• Loading stock data...
Wednesday, July 9, 2025

WNBA’s Next Franchise Has a Name: Golden State Valkyries

  • Both the Valkyries and Warriors are owned by Joe Lacob.
  • The team will start play at Chase Center in 2025. 
Courtesy Golden State Valkyries

The WNBA’s newest team will be known as the Golden State Valkyries. 

Starting play for the 2025 season, the league’s 13th team revealed its colors and logo on Tuesday morning. The Valkyries are the WNBA’s first expansion team since the Atlanta Dream in ’08 and will play at San Francisco’s Chase Center, home to the Golden State Warriors. Both Golden State franchises are owned by Joe Lacob, and the namesake and logo show the similarities and differences between the two teams. 

The team said that its “V” logo depicts both a group of Valkyries in flight and the Bay Bridge, which connects San Francisco to Oakland, where the team will practice and where the Warriors won their first three titles of the Steph Curry era. The Warriors’ primary logo also features the Bay Bridge.

“Communities own sports teams, so it’s only fitting that as we embarked on the brand identity development process, we really listened to the fans and selected a name that they wanted,” Warriors marketing executive Amanda Chin said. “Through surveys and social media, the name that continued to come up the most, by far, was Valkyries.”

“Valkyries” are female warriors from Norse mythology. “Operation Valkyrie” was also the name of an assassination plot by German elites on Adolf Hitler during World War II, sharing the name of a movie about it starring Tom Cruise. The team’s colors are violet and black, with the team saying that the violet “symbolizes power, ambition, nobility, and women’s empowerment, much like purple has been used symbolically in modern history.” 

In the Valkyries’ logo, the bridge tower doubles as a sword. Mythology frequently depicts valkyries armed with swords, as does Tessa Thompson’s character in the Marvel universe. The logo’s bridge cables “double as wings, a strong telegraphic symbol of Valkyries.” Fans of Easter eggs in logos will enjoy the five triangles on either side of the sword, for 5-on-5 basketball, and the 13 lines from the top of the sword, marking the team’s entrance as the league’s 13th team.

With the Valkyries set to open play in 2025, the WNBA has three cities left to award expansion bids to, though one is reportedly already going to Toronto. At the WNBA draft in April, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert said she’d like to get to 16 teams “in the next few years.” Portland, Nashville, Philadelphia, and Denver are among the cities the league is reportedly talking to. 

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Chelsea

Chelsea Club World Cup Run Banks at Least $100M for Mark Walter..

The Blues will likely take home between $100 million and $120 million.
TSU Hockey at Bridgestone

Tennessee State’s HBCU Hockey Ambitions Delayed at Least a Year

The school will not launch the first-of-its-kind program as intended.

Has the WNBA Outgrown the Matinee Madness of Camp Days?

Caitlin Clark will return from injury in a Wednesday noon game.
Jonas

Jonas Valančiūnas Is Cryptic About Nuggets Standoff in Lithuania

The Nuggets expect Valančiūnas to honor his NBA contract. 

Featured Today

American Celebs Want to Be Sports Owners. Soccer Is Where They Start

As U.S. team prices climb, investors set their sights abroad.
July 5, 2025

Baseball’s Celebrity Row: Behind MLB’s First-Pitch Ritual

Often planned, sometimes spontaneous, the ritual throw is baseball’s celebrity row.
July 4, 2025

3,000 Hot Dogs, $20K in Prizes: Behind the Nathan’s Eating Contest

Nathan’s serves up thousands of hot dogs and $20,000 in prize money.
July 3, 2025

Geoffrey Esper Can’t Catch a Break at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

“Hot dogs is not one of my favorite competitions of the year.”

Texas Sports Teams, Leagues Donate Over $5M to Flood Relief

NFL, MLB, and NBA teams in Texas donate to flood recovery efforts.
July 7, 2025

Nationals Hit Reset Button, Oust Rizzo and Martinez Before Draft

The MLB club made major leadership changes just days before the draft.
Chelsea
July 8, 2025

Club World Cup Semis Are Battle to Make Richest Soccer Final Ever

Semifinalists have each earned at least $60 million from the tournament so far.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Dealmaker Jeffrey Kaplan maps the evolution of sports as an asset class
July 6, 2025

Liverpool to Pay Diogo Jota’s $20M Contract to His Widow

Jota had two years remaining on his contract.
July 2, 2025

Rogers Takes Control of Canada’s Top Teams in MLSE Buyout

The Canadian media giant now has an arguably unrivaled sports portfolio.
Myles Turner
July 1, 2025

Pacers Sour on Paying Luxury Tax and Let Myles Turner Walk

The team had seemed willing to cross the threshold for their center.
Manchester City
July 1, 2025

Manchester City Pockets $50 Million for Early Club World Cup Elimination

Saudi side Al-Hilal will bank at least $35 million in its quarterfinal run.