Atlanta Made the WNBA Finals. Why Was Finding a Real Arena So Damn Hard?
The league secured State Farm Arena for Games 3 and 4 after a scheduling dispute threatened a much smaller Finals venue.
The Atlanta Dream made their first Finals since 2013. The Golden State Valkyries made the Finals in just their second season. Somehow the question hanging over all that history was whether Atlanta would have to play its championship home games in a building that seats about 3,500 people.
State Farm Arena had conflicts with concerts and the Atlanta Hawks. On October 13, the WNBA announced those conflicts were resolved for Games 3 and 4. That's a win for fans, but the league shouldn't have had to scramble this close to a championship.
What matters here
Game 3 will be Wednesday, October 21 at 8 p.m. ET. Game 4 stays Saturday, October 24, with an earlier 1 p.m. ET tip. The Hawks moved that evening's home opener to 8:30 p.m. The new venue accommodates roughly 17,000 fans; a possible Game 6 scheduling conflict has not been resolved in the announcement.
I've been watching people call women's basketball a growth story. Cool. Then act like it. Championship teams deserve championship infrastructure. Nobody should be forcing families to choose between a tiny venue and an overpriced resale market because basic calendar planning wasn't settled.
My take
The Finals open Saturday, October 17 at Chase Center. The basketball itself deserves to be the headline when that day arrives.
LEAGUE SOURCEWNBA official schedule and venue announcementRead or watch the original source; all external media rights remain with their owners.
INDEPENDENT REPORTReuters reporting on venue conflictsRead or watch the original source; all external media rights remain with their owners.
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