The Golden State Valkyries have broken the WNBA mold in so many ways in their two years of existence. But in the franchise's first trip to the WNBA Finals, they will get a taste of the old ways of the W.
When the Valkyries travel to Atlanta to face the Dream, they appear likely to play their road games in the seven-game WNBA Finals series at the 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena in College Park, located about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta. According to reports from The IX Sports, WSB-TV and USA Today, the Dream's attempts to find a different arena in the Atlanta area have been unsuccessful and make Gateway Center Arena the likely host venue.
Gateway Center Arena has been the Dream's home arena for the last six seasons. But the Dream played their first three WNBA playoff games at the much larger State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta, the venue the NBA's Hawks play. That arena has a capacity of over 17,000 and the Dream drew more than 9,500 fans for their first three WNBA playoff games.
But State Farm Arena, which is operated by the Hawks, has conflicts with all three possible home game dates for the Dream in their series with the Valkyries. Game 3 would be on Oct. 22, when Sombr is set to play a concert there. Game 4 is two days later on Oct. 24, when the Hawks have their home opener against the Rockets. And if the series goes to Game 6 on Oct. 29, the Hawks are scheduled to host the Heat.
The Valkyries appeared to have a conflict with one WNBA Finals date, as a Doja Cat concert was originally booked for Monday, Oct. 26 - the date of a possible Game 5. But Golden State officials said last week they had a contingency date in their contract in the event of a WNBA Finals game, and the concert was officially moved to Sunday, Oct. 25 once the Valkyries swept the Aces.
The Dream have called State Farm Arena their home twice before, took multiple regular season games there in the last few years (including six this year) and are set to return to the downtown arena full-time in 2027 in a multi-year deal. But because it was not their home this year, it's understandable that the Hawks booked events for State Farm Arena without the same contractual flexibility that the Valkyries have at Chase Center.
According to USA Today, the Dream have also explored playing at other arenas in the area, including the 13,000-seat Gas South Arena in Gwinnett and at Georgia Tech's 8,500-seat McCamish area. But USA Today reported the team's efforts "hit a roadblock."
Being forced out of your home arena has been a frequent issue in the WNBA over the league's 30-year history. Teams were regularly forced to take playoff games to smaller venues in their home markets because their regular arenas had a different event scheduled that got priority. (The Dream had this happen in their last trip to the WNBA Finals in 2013.)
The Valkyries also experienced this last year. The team had to move their first-ever playoff game to San Jose's SAP Center because the team had booked the Laver Cup, an international tennis competition, before the Golden State ownership knew they were getting a WNBA team. After that happened, Golden State president Brandon Schneider told SFGATE the team said Valkyries games "need to be at Chase Center, just as Warriors games need to be at Chase Center."
This situation isn't an exact replica, since the Dream are about to play in their usual home arena in College Park. But it's definitely not ideal to play WNBA Finals games in an arena with a capacity that's smaller than many high school gyms across the country.
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This article originally published at Valkyries set to play road WNBA Finals games in high school-sized gym.