The WNBA Finals are scheduled to begin in four days, and as of now, the Atlanta Dream don't have a desirable home venue for the series. I'll need someone to explain to me how that's possible.
From here, it looks like straight-up negligence and management malpractice.
What we're being told is that State Farm Arena, the 17,044-capacity home of the Hawks and where the Dream played their previous playoff games, is already booked on the dates Atlanta is scheduled to host the Golden State Valkyries. And the Dream's regular home, Gateway Center Arena, is too small to host the finals, with its capacity of 3,500, but remains the fallback plan as efforts to find a larger venue have failed, according to USA TODAY Sports.
What that doesn't explain is why the
team waited until now to find a contingency plan. I'm no expert in the field of venue booking, but isn't this something they could have ironed out before the season started? Or at least before the playoffs. Unless Dream management thought there was no way the team would still be alive right now. In which case, way to believe!
That doesn't completely check out either, though. The Dream were a playoff team and No. 3 seed last year, trending up after trading for Angel Reese. They were expected to be good. They also knew they were outgrowing Gateway Center because they sold out every game there the last three years, according to a release from the team announcing State Farm Arena as their new home beginning in 2027. Oh, and they sold out State Farm eight times in that span too.
All signs were pointing to a team with a passionate fanbase that would predictably show up if the Dream made a deep playoff run. And because they don't share ownership with the Hawks or State Farm Arena, they needed to have a backup plan for how to accommodate those fans.
With better planning, the Dream might've been able to gain priority at State Farm over the Sombr concert scheduled Oct. 22, the same day as Game 3, but they were never going to bump the Hawks games on Oct. 24 and 29, which overlap with Games 4 & 6 of the WNBA Finals. There's certainly some bad luck involved with the scheduling, but the Dream needed to have another arena lined up for this worst-case scenario come true.
The WNBA was incentivized to make sure they had a plan too. According to Sports Business Journal, teams contribute 20 percent of their net finals gate up to $500,000 to the league.
Instead, all parties apparently sat on their hands, and Atlanta's players and fans will pay the price -- literally. If the game is played at Gateway Center, the few fans fortunate enough to attend will pay a premium to get in. The players won't get the full big-arena experience they deserve for the biggest games of their lives. And if the Dream find an alternate venue last minute, it'll be a new environment for everyone. Which isn't ideal either.
This was a failure on the Dream's part. The players and fans deserved better.
Sean McVay has regrets
Week 5 was not a banner week for NFL head coaches. And it continued into Monday night as the Los Angeles Rams fell to the Buffalo Bills in overtime.
Though Rams coach Sean McVay laid some of the blame at the feet of his kicker, he also took accountability for his role in setting up the missed field goal that set up Buffalo to win the game:
"I wish I would've had a better play call and gone for, gotten it a lot tighter. I'm sick right now with myself," McVay said. "And I'm so proud of that group. This is the tough part of sports, but I'm proud of that team. I'm proud of the way that we battled and I'm sick that we came up short. I'll be regretting kicking that and not having a better call to be able to go for it on third down. It's on me."
At least the coaches are all owning up to their mistakes.
Quick hits: Cardinal sin ... fantasy advice ... and more
- FTW's NFL Week 6 power rankings have one new team creeping into the top-10.
- The Cardinals reportedly refused Marvin Harrison Jr.'s request for a "Seeker" workout machine.
- UCLA coach Bob Chesney called out Oregon's "shameful" punch on injured QB Nico Iamaleava.
- It's slim pickings on the Week 6 fantasy football waiver wire... and here's some hold, drop, trade advice.
- Mike Vrabel's injury update on A.J. Brown was encouraging for fantasy managers.
- The Carolina Hurricanes roasted Philadelphia sports with one mind-blowing stat.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: Atlanta Dream management failed players and fans with WNBA Finals arena conflict
