Jess Smith, the Bay Area’s new WNBA president, announced their organization’s team name “The Valkyries” and a brand new logo on Good Morning America this past Tuesday, May 14, 2024.
The Golden State Warriors’ franchise announced the creation of the brand new team back in October 2023, but the announcement of the logo and team name has sparked traction across women’s basketball fans.
The Valkyries have sold around 8,000 season ticket deposits since the announcement in October, but with the new popularity surrounding college and professional women’s basketball they are projected to make much more throughout the upcoming months.
Adopted by the Golden State Warriors owner’s Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the new team will officially become the WNBA’s thirteenth team and the league’s first franchise expansion since 2008.
The new handcrafted emblem of the franchise expansion is shaped into a V-type shape that represents not only the team name, but it also symbolizes the word victory.
In the V-shaped emblem is a representation of the Bay Bridge that doubles as a sword depiction, which is something the mythological Valkyries are known to carry. The “cables” of the bridge create five triangles within the emblem meant to represent the five starting players on a basketball team facing off.
The color purple has been associated with royalty for hundreds of years, so the multiple shades of purple across the logo are meant to represent power and leadership the franchise strives for.
The violet color palette that differs from their male counterparts’ blue and yellow team colors is also meant to symbolize the desire to create their own greatness separate from the Warriors’.
The name itself originates from Norse mythology, Valkyries are ancient warrior women with angel wings who are symbols of strength, power, and victory.
The president of the team Jess Smith says, “the branding offers a big nod to the legacy of the seven-time NBA champion Warriors… but we’re also building a legacy of our own and something that is distinctively ours”
Smith has previously helped the National Women’s Soccer League team Angel City FC become one of the most successful commercial women’s sports brands to date. Her prior work with women’s sports landed her as the first hire of the Valkyries organization and the president role of the team since January.
The Valkyries will also become the first WNBA franchise based in Northern California since the Sacramento Monarchs disbanded in 2009.
They are set to join the draft and begin competing in the 2025 season playing at the Warriors’ Chase Center and practicing in the Warriors’ prior practice arena in Oakland California.
