The Atlanta Dream booked a trip to the WNBA Finals this year for the first time since 2013, but there was a major obstacle in sight: State Farm Arena, the Dream's home starting next year, wasn't available on the days needed for the Finals because of scheduled Atlanta Hawks games and a concert. The WNBA games were needing to be played on Thursday, Oct. 22 and Saturday, Oct. 24. On the Thursday, pop artist Sombr is scheduled to play the arena at night.
On Saturday, the Hawks will play their home opener at 8:30 p.m. WNBA fans were worried the Dream would have to play their games at their home Gateway Center Arena, which can only hold 3,500 fans opposed to State Farm Arena's 17,000+ capacity. The league made the appropriate adjustments to the scheduling on Tuesday, though, to end any doubt fans had about where the Dream would host Games 3 and 4 of the Finals.
Game 3 originally set for Thursday will instead be played on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at State Farm Arena. Then, Game 4's tip-off will move up a couple hours to 1 p.m. ET instead of 3:30 p.m., that way both the Dream and the Hawks can play at the arena on the same day.
It's great that this hosting situation was solved as the Dream deserve a proper arena to host the WNBA Finals. The Dream are looking to win the franchise's first WNBA title with a win over the Golden State Valkyries. The games hosted by the Valkyries will be played at Chase Center, and there luckily wasn't any scheduling conflicts with the Golden State Warriors or any concerts.
The Finals start on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 3:30 p.m.
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