Sports
Venue Secured: Atlanta Dream Scores Larger Arena For 2026 WNBA Finals
The Atlanta Dream's worries are over as the team has worked out a venue solution for the 2026 WNBA Finals.
ATLANTA, GA — It appears the Atlanta Dream has worked out scheduling conflicts keeping them from playing in the 2026 WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena.
The team on Tuesday announced plans to host games 3 and 4 at the hometown arena, which also houses the Atlanta Hawks.
A concert and two Hawks games initially prevented the Dream from hosting contender Golden State Valkyries at home in the Finals, but the two Atlanta teams have since come to a solution.
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Game 3 will be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, while Game 4 will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24. at State Farm, which holds at least 17,000 people.
The latter will be a doubleheader with the Hawks taking on the Houston Rockets at 8:30 p.m., Oct. 24, for its 2026-27 regular season opener.
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It was not immediately known if the Finals will be held at State Farm if the series continues into Game 6.
The Dream said relocating the third and fourth games was "a complex undertaking that required extraordinary collaboration to navigate numerous challenges in a short time period."
If the team did not find a replacement for the Gateway Center, a 3,500-seat arena where most of the Dream's regular season home games were played, the team would've had to play the Finals in the smaller space.
"Ensuring that Games 3 and 4 of the Finals will be played at State Farm Arena is an important moment for the Dream's players, fans, the organization and the City of Atlanta and is a testament to the extraordinary momentum of the team, women's basketball and the growing impact of women's sports," the Hawks and Dream said in a joint statement.
The Finals will begin at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Chase Center in San Francisco. The Dream (No. 4) will start the series on the road as the Valkyries (No. 2) held a higher seed at the end of the regular season.
The first two games will be played at Chase, affectionately dubbed "Ballhalla," and the Dream are set to host the third and fourth game in the possible seven-game series.
Tickets for Atlanta's home games will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Friday. Anyone desiring early access can join the Dream's priority list or register for the presale.
The games will air on Peacock. USA Today and NBC will each air select games.
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