The Atlanta Dream's home for multiple games during the 2026 WNBA Finals has been finalized.
The organization will play Game 3 against the Golden State Valkyries at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 21, with Game 4 topping off at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 24 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, two people with direct knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports. The people requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision publicly.
The date for Game 3 was changed from Thursday, Oct. 22 to accommodate the venue change, but the time remains the same with an 8 p.m. ET tipoff televised on USA Network. While Game 4 remains on Oct. 24, the tipoff time has moved to 1 p.m. ET from its original 3:30 p.m. to accommodate an Atlanta
Hawks game at State Farm the same day. The Hawks game has been moved from an 8 p.m. ET start to an 8:30 p.m. tipoff.
A potential Game 6 (8 p.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 29), is still currently scheduled to be at the Dream's home venue, Gateway Center Arena (3,500 seats). However, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY that additional discussions could happen to assess whether that facility will remain the venue of choice for Game 6.
After making the WNBA Finals, the Dream hoped to play at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. This year, the team hosted six regular-season contests and three postseason games at the venue. Still, initial talks to move Finals games were unsuccessful before Tuesday due to scheduling conflicts with a concert and two Atlanta Hawks games.
The Dream attempted to explore other venue options in the Atlanta area, such as Gas South Arena (up to 13,000 seats) and Georgia Tech's McCamish Pavilion (8,600 seats). Those efforts hit a roadblock.
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, the Dream announced they will call State Farm Arena home next year. Next season, the WNBA will move to 50 games, and State Farm will host the Dream's 25 home contests.
The Golden State Valkyries, who are hosting Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 of the Finals, will play at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Chase Center is the team's home throughout the WNBA regular season and has hosted multiple playoff games. Last year, Golden State's home playoff game relocated from the Chase Center because of a scheduling conflict with a tennis tournament. This year, after the Valkyries made the WNBA Finals, a concert, scheduled for the same day as Game 2 (Oct. 19), was moved.
"We will not play a game outside of Chase Center this postseason," Valkyries team president Jess Smith said recently. "Our ownership group (has) been committed to that. ... We understand the prioritization."
Atlanta advanced to the Finals after sweeping the Washington Mystics in the first round, and the New York Liberty in the semifinals. The Dream returned to the Finals for the first time since the 2013 season. The franchise is 0-9 all-time in Finals games.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Atlanta Dream WNBA Finals home games 3 and 4 moved to larger arena
