July 20, 2025

Team Collier took last night’s WNBA All-Star Game, with Collier herself scoring 36 points. But as FOS’s Annie Costabile wrote [[link removed]] from Indy, labor negotiations overshadowed everything. The All-Stars wore “Pay us what you owe us” shirts in warmups, fans drowned out commissioner Cathy Engelbert with “Pay them!” chants, and one player strategically put a PAY THE PLAYERS sign in front of ESPN cameras.

In the buildup to All-Star Weekend, I reported on another major W storyline: the Golden State Valkyries. Coming into the 2025 season, no one had massive expectations for the team’s maiden voyage. But the new kid on the block has come out swinging, leading the league in attendance while also surprising everyone on the court. There’s something special going on in the Bay Area, and it’s raising the bar for WNBA expansion.

— Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]

Valkyries Have Stunned the WNBA: ‘Nothing Has Held Us Back’ [[link removed]]

Darren Yamashita/Imagn Images

In May, the WNBA welcomed the Golden State Valkyries, its first expansion team since 2008. The team sold out its first home game with 18,064 fans. Then it sold out its second game. And its third.

At the All-Star break, Golden State has sold out all 11 of its home games in “Ballhalla,” its lavender-tinted, Nordic-themed rebrand of the Chase Center. The San Francisco squad is driving the league’s best attendance ever [[link removed]], and its 18,064-fan magic number is more than a third of NBA teams’ average attendance last season. Its games are highlighted by roaring crowds, a 7–4 home record, and Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski’s rowdy courtside presence [[link removed]].

The franchise didn’t begin with any major star power on the court. The December expansion draft [[link removed]] allowed teams to protect six players (compared to three or four in the PWHL [[link removed]]), and none of the offseason’s big-name free agents [[link removed]] signed with Golden State. Tiffany Hayes was the WNBA’s Sixth Woman of the Year, and Kayla Thornton made just 11 starts in her two years with the New York Liberty. Perhaps its best-known player was Kate Martin, formerly of Iowa fame with teammate Caitlin Clark. Sportsbooks weren’t optimistic about the team. FanDuel put the line at 8.5 total wins [[link removed]] for the inaugural campaign, while DraftKings placed it at 15.5 [[link removed]], last in the league on both platforms.

But the roster has taken the league by surprise. It has twice-defeated Clark’s Indiana Fever and a talented Seattle Storm team. It has close losses to championship contenders like the Liberty and Phoenix Mercury, and Thornton was selected as an All-Star. After a 9–7 start, the team has slightly stumbled in recent weeks, falling one place out of a playoff spot. Still, the team is well on its way to hitting the over for both major sportsbooks. On and off the court, no one expected it to be this good.

Well, some people did.

“Honestly, we knew that this is what it was going to be like, from Day One,” team president Jess Smith tells Front Office Sports. “Nothing has held us back. This ownership group has really given us everything we’ve needed to create this moment, and you’re seeing the response to that.”

Kelley L Cox/Imagn Images

Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid a $50 million expansion fee in 2023 to acquire the team, for which they built a dedicated practice facility [[link removed]] in Oakland. Smith says the owners hired 70 people on the business side dedicated to the women’s team. To run the show, they plucked people from three of the highest-regarded women’s sports franchises: Smith from Angel City Football Club, GM Ohemaa Nyanin from the Liberty, and head coach Natalie Nakase [[link removed]] from the Las Vegas Aces. Smith says the “secret sauce” is that she, Nyanin, and Nakase were all “the talked-about No. 2s” behind the scenes for years who are “building a culture of people with that same tenacity, with that same grit.”

It’s a winning recipe for the league, which recently confirmed it will add five additional expansion teams by 2030 [[link removed]] in Toronto, Portland, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. The Toronto and Portland teams have ties to NBA ownership groups, while the Cleveland, Detroit, and Philly teams were awarded to existing NBA owners, similar to the Valkyries model.

“The Golden State Valkyries have set a high standard in their inaugural season, creating powerful momentum in the Bay Area and for the WNBA,” commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement to FOS. “Their leadership has provided an excellent blueprint for future expansion teams, and their impact and connection to the San Francisco Bay Area community reflects the strength and potential of the league.”

Historically, expansion teams across sports, with rare exceptions, struggle to get their footing in their first few seasons. But Golden State has burst out of the gate with success in essentially every category. It’s a testament to the growth of the WNBA but also to the Bay Area.

