Spurned by the WNBA, Oaklanders have embraced the Valkyries anyway

"It's a long way from Oakland to a Golden State Valkyries game. The WNBA's newest expansion franchise is owned by Joe Lacob's Golden State Group, and the Valkyries share a home with the Warriors at Chase Center, an arena notoriously not located in the East Bay. Chase is in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood, an ever-evolving waterfront development that curls around the shoreline south of the Bay Bridge like a crook."

"To get there, Oaklanders have a few options, none terribly convenient. They can take a bus to BART to Muni. They can coordinate a massive carpool, paying $85 for on-site parking. They can remember to buy ferry tickets weeks in advance. They can try to mix in a bike ride on either end of a bus or BART trip across the bay. Or they can say to hell with it and call a Lyft."

Oakland fans travel to San Francisco's Chase Center to attend Golden State Valkyries games despite inconvenient, costly, and time-consuming transit options. The Valkyries are a WNBA expansion franchise owned by Joe Lacob's Golden State Group and share the Warriors' arena in Mission Bay. Commuting options include layered transit (bus to BART to Muni), ferries needing advance purchase, expensive on-site parking, organized carpools, biking combined with transit, or rideshares. These barriers have not stopped East Bay residents from traveling together and forming transit-based communities. Queer women and longtime Oaklanders have embraced the team while feeling that professional basketball has shifted to San Francisco.

Read at The Oaklandside