The WNBA announced Tuesday that Games 3 and 4 of the 2026 WNBA Finals between the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries will take place at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, moving the matchups into an NBA venue with nearly five times the capacity of the Dream’s regular home.
To facilitate the relocation from the 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena in College Park to the downtown venue, which seats roughly 17,000 fans, the league altered both the calendar and tipoff times. Game 3 will now be played on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 8 p.m. Eastern time, moving up a day from its original date to avoid a scheduling conflict with an Oct. 22 concert at the arena. Game 4 remains scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, but will begin earlier at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Doubleheader with the Atlanta Hawks
The time change for Game 4 creates a same-day basketball doubleheader in downtown Atlanta. The NBA’s Atlanta Hawks agreed to push back the tipoff of their regular-season home opener against the Houston Rockets by 30 minutes, moving it to 8:30 p.m. Eastern time, to give arena staff enough time between contests, according to league announcements reported by NBC Sports.
The schedule modification eliminates a standard travel day between Game 2 in San Francisco and Game 3 in Atlanta, leaving both squads with a single day of rest and transit, SFGate reported. USA Today previously reported that prior efforts by the Dream to secure two other regional facilities had encountered hurdles.
“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,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.
Dream majority owner Larry Gottesdiener supported the decision, stating, “This is what the players and the fans deserve,” according to Fox News.
Reese Reacts to the Venue Change
Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese called the transition to the bigger facility a mixed feeling ahead of the title series. Reese told WSB-TV on Tuesday that she cherishes the cozy feel of Gateway Center Arena, which has served as the franchise’s primary home since 2021.
“I do love Gateway, so much, and I love the intimacy of being here and all the fans coming out and supporting us,” Reese told the television station. “But I am looking forward to everybody showing up and supporting us at State Farm, because every game has been a great turnout. Celebrities on the side… you don’t know who you’re going to see in Atlanta.”
The Dream had already announced plans to relocate permanently to State Farm Arena starting in the 2027 season, following more than 400 percent growth in season ticket memberships over five years, Bleacher Report noted. During the 2026 regular season, Atlanta hosted six games at State Farm Arena, selling out five of them.
The best-of-seven championship opens on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Chase Center in San Francisco, where the Valkyries have recorded sellouts for every home game across their two-year history, Bleacher Report reported. The Valkyries will also host Game 2, as well as Games 5 and 7 if required.
It remains uncertain where a potential Game 6 would be staged if the series extends that far on Thursday, Oct. 29. State Farm Arena is already booked that evening for an NBA game between the Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the WNBA has not announced an alternate plan or contingency venue.
