Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nThey\u2019re the first WNBA team to reach a US$1billion valuation, they have the highest annual revenue of any team in the competition and of any professional women\u2019s sports team in history, and have sold out the Chase Center for every home game of their existence. They\u2019re the first team in WNBA history to average over 18,000 fans per game. <\/p>\n
They call it their Ballhalla, a play on words of Valhalla from Norse mythology which translates to the great hall of slain warriors.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s back up a bit and a explain a little bit first.<\/p>\n
The Valkyries entered the WNBA in 2025, the first expansion team in 17 years and became a success before the players had even stepped on the court, selling 10,000 season tickets. There\u2019s reportedly less than 5% crossover from the Valkyries and Warriors season ticket holders, meaning this team has attracted a completely new audience to the franchise.<\/p>\n
In 2026, they again sold out and cut off their season ticket holders at 12,000.<\/p>\n
Australian Opals Miela Sowah and Isobel Borlase will go head-to-head in the WNBA Finals.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Aussie Miela Sowah has had a front row set to it all this year after signing with the Valkyries, and making her WNBA debut in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been insane honestly to be at the pinnacle of your sport and then to be playing in the final of the WNBA, it\u2019s what you dream of as a kid and then to be living it out is insane, honestly it\u2019s been an amazing experience,\u201d Sowah told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ballhalla and the Bay Area they really get around us, we\u2019re getting 18,000 to each game they love it they wear all the gear and in the streets, they\u2019ll come up and chat to you, they\u2019re all about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And playing in front of a packed Chase Center is like nothing else 26 year old Sowah has experienced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s electric, it\u2019s the loudest thing I\u2019ve ever heard. In my preseason game when I hit it three, I was like, wow, that was so loud because they were all cheering,\u201d Sowah said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you hit another one and then it just keeps getting louder. You\u2019re just like, what? It\u2019s so insane. They\u2019re so invested, it\u2019s nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s super exciting to see women\u2019s sport like this and I think it just shows that, you know, people watch women\u2019s sports and they love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryce & Kendric go at it again! | 00:38<\/p>\n
The Valkyries have flipped the narrative on the slow build required for expansion clubs and they\u2019ve redefined what success looks like both in the WNBA and women\u2019s sports in general.<\/p>\n
The Valkyries owners paid $50million for the franchise licence in 2023 and now have a club worth $1Billion. They\u2019ve generation over $100million in revenue in 2026 alone, which is tipped to have grown even more over the playoffs and now with the finals series.<\/p>\n
But according to Sowah, the key to this success runs deep in the Valkyries culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s from the leaders up top. Top to bottom they really believe in what women\u2019s sport is and what the Valkyries can do and can be. And I think from that belief, it extends. When you speak from the heart, you reach the heart and they\u2019re constantly speaking of what they believe that we can become, of who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the people at the top will lead by example and are giving everything they\u2019ve got, then the team follows that. And then the community\u2019s jumped on board and followed as well. They give their heart and soul at each game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe constantly say they\u2019re like our 6th man, which is like the player coming off the bench, because they honestly get us. When we\u2019re maybe trailing by a few, they start screaming, they get us rolling, then we\u2019ll knock down a few 3s and get back in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
WNBA superstar Angel Reese is chasing a championship with the Atlanta Dream alongside Australian Opal Isobel Borlase.Source: AP<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a massive year for Sowah winning the WNBL Championship with the Townsville Fire before being signed by the Valkyries. Then last month she received a late call up from Sandy Brondello to play in her first World Cup with the Opals to replace the injured skipper Sami Whitcomb.<\/p>\n
Now she\u2019s on the brink of making history with the Valkyries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a massive year and honestly I\u2019m so grateful, so blessed. I always put it down to hard work. I think one of my life mottos is, it always pays off, whether it\u2019s a few weeks, in a month or if it\u2019s in years and I feel like this one\u2019s definitely been a year\u2019s thing, you know, constantly working, trying to make these teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo yeah, it\u2019s amazing to be here, super grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Valkyries have also received support from their Golden State brothers, in particular Steph Curry.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it\u2019s a bit surreal. Being a girl from Brisbane and there\u2019s Steph Curry he\u2019s one of my icons and then seeing him in the crowd just behind me. I\u2019m like, this is insane,\u201d Sowah told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n
Davison stands out in Ignite Cup win | 01:21<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got the same owners as the Warriors, so he came in our locker room and spoke a bit of knowledge about a championship and this next step and what it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
And this Queenslander, who played for Duke University in the NCAA, comes up against an Opal teammate in the Finals Series. WNBL MVP Isobel Borlase is playing alongside Angel Reese with the Atlanta Dream and is also hoping to secure the club\u2019s first WNBA Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving another fellow Australian Opal on the other side of the grand final, I think that\u2019s awesome. That\u2019s exciting for Australian basketball and for women\u2019s basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be friends outside, but when it comes to game day, we\u2019re chasing the trophy and the ring.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden State Valkyries are the story of the WNBA, the talk of women\u2019s sports and the envy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":928616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-928615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/928616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792036814_412_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n