"The Bay Area has been extremely hungry for a W team for a really long time," Valkyries GM Ohemaa Nyanin told Yahoo! Sports' women's basketball reporter Cassandra Negley in an interview published Friday. "To have close to 21,000 season ticket deposit holders, people who are standing in line to buy tickets — prior to even announcing a team name, there were thousands of season ticket deposits. Prior to hiring Coach Natalie, the number just kept growing."
"And so for me, this kind of blind faith that we will be successful is what continues to drive me on a daily basis and ensure that we have the most competitive group of athletes to show them that all of their joy and their energy is well worth it," Nyanin added.
Negley also spoke to Coach Natalie Nakase, who said the energy surrounding the team is already special. "Last week when I was walking, you know, in the streets of San Francisco, I was wearing my Valkyries hoodie, and I was going to get coffee, and the guy comes by, and he's like, 'Hey, you're the coach of the Valkyries.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, that's me,'" she said.
"He's just like, 'Hey, by the way, he's like, You got a game today?' And I was like, 'No, I don't think so, right?' Because like the first game, like you said, is in May. But I really thought because it was energy, I'm like, 'Oh, crap.' I'm like, 'Do I have a game today?'"
"So I can't imagine, a guy down the street is screaming, 'Do we have a game today?' Can you only imagine what 21,000 fans are going to be like?" Nakase added.
The excitement surrounding the newest WNBA team is undeniable. The team's first game is May 16, 2025, against the Los Angeles Sparks. The Valkyries will play a total of 44 games and wrap their season on Sept. 11, 2025, in Minneapolis. The newly expanded playoffs will swiftly follow. The team's final home game is on Sept. 6, 2025, against the Lynx.
To date, at least 20,000 season pass deposits have been placed on the Valkyries' website. The team was also the first in WNBA history to pass 15,000 deposits — a milestone they hit in July.
Fans who are already season pass holders for the Golden State Warriors do need to place a deposit for Valkyries tickets. Warriors season ticket holders who are in "good standing" with the team will receive priority access to Valkyries seats. The process for buying single-game tickets has not yet been announced.