ATLANTA — After successfully adjusting two WNBA Finals games, the Atlanta Dream now face questions about how they’ll host Thursday’s Game 6.
The Golden State Valkyries beat the Dream 67-62 on Saturday to tie the series 2-2 and force a Game 6 in the best-of-seven finals. An Atlanta Hawks game against the Cleveland Cavaliers is scheduled to tip off in State Farm Arena at 7 p.m. ET Thursday, an hour before Game 6 of the finals is scheduled.
Games 2 and 3 of the finals were moved to the downtown Atlanta arena to accommodate a larger crowd than the Dream’s usual Gateway Center home can handle. Gateway Center seats 3,500; State Farm Arena can seat 17,000. Atlanta sold out five of six regular-season games at State Farm Arena.
Atlanta forward Angel Reese said she wants the Dream to welcome their fans for Game 6 at State Farm after a sellout in Game 3.
“The fan support here has been amazing, and we appreciate the love and support,” Reese said.
Heading into the finals, the Dream faced conflicts because of a concert scheduled for the same day as Game 3 and a Hawks game on the date of Game 4. The Dream moved Game 3 up a day and adjusted the tipoff time of Game 4 so both teams could play.
Hawks CEO Steve Koonin recently said on a radio appearance that rescheduling the Hawks game would be a league decision.
A Dream source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, said the Hawks game is movable.
One option is rescheduling the Hawks-Cavaliers game to Friday, opening up Thursday for the WNBA Finals. The Hawks and Cavs are both slated for games Wednesday and Thursday, meaning they couldn’t play Thursday’s game any earlier to make room for the Dream in the evening. Rescheduling the Cavaliers-Hawks game to Friday would mean both teams would have a Friday-Saturday back-to-back.
The Cavaliers’ game Saturday, however, is on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks. That game — if the World Series goes to a seventh game, which would be played in Milwaukee — might have scheduling considerations separate from the WNBA-NBA complications of Game 6 of the Valkyries-Dream series.
Another hiccup in a plan to move Cavaliers-Hawks back one day: Friday is the first day of NBA Cup group-stage games, and the Cavaliers-Hawks matchup, if it were moved from Thursday to Friday, would be on an NBA Cup night despite not being a Cup game.
The Minnesota Lynx moved their 2026 regular-season opener (incidentally, against the Dream) to accommodate a Minnesota Timberwolves NBA playoff game. Chase Center postponed a Doja Cat concert originally scheduled for Monday, which was Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, to Sunday.
Those logistics were easier to navigate. The Lynx and Timberwolves are under the same ownership group. Golden State Warriors and Valkyries owner Joe Lacob also owns the arena they play in. The Dream and the Hawks are not co-owned, though Atlanta’s WNBA team will become a full-time tenant of State Farm Arena in 2027.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Atlanta Dream, WNBA
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