WNBA Finals set to be held in a tiny gym due to conflicts

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Officials are currently seeking alternative venue for championship games as first choice already taken

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The month’s WNBA Finals games between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries may have to be played in a much smaller venue than usual as the Dream’s preferred arena has already been booked out.

By contrast, the Valkyries will host Games 1 and 2, as well as 5 and 7 if needed, at the Chase Center in San Francisco, which can hold 18,064 spectators.

Morgan Shaw Parker, the Dream’s president and chief operating officer, said last week that the team was “finalizing details on their home venue and where we will be playing” but has so far not offered an update on a larger venue.

Her team was based at the State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta from 2008 to 2016 and from 2019 to 2021. They moved five of their home games and all three of their previous home playoff games there this season and are due to return permanently in 2027.

With a capacity of 17,044, it was the obvious place for the Dream to host their championship clashes with the Valkyries, their first finals appearance in 13 years after beating the Washington Mystics and New York Liberty in the first round and semi-finals, respectively.

The Dream left State Farm, then known as Philips Arena, for the 2017-18 season while it was being refurbished and played at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion instead, before briefly returning and then switching to the Gateway Center after the Covid-19 pandemic ended.

According to USA Today, the Pavilion, which has 8,600 seats, and the nearby Gas South Arena, which has 13,000, were sounded as potential alternatives but likewise “hit a roadblock,” the outlet’s sources said.

There is a recent precedent for a WNBA Finals series being played in such a small venue: the Mystics hosted three games at the CareFirst Arena in D.C. during the 2019 finals, a venue that seats just 4,200.

“The WNBA has been hyping up Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream all season just to have them play their finals home games in front of 3,500 people,” business owner Rachelle Morris wrote on X, noting the Valkyries superior capacity and adding: “Ironically it’s the team only two years old that’s ready for prime time.”