Golden State Valkyries Fans Gear Up for Game 3 of the WNBA Finals in Atlanta
Golden State Valkyries fans are taking flight, literally, to keep the energy up for their favorite team as the women in violet face off against the Atlanta Dream tonight in Game 3 of the Women’s National Basketball Association Finals.
“They play with heart. They play with passion,” said Melissa Gonzalez, a Santa Rosa resident who flew in Wednesday ahead of the game — the first time she’d ever done something like that. “It feels good. Everybody is so warm and welcoming…the players, they stop, they sign, they acknowledge you.”
Both teams are coming to Wednesday’s high-stakes game in Atlanta with a win under their belts in the best-of-seven series. The Valkyries took Game 1 68-64 in a nail-biter at San Francisco’s Chase Center last week, but fell to the Dream 79-65 on Monday in Game 2 of the playoff series.
The Valkyries took Game 1 68-64 in a nail-biter at San Francisco’s Chase Center last week, but fell to the Dream 79-65 on Monday in Game 2 of the playoff series.
Valkyries guard Veronica Burton, in a postgame conference after Monday’s loss, said the team “shot terribly” and that they “need to be able to take a punch and punch back.”
By Wednesday, the team was ready to come back and leave it all on the court.
Fans were confident ahead of the game. At STATS Brewpub in downtown Atlanta, Jacob Harris, a 35-year-old from Berkeley who lives in Marin County was convinced “the Valks are going to win, obviously.”
Harris, a self-described massive Bay Area sports fan, quickly grew to love the team.
“Everything the plyers stand for is kind of what the Bay Area stands for…underdog culture,” he said. “They compete and they win because they care. That’s Bay Area.”
The Valkyries are only in their second season after launching in 2025, and quickly became the most valuable women’s sports team in the world and the first ever to generate over $100 million in annual revenue, according to Sportico.
The Bay Area’s WNBA team, which is owned by the same group as the Golden State Warriors, has racked up thousands of fans and season ticket-holders, selling out their home court at Chase Center dozens of times already.
Their meteoric rise comes as the WNBA has seen a boost in fandom across the country.
Games 3 and 4 in Atlanta were moved from the Dream’s regular 3,500-seat stadium in College Park to the 17,000-seat State Farm Arena downtown.
For many Valkyries fans, the rapid growth has been a source of pride and excitement.
For Los Angeles-based Valkyries fan Hill Winans, following the team has become a huge hobby.
“Our team’s doing great,” said Winans, who was traveling with a group to the games this week in Atlanta. “I just want a good series and everyone to play hard and have fun, and hopefully we win at the end of it.”
On Wednesday evening, Danielle Hohos was decked out in violet and black for the game. The season ticketholder from San Francisco flew in Wednesday and was already making new friends.
“There was a good section of our plane,” she said, “that was coming out for the game today.”