Darren Yamashita/Imagn Images

The region has a rich history of women’s basketball. Stanford, led for decades by Hall of Famer Tara Vanderveer [[link removed]], is a powerhouse. Cal also made several recent trips to the NCAA tournament. The region produced the likes of Sabrina Ionescu and Chelsea Gray. The Valkyries’ Northern California predecessor, the Sacramento Monarchs, averaged 8,000 or more fans per home game in all but 4 of their 13 seasons in the WNBA, according to data from Across the Timeline [[link removed]].

The Bay is also a hotbed for women’s soccer. U.S. women’s national team players including Alex Morgan, Naomi Girma, and Sophia Wilson played in the Bay Area at Stanford, Cal, or high school. The NWSL last season added Bay FC, which plays in San Jose and had the league’s fourth-highest average attendance in its inaugural campaign.

The existing women’s sports fan base in the Bay Area is one key group the Valkyries lean in to, Smith says. These are fans who have wanted and waited for a top-tier women’s sports experience, so they are eager to pay for luxuries like premium and club seats, she says. A courtside seat to a Valkyries game costs thousands of dollars [[link removed]].

Darren Yamashita/Imagn Images

But the recent explosion of women’s basketball has brought in other types of fans as well, Smith explains. One is the traditional sports fan. These people may have paid attention to the WNBA only in the past year or two, often because of Clark. The other new fan comes from the young, diverse group of 18- to 35-year-olds who might not be big basketball followers, but they are “pouring into all things women’s sports” because they “align with their personal values,” Smith says. Merchandise might be the best way to explain: The traditional sports fan will want a Valkyries polo shirt to wear on the golf course, while the young fan will buy from collaborations with lifestyle brands like Playa Society [[link removed]] and Togethxr, Smith says. (The Valkyries were the first team with their own “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” shirt [[link removed]], launched last year.)

The Valkyries used data from the WNBA and the Warriors to create the three fan profiles—core women’s sports fan, traditional sports fan, and the younger, values-based audience—and they drive every business choice. “When we’re making decisions based on what our social content feels like, what type of merchandise we’re buying, what our game experience feels like, we run through all three,” Smith says.

The Valkyries want to set the expectation for expansion teams but also for the existing ones, Smith says. While several WNBA teams are playing catchup when it comes to practice and playing facilities, the Valkyries are already there. In a recent poll of 35 WNBA players [[link removed]]by The Athletic asking which franchise was the best-run, the newcomer Valkyries were the fifth-most-popular response. In other words, “Ballhalla” isn’t just a marketing tool for fans.

“Everyone has been saying for a long time, ‘More from the W, more from the W,’” Smith says. “We are the first answer to ‘more.’”

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS LIVE

Hang Out in the Hamptons

On Aug. 1, Front Office Sports, with official partners UBS, On Location, and Saratoga, hosts our second annual Huddle in the Hamptons [[link removed]], bringing together business leaders in sports, entertainment, media, finance, and technology for an afternoon of panels, networking, and activities.

This invite-only experience will be a quintessential summer Friday, mixing a morning of thought leadership with an afternoon of engaging activities and racket sports.

Panels will include candid conversations with MLS commissioner Don Garber, UBS executive and former NFL player Wale Ogunleye, ESPN NFL commentator Ryan Clark, and more.

Want to join us out East? Request to attend here [[link removed]].

Sunday Reads Drinking from the Claret Jug, Darts Prodigy Takes Over

Jack Gruber/Imagn Images

The Open is in full swing, and the pursuit of the vaunted Claret Jug is on. The small-but-mighty trophy has a lot of quirky tradition. FOS’s Peter Richman [[link removed]] walks through its boozy history [[link removed]]. Luke Littler burst onto the pro darts scene out of nowhere. He’s now a darling with a pinpoint-accurate shot that’s become just as lucrative as devastating. FOS contributor Jake Carlisi [[link removed]] spoke to Littler about his rapid rise [[link removed]]. Star athletes are “aura farming” thanks to a fifth-grader in Indonesia. FOS’s Ava Hult [[link removed]] goes behind the viral boat dance [[link removed]] trend that’s become a hallmark sports celebration. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Shows [[link removed]] Written by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]] Edited by Dennis Young [[link removed]], Meredith Turits [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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