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- WNBA expanded its regular season to 44 games this year
- Valkyries’ only scheduled home playoff game to be played at San Jose’s SAP Center
The Golden State Valkyries have broken several all-time Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) attendance records in just their first regular season.
The league’s newest franchise sold out every one of their 22 home games at Chase Center in San Francisco, including their last home regular season match up against the Minnesota Lynx. It meant they had a total of 397,408 fans attend their fixtures, which beats the previous benchmark set by the Indiana Fever last season (340,715).
The Fever also saw year-on-year gains, with average attendance jumping to 349,313 with one final home game left on their schedule.
The Valkyries also set a new league record for average attendance, with a total of 18,064 people going to each home game. This surpassed the previous benchmark set by the Fever last year, with an average of 17,036 fans recorded for their home match ups.
This year saw the WNBA have an expanded regular season campaign, with 44 games played by each franchise, four more games than in 2024. The Valkyries, who are owned by the Golden State Warriors’ owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, joined the WNBA this year, marking the league’s first expansion since 2008.
Before the season started, the Valkyries became the first WNBA team to sell more than 10,000 season tickets for their home schedule, with more than 22,000 season ticket deposits received in the process.
The team have two remaining road games in the regular season, which comes to an end on 11th September. They are guaranteed to have one home game during their first round playoff series, and could have more fixtures at home should they progress further in the postseason.
However it may be impossible to stage any playoff matches at Chase Center due to a scheduling conflict with tennis’ Laver Cup. The Valkyries have already confirmed their first-round home playoff game will take place at SAP Center in San Jose.
SportsPro says…
Prior to the 2025 season, Valkyries president Jess Smith told SportsPro that the goal was to become the WNBA’s “number one” revenue-generating franchise. Setting several league attendance records in their first season suggests they are well on their way to achieving that ambition.
Although a brand new team, the Valkyries hold the advantage of being owned by the same group as the NBA’s Warriors, who have become one of the NBA’s most commercially successful franchises. The familiarity with the Valkyries’ owners, Smith noted, helped with building support among the Bay Area community. Even so, Smith also revealed fewer than five per cent of Valkyries season ticket holders also have a season ticket for the Warriors, demonstrating the success in engaging those without ties to the sport.
The Valkyries have also assembled a solid roster of commercial partners, with Sephora, JP Morgan Chase and Rakuten among those on board as their sponsors. With the WNBA expected to expand its regular season next year due to the addition of the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, they will have every chance to surpass this year’s benchmark.
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