Golden State’s WNBA expansion team announced its name and brand identity Tuesday: the Golden State Valkyries.
The name, which has its origins in Norse mythology, refers to “a host of fearless and steadfast warrior women, flying both in the air and on the sea,” a team press release said. “This brand is Golden State’s modern interpretation of the Valkyries: strong, bold and fierce.”
The team’s main color is “Valkyrie Violet”, which signifies “power, ambition, nobility and female empowerment, just as purple has been used symbolically in modern history”, said l ‘team.
Welcome to the @WNBA! 👏 https://t.co/3iAhGeazvd
-NBA (@NBA) May 14, 2024
“It feels like we’ve arrived,” Valkyries president Jess Smith told ESPN. “As much as I loved saying ‘WNBA Golden State,’ it was a placeholder, and that’s what we are. To be able to put that stake on the field and start building brand equity and start to bringing our community together around this is a really special moment.”
The Golden State Valkyries will begin competition in the 2025 WNBA season as the league’s 13th active team and first expansion franchise since 2008. The organization will host home games at Chase Center in San Francisco and practice at Oakland in the former Golden State Warriors training center. , the NBA affiliate of the Valkyries.
The brand offers a “big nod” to the legacy of the seven-time NBA champion Warriors, Smith said, but ensures that “we’re also building our own legacy and something that is distinctly ours.”
Smith, the organization’s first signing, has already helped build the NWSL’s Angel City FC into what is considered the most successful commercial women’s sports brand in the world.
“The beautiful thing about Valkyries is that they are plural and together,” Smith said. “We need everyone – from the visual representation on the field of these athletes coming together in games, but the way we win together, with our partners and our fans, the broadcast, the league and everyone else to our side, is really where the real impact is going to be. We hope that being a Valkyrie, and people sort of finding their inner Valkyrie and where they’re going to be a piece of that puzzle, becomes a big part of what that is. makes it strong.”
The organization’s logo depicts the Bay Bridge, an appeal to the team’s cross-country roots, and is shaped like a V, signifying “the unity of a group of Valkyries in flight and standing for victory”, indicates the press release. The bridge tower in the logo also acts as a sword and the bridge’s cables act as wings – both features associated with Valkyries. The five triangles created by the cables on each side of the tower represent five players competing on a basketball court, while the 13 lines emerging from the top of the tower allude to Golden State’s arrival as the 13th team of the WNBA.
“We wanted to include that Golden State name,” Smith said. “We want to include all women’s sports, so people know that we are a pillar of the strength of this direction and how we can build and bring people together. But more importantly, we want to build a brand that is incredibly inclusive and one that people love to be a part of because of what it means through the strength of Golden State and the Valkyries So we feel like every decision we’ve made along the way has allowed us to salute all of those. public.
Brand development, led by Warriors senior vice president of marketing Amanda Chin, began in October 2023, when the franchise expansion was officially announced. The franchise brought in the Cartwright agency while also seeking community input. Smith pointed to a San Francisco Chronicle written survey in which 25 percent of respondents suggested “Valkyries” for the team name.
The team, which surpassed 7,500 season ticket deposits and last week introduced its new general manager in Ohemaa Nyanin, will host a Valkyries block party Saturday at Thrive City in San Francisco to celebrate the launch of the team’s identity. the team.
“We’re going to work tirelessly to build this brand and build a successful brand that we believe leads to pay equity by building a successful business, but it’s going to take everyone coming together to make it happen,” he said. Smith said.
