San Francisco is about to become a WNBA city, and on paper, this should be a slam dunk. The Bay Area loves basketball. The Warriors brand carries global weight. Women's basketball is experiencing a genuine boom in popularity, with attendance and TV ratings surging across the league. The timing couldn't be better.

But here's the part nobody wants to say out loud: San Francisco has a long and painful history of not supporting its newer sports ventures. The city talks a big game about progressive values and supporting women in sports, but talking and actually buying season tickets are two very different things.

The real question isn't whether the Valkyries can play — early signs suggest they're building a competitive, entertaining product. The question is whether the economics work. Chase Center isn't cheap to operate. Ticket prices need to be accessible enough to build a real fanbase, not just attract tech executives looking for a virtuous night out. And the city itself needs to make game nights feasible — meaning transit that actually runs late enough to get fans home and streets around the arena that feel safe after dark.

We're rooting for the Valkyries. Genuinely. More professional sports in San Francisco means more economic activity, more community pride, and more reasons to actually leave your apartment on a weeknight. But civic enthusiasm without civic infrastructure is just a press release.

The Valkyries are doing their part on the court. Now it's on the city — and on us — to do ours off it.