As the Golden State Valkyries prepare to host their first WNBA Finals games in just their second season, ticket prices are significantly higher than last year’s Finals.
The get-in price for Saturday’s Game 1 against the Atlanta Dream at the 18,000-seat Chase Center in San Francisco is $214 as of Thursday afternoon, according to TicketData.
Last year’s Game 1 between the Mercury and Aces in Las Vegas drew a final get-in price of just $34, and the highest get-in price of the series was $82 for Game 2.
Game 1 does not appear to be the most expensive ticket in WNBA Finals history, at least for now. Game 2 of the 2024 Finals between the Lynx and Liberty at the Barclays Center had a get-in price of $225, while Game 5 of that series was just behind at $213.
Both the Valkyries and Dream have dealt with arena conflicts in the lead-up to the Finals. Rapper and singer Doja Cat was set to hold a concert at the Chase Center on the same night as Game 2, but the Valkyries confirmed to Front Office Sports that the concert would be rescheduled.
Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, meanwhile, had a concert scheduled the day of Game 3 and a Hawks game scheduled the day of Game 4. The WNBA rescheduled both games so the Dream could play at the 17,000-seat arena instead of the 3,500-seat Gateway Center, where they played most of their regular-season home games.
The Dream had closed the upper bowl of State Farm Arena for previous playoff games, but will open the entire arena for the Finals.
Due to the last-minute arena swap, most tickets for Games 3 and 4 are only now being released to the public. After presale tickets were released at 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, the get-in price for both games dropped precipitously. As of Thursday afternoon, Game 3 has a get-in price of $96, while Game 4 is at $114.
Nevertheless, even if those prices hold, the series could produce the most expensive tickets in WNBA Finals history.
“Historically, it’s typically been one team driving the higher prices, rather than both,” TicketData’s Ketih Pagello told FOS on Wednesday. “So if you’re looking at the series as a whole, across all seven potential games in both cities, there’s a stronger argument to be made that this could be the most expensive Finals ever.”
Get-in prices for Games 2 and 5 in San Francisco currently hover around $200, and a potential Game 7 has a get-in price of $416. Game 6 is excluded from TicketData’s tracking because its venue in Atlanta is yet to be finalized, according to Pagello.
The Valkyries have sold out every home game in their two-year history.
This is the second year of a best-of-seven WNBA Finals, with the Aces sweeping the Mercury in four games last season.
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