Give It Up for the Golden State Valkyries

Jess Smith, president of the Golden State Valkyries.Credit…Cayce Clifford for The New York Times

Jess Smith stood in the empty stands of the Chase Center in San Francisco, the home arena of the Golden State Warriors of the N.B.A., and surreptitiously surveyed her surroundings to ensure that nobody else could see or hear her.

Confident that we were alone, Smith, the president of the newest W.N.B.A. franchise, pulled off her black and gold Warriors hoodie to make a big reveal.

“It’s just me in a T-shirt,” she acknowledged. “But it’s pretty incredible.”

The merch was her way of announcing her team’s name, colors and logo all at once. So give it up for the Golden State Valkyries, named for the powerful female warriors from Norse mythology.

They will play in violet and black uniforms with a V-shaped logo — for Valkyries — that shows a Bay Bridge tower head-on, forming the shape of a sword. Bridge cables flaring from the tower create five triangles on either side, representing teams of five women squaring off on the basketball court.

Debating what the new team should be called has been a San Francisco pastime since Oct. 5, when Joe Lacob, the majority owner of the Warriors, announced that he was bringing the W.N.B.A. to San Francisco. The Valkyries are the league’s 13th team and the first new franchise to join since 2008; they will play at Chase Center starting next year.

Amanda Chin, senior vice president of marketing for the Warriors, said the team chose a name from about 200 contenders grouped in four categories: Warriors-related terms like Valkyries, local cultural references, nature, and “energy and vibe.” That last category would include names like Mystics or Sparks, which are already taken, Chin said.