Hey, hoops fan!

Hearing your city announced as the home of a new women’s basketball team is every fan's dream, but actually building that team into a sustainable franchise takes real work and care — and there’s one squad doing it better than almost anyone else: the Golden State Valkyries.

• Together with Chase, we're bringing you The Expansion Playbook, starring the team showing the rest of the sports world how it's done.

Every expansion team faces the same laundry list of challenges:

• 🏀 Establish a unique identity in an ever-growing sports market.
• 👥 Find the right people, from the front office to the starting lineup.
• 🗯️ And most importantly: Make fans care from day one (or, let’s be real, long before).

It can take years to build traditions, create loyalty, and carve out a place in the league…or, you could get a half-billion-dollar evaluation in your first season. What, like it’s hard?

The Golden State Valkyries are the expansion team blueprint. When it was time to hit the court in 2025, their new fans came in hot. Selling 10K season tickets before their first game, landing more than 20 team sponsors (like, *ahem*, Chase), and setting a single-game revenue record in their inaugural season alone, it felt like Ballhalla was destined from the moment the Bay Area won the team in 2023.

• The hype on the court matched the vibe in the stands. The Valkyries set a new record for wins by an expansion team in its inaugural season, becoming the first team in league history to punch its playoff ticket in year one and earning head coach Natalie Nakase Coach of the Year honors along the way.

So, what was the game plan that got them there?

Behind every great team are great women, and there was no one more capable and prepared than former Angel City FC head of revenue Jess Smith and former NY Liberty exec Ohemaa Nyanin. As the new president and general manager, respectively, the pair built an expansion franchise from the ground up.

• They started with the fans. Smith studied the market data and the fans who campaigned for a Bay Area team. Rather than chase traditional sports audiences, she focused on the unique mix of people already rallying behind them.
• Then the goal became clear: “Create an elite product that feels connected through lifestyle and values, and also so much fun and community-based.” Safe to say that strategy paid off.

Less than a year later, the Golden State Valkyries are valued at a staggering one billion dollars and have a thriving fanbase. By investing in culture, creating authentic partnerships, and making fans feel like part of something, the Valkyries proved that the most successful expansion franchises are true community builders.

• The Valkyries may call Chase Center home, but Chase's support extends beyond Ballhalla. Through its “Invested In” platform, Chase backs the growth of women's sports from youth to the pros, while supporting the Valkyries and creating community initiatives for female fans across the Bay Area.

That's the real playbook: Build a team, build a fanbase, then build something bigger than basketball.