Sports

The Valkyries told SF to call in sick. Meet the people who caught a flight.

Nairavoice · Oct 29, 2026 · 7 min read

Head coach Natalie Nakase said Golden State Valkyries fans will ‘sacrifice’ to watch Game 6, even though it’ll be played entirely in the morning on Thursday in the Bay Area. But for hundreds of Valkyries fans at San Francisco International (SFO) Airport on Wednesday night, just watching from home wasn’t good enough – they had to get to Atlanta, costs be damned.

SFGATE went to SFO on Wednesday night and saw more than 50 fans in Valkyries gear boarding a nonstop flight on United to Atlanta around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. An hour later, over 100 more fans were decked out in violet, catching the nonstop flight on Frontier. Final destination: State Farm Arena for the chance to see the first-ever WNBA championship for the second-year team.

“I think some of my family and friends think I’m crazy a little bit,” Jess McPeak, a Valkyries season ticket holder who lives in the Mission, told SFGATE on Wednesday. “But the universe just gave me a path, almost magically.”

McPeak, who uses they/them pronouns, thought they were going to not be able to watch the game at all. They had a work meeting that directly conflicted with the 9:30 a.m. Pacific tip time. But on Tuesday, that meeting shifted and their day completely opened up. Pretty soon after, they were booking a trip to Atlanta, feeling like they “had to be there.”

They were not alone. Sirena Roberts, an Outer Sunset resident and Valkyries season ticket holder, has a remote job that has allowed her to attend every single WNBA Finals game of the series – yes, she flew out to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4 last week.

“I just want to be a part of history, in case they clinch it,” Roberts told SFGATE. As for funding the travel? “If I was going to blow all of my stored-up points for anything, it was going to be a last-minute Valkyries trip.”

At least half-a-dozen of the fans SFGATE spoke to said they funded their travel with stored up points. McPeak quipped they have “a s-t ton of miles I never use” on American, so they booked a flight to Atlanta through Miami on the way there and through Phoenix on the way back Thursday night.

For many Valkyries fans, the reduced cost of flying allowed them to splurge for nicer seats inside State Farm Arena. Roberts said she paid $400 for seats near Golden State’s tunnel on the first level. McPeak will also be on the lower level, saying they got tickets at the same price as their Valkyries season ticket has been for the Finals.

Jen Rincon, a teacher in Monterey who also has Valkyries season tickets, told SFGATE her stored-up points on Frontier meant the flight only cost her $11 – and let her get lower-bowl seats for $300. (Rincon also has a conflict with Game 7, so in the event the Valkyries lose on Thursday, she feels she can recoup some funds by selling those tickets.)

It’s barely been three years since the Bay Area even found out the region was getting a WNBA team. But for so many of the fans at SFO on Wednesday night, they bought in before they knew the players, the coaches, the team on the court and especially the experience inside “Ballhalla” every single game. Add all of it up, and most feel hooked deeper than they ever imagined.

“I think this is a moment – most of these fans [boarding the flight] are Day 1 fans,” Dana Underwood of Oakland (who also has Valkyries season tickets) told SFGATE. “I think people go to Warriors games to say they were at a Warriors game, but I think people go to Valkyries games to cheer on the team, to be immersed, to pay attention. Everyone is focused on the players and on what’s going on in a way that I haven’t experienced in other sports. It feels like a community.”

Rincon told SFGATE, “It’s just a vibe, like it’s family. It’s a very, like, welcoming place. Everyone feels welcome.”

That welcoming environment was evident on Wednesday night. Before the United flight started boarding, the fans around the gate started up a “Go Valks” chant. Over at the Frontier flight, a group gathered for a photo that seemingly delayed boarding for some because a new Valkyries fan would yell, “Wait for me!” as they raced to join the photo.

There are already plans for Valkyries fans to meet-up in Atlanta in the early morning prior to the game for breakfast, with a Partiful invite being ping-ponged rapidly among folks on the Frontier flight. And the violet-rocking Valkyries will be repping from all around the Bay, too.

Rose White of Berkeley is bringing her season ticket partner, Paulette Davis of Oakland, and friend and fellow Berkeley resident Sharon Cokes out to Atlanta. White and Davis almost missed the Frontier flight because of BART delays, but Cokes’ ride from her boyfriend was near their BART station and picked them up. Even though the Valkyries play games in San Francisco, the East Bay women feel the Valkyries practicing in Oakland allows them to rep their home still.

“It’s huge, especially because we don’t have the Raiders, we don’t have the A’s anymore,” White told SFGATE. “We’re really celebrating women’s basketball, and in particular the remarkable journey that they’re on. It’s historic. I think a lot of Valkyries fans are real basketball fans, hoop heads.”

A significant chunk of the fans SFGATE spoke to on Wednesday are returning on flights later Thursday night, signing up to spend as little as 12 hours on the ground in Atlanta before going back out West on flights. And most said they are using paid time off or have gotten approval to call out sick for the day, like Valkyries star Veronica Burton told them to after Monday’s game. (Though not everyone: a group of five women told SFGATE they didn’t want to be interviewed because a few of them hadn’t called out yet.)

It won’t be cheap, either. Two San Francisco couples – Jimmy and Kristen Walter of Lower Pac Heights and Amy Hockman and Brian Bone of Duboce Triangle – said they’re spending about $1,200 per person on the flights, game tickets, food and a hotel to crash in before tip time.

White estimated their trip, which crucially includes plans to stop at Waffle House for breakfast, will end up around $1,000 per person – though White was confident about one factor.

“We know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” White said. “When we win, the Valkyries are going to save us money, because season ticket holders already paid for Game 7. So when we win, we’re going to get a refund.”

But no matter how much people spent or what the total cost ends up, the chance to witness history – and potentially be there for the first-ever Valkyries championship – is something most felt was a priceless experience.

“There’s only ever going to be one first title,” Roberts said. “We were just like, ‘Let’s continue to be a part of history. And if this is the game they clinch it, we can’t miss it.'”

Or, as McPeak put it: “I don’t think they are coming back to Ballhalla, and that’s why I was like, ‘I have to be there. I can’t miss this game.'”

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