The Golden State Valkyries have done something few women’s sports teams have ever been able to claim, and no women’s team had done before: they reached $100 million in annual revenue. In the context of Lva Vs Gsv, that milestone says as much about the business model as it does about the basketball. This is not just a successful expansion story. It is a case study in how fast demand can scale when the product, the market and the ownership strategy all line up.
The Valkyries crossed that threshold after a first season in which they generated $78 million, then pushed further this year by cutting off season-ticket sales at more than 12,000. The demand has been visible everywhere. Chase Center has sold out 47 straight times, home crowds have averaged 18,064, and the team has turned every game into a premium event rather than a novelty act. That matters because revenue in women’s sports often depends on proving the same audience will show up again and again. The Valkyries have not just proved it. They have built a repeatable version of it.
Why the numbers keep rising
The business growth is tied to more than ticket sales. The Valkyries have more than 40 partners, including JPMorgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, Olly, Rakuten, Sephora, United Airlines, Athleta and Iren. They also have 100,000 followers, which gives the franchise a digital audience that can support both brand value and long-term fan conversion. Add in the fact that the organization is tied to the Golden State Warriors through the same ownership group, and the scale becomes easier to understand. Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid $50 million in 2023 for the first W expansion team since 2008, and the return has been accelerated by the same kind of infrastructure that powers a major men’s sports operation.
Jess Smith, the Valkyries president, framed the approach simply enough: last year was only step one. The point, she said, was to keep the foot on the gas and build as if the market was already telling the organization what it could become. That is the key distinction here. The Valkyries did not stumble into a surge in demand. They treated early success as a signal to scale aggressively, and the business has followed the basketball.
A franchise built for a different ceiling
On the court, the Valkyries have also given the market a reason to stay engaged. They were the first WNBA expansion team to make the playoffs, and they were scheduled to go up 2-0 at home against the Las Vegas Aces in their semifinal series on Wednesday night. Their 17-5 home record underscores how much the Chase Center has become a competitive advantage, not just a venue. The combination of winning, sellouts and a clear brand identity has made the team feel established much faster than a typical expansion team.
There is also a historical layer to this. The Atlanta Dream entered the league in 2008 as the last W expansion team before Golden State. Seventeen years later, the Valkyries have already reset what the top of the women’s sports business landscape can look like. That does not mean every franchise can copy the model exactly. Markets differ, ownership differs and on-court success is never guaranteed. But the benchmark has changed.
The Valkyries are now operating at a level that signals something bigger than one hot season. They have shown that women’s sports can support elite demand, elite sponsorship volume and elite attendance all at once. Lva Vs Gsv is more than a matchup label now. It is part of a story about a team that has moved from expansion curiosity to industry standard.
