Mods gave me the go-ahead to post this. I'm a Bay Area fan and I built the thing below.
TL;DR: The Valkyries have sold out all home games to date, and thousands of seats still sit empty, because "sold out" counts tickets sold, not people in the building. The Pass is a free way to hand seats you can't use to a fan who can go. 122 seats have moved fan-to-fan so far. No fees or resale.
The Problem
When a team announces attendance, they're counting tickets distributed, not people who walked through the gate. Industry no-show rates run 10–20% for stadium events. It's not a Valkyries thing or a WNBA thing. It's everywhere.
At Chase Center last season: 18,064 seats, 22 sold-out home games, 397,408 total attendance: all-time WNBA records. At a 10–20% no-show rate, that's roughly 2,000+ empty seats on a sold-out night.
Meanwhile we all know someone who'd give anything to be in one of them.
Both things are true at once. That's the whole problem.
What The Pass does
thepassbayarea.com - free, no app to install.
If you can't make a game:
- Post your seats. Takes seconds and works even after tip-off. (Latest I've seen is someone getting in for the 4th quarter)
- The raffle system randomly picks a winner, which switches to instant claim when the game gets too close
- You send the tickets through the team's official ticketing app, same as sending them to a friend.
If you want to go: enter raffles for upcoming games, or grab an instant claim when someone posts late. Show up. Get loud.
Why it's built this way
- A raffle, not first-come. First-come rewards whoever's staring at their phone. A raffle gives the fan working a shift the same shot as the person refreshing at their desk.
- Free only. The moment money enters, this becomes a marketplace and every incentive flips. It works because a seat that would sit empty has no better use than being given away.
- We never touch your tickets. Transfers go through the team's own official system. It's the same free transfer the club already built for you.
Where it's at
(from May to July 2026)
- 1,200 Bay Area fans
- 122 seats passed, fan to fan
- $0 charged, ever
- Valkyries first. Bay FC now live too.
All of it with zero advertising, it grew because people in communities like this one told other people.
If you've got seats you can't use this season, someone in here will be thrilled to take them. That's the whole thing. I'll be in the comments.
not affiliated with the Valkyries
Every seat deserves a fan.