State Farm Arena workers change Dream’s WNBA Finals court in time for Hawks to host night game

ATLANTA (AP) — Once the WNBA Finals game finished, State Farm Arena workers got started preparing for the NBA.

Atlanta’s arena conducted its first same-day court changeover on Saturday, removing the floor the Dream played on and replacing it with the one used by the Hawks.

Game 4 of the WNBA Finals, won by the Golden State Valkyries, started at 1 p.m. EDT. The Hawks were set to welcome the Houston Rockets at 8:30 p.m. for their home opener.

Approximately 2,500 staff members will work across the two events, helping with a changeover the arena estimated would take three to 3 1/2 hours.

“From the court to the concourses it’s a total building reset in order to welcome our Hawks fans back into our world class venue,” said Amanda Mann, chief facilities officer for the Hawks and State Farm Arena.

The move comes after the two Atlanta franchises worked together to solve a scheduling crunch. The Dream moved from their regular home at Gateway Center to accommodate larger crowds, forcing a doubleheader with the Hawks. The WNBA moved the game from 3:30 to 1 p.m., and the Hawks slid their game back from 8 p.m. to 8:30 to allow enough time for the arena staff to change the court.

“Our conversions team practices, actually pretty regularly, taking apart the court and putting it back together,” Mann said. “We’re fortunate that both the Dream court and the Hawks court are the same type of court, so being able to practice with the Hawks court doing exactly what I just said has really helped them get ready for today.”

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