Atlanta Dream to host Finals Games 3 and 4 in much larger arena after days-long drama
Atlanta's Rhyne Howard shoots during the Dream's win over the New York Liberty on Wednesday. The game was played at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
(CNN) — The Atlanta Dream may have racked up a ton of steals on the court against opponents in this WNBA postseason, but the franchise just got a major assist ahead of the Finals against the Golden State Valkyries.
On Tuesday, it was announced the WNBA Finals schedule would be altered for Game 3 and Game 4 to accommodate the Dream using State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta instead of the team’s home base, Gateway Center Arena in nearby College Park, Georgia. The Gateway Center has the smallest capacity in the league at 3,500 and State Farm Arena, home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, holds around 17,000.
Game 3, originally scheduled for October 22, will now be played October 21. Game 4 will remain on October 24, but tipoff is moving up to 1 p.m. ET to accommodate the Hawks’ home opener against the Houston Rockets later that night. The Hawks agreed to move the start time of their game to 8:30 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. ET.
The WNBA Finals begin Saturday in San Francisco at Chase Center, the home of the Valkyries, which has the fifth-largest capacity in the league at more than 18,000. The series is a 2-2-1-1-1 format.
“This is what the players and the fans deserve,” Dream majority owner Larry Gottesdiener said in a statement. “We are grateful to all of the stakeholders who worked together to resolve the conflicts and make this happen.”
Both fan bases for the Dream and the Valkyries are sharing the excitement of getting to the WNBA Finals. But the two teams were dealing with vastly different circumstances on where these games will be played – as fervent Atlanta fans were worried they would have massive trouble getting a coveted ticket close to home.
The Dream previously used State Farm Arena for some games this season, including the playoffs. But the way the WNBA Finals schedule had originally been constructed, all three of the games Atlanta could host had conflicts at that venue.
“We are thrilled that we will be able to accommodate the Dream as they host Games 3 and 4 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena,” said Andrew Saltzman, president of business enterprise and chief commercial officer for the Hawks and State Farm Arena. “Playing for a championship is special, and we want the Dream to feel the full support of the city during this amazing run.”
The Dream advanced to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013 and the Valkyries are reaching the championship stage in just the team’s second season.
It’s got the makings of a blockbuster matchup in Angel Reese vs. Gabby Williams. Either Atlanta or Golden State will be a first-time WNBA Finals champion.
But the focus had been on the number of seats available – or, in this case, not available. And just like in 2013, there had been a possibility the Dream wouldn’t be able to play in downtown Atlanta in a large arena used heavily for professional basketball with a championship on the line.
“We are grateful for the efforts made by numerous stakeholders, including the Dream, the Valkyries, the Hawks, State Farm Arena, and NBC Sports and USA Sports,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “The change of venue dramatically expands the seating capacity and ensures that the Dream will be able to provide an extraordinary atmosphere for the first WNBA Finals game to be played in the Atlanta market since 2013. We are pleased that thousands more fans across the Southeast region will have the opportunity to experience the ultimate WNBA action – the WNBA Finals – in person.”
The Dream, which joined the WNBA as an expansion team in 2008, used State Farm Arena – then known as Philips Arena – for home games from 2008-2016.
But despite having it as a home base during the 2013 WNBA Finals, the Dream had to move from downtown Atlanta to Duluth – a suburb in Gwinnett County – for Game 3 because of Disney On Ice. It was the only home game the Dream hosted, getting swept by the Minnesota Lynx in that best-of-five series.
Gateway Center Arena has been the team’s full-time home arena for the last six years. The team will move back to State Farm Arena full time in 2027.
Not all WNBA franchises in cities that also have NBA teams have the same ownership or same arena. That applies here: The Dream franchise has a different ownership group than the Hawks.
The Valkyries, meanwhile, share owners with their NBA counterpart, the Golden State Warriors. They share Chase Center in San Francisco.
And ahead of time, the Valkyries committed to all home games in this Finals being at their home arena. The team previously had announced a Doja Cat concert – scheduled the same night as Game 2 of the WNBA Finals coming up Monday – would be moved if Golden State got that far. Golden State has the home-court advantage against Atlanta and will host Games 1 and 2 and, if necessary, Game 5 and Game 7.
The original schedule conflict involved all three games the Dream could host. Game 3, which originally was scheduled for October 22, is the same night as a Sombr concert at State Farm Arena. Game 6, if necessary, also falls on the same date as a Hawks home game, October 29 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
No plan to deconflict with that Hawks game has yet been announced, should the series reach a Game 6.
While it’s common for NBA teams to take precedence if there’s a double booking at the team’s home arena – it notably happened to the Hawks in 2023, when a Janet Jackson concert got postponed for a first-round playoff game against the Boston Celtics – there is previous history where WNBA playoff games have been moved away from a team’s home arena over the course of the WNBA’s 30 seasons.
Just last year, the Valkyries – shocking the WNBA world by reaching the playoffs in their inaugural season in 2025 – moved a first-round playoff game more than 40 miles away to SAP Center in San Jose, the home of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. The game was relocated because the Laver Cup, a tennis event, was booked at Chase Center.
The Valkyries were swept in that best-of-three series by the Lynx.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
