Games 3 and 4 of the WNBA Finals will be played at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena after all, the WNBA announced on Tuesday.
The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries open the best-of-seven series on Saturday in San Francisco, with Game 2 also at the Chase Center on Monday.
Game 3, originally scheduled for Oct. 22, will now take place on Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. ET in the downtown home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.
Game 4 will remain on Oct. 24, as previously scheduled, with the tip-off moving to 1 p.m. ET from 3:30 p.m. ET to accommodate the Hawks’ regular-season home opener against the Houston Rockets (8:30 p.m. ET).
It was originally reported that scheduling conflicts would prevent the games from being played at State Farm Arena, where the Dream played six of their 22 regular-season home games this year. The other 16 were played at the significantly smaller Gateway Center Arena in suburban College Park, Ga.
“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.”
Atlanta was able to host all three of its prior playoff games at State Farm Arena (capacity 17,044) and averaged 9,695 fans per game. The Gateway Center Arena holds 3,500 for basketball games.
Tickets for Games 3 and 4 will go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. ET.
“This is what the players and the fans deserve,” Dream majority owner Larry Gottesdiener said. “We are grateful to all of the stakeholders who worked together to resolve the conflicts and make this happen.”
Another potential conflict was not addressed in Tuesday’s announcement.
The Dream are also scheduled to host Game 6, if necessary, on Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. ET. The Hawks are scheduled to host the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7 p.m. ET that night.
The Dream announced last week that they will play all of their 2027 home games at State Farm Arena. The team was based there from the franchise’s inception in 2008 until 2016, when it was known as Philips Arena.
–Field Level Media
