Atlanta Dream forward DeWanna Bonner (24) celebrates after a victory over the New York Liberty in game one of the second round for the 2026 WNBA Playoffs at State Farm Arena. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images
The 2026 WNBA Finals matchup was set Friday night in dominant fashion, as both the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream swept their semfinal series — against the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty, respectively.
Las Vegas and New York had been the two most recent WNBA champions.
The Dream held off a Liberty rally to punch their ticket, while the Valkyries battled back on Las Vegas’s court to force overtime and outscore the defending champs, 16-6, in the extra period to reach their first WNBA Finals in only the team’s second year of existence.
Related
##### How the Golden State Valkyries embraced the WNBA gays from the jump
The Golden State Valkyries have made gay, lesbian, bi and trans fans a centerpiece of their entry into the WNBA.
By Charlie Smith
The matchup presents plenty of intriguing storylines, from the Valkyries potentially cementing their legacy as one of the most successful expansion franchises in American sports history to Angel Reese trying to close out her first WNBA playoffs appearance with a title alongside WNBA legend DeWanna Bonner in her final season.
Get off the sidelines and into the game
Our weekly newsletter is packed with everything from locker room chatter to pressing LGBTQ sports issues.
But another question has been on fans’ minds in the days following the matchup becoming official: why aren’t the WNBA Finals starting sooner?
Game one of the WNBA Finals is scheduled to tip off on Saturday, Oct. 17 — eight days after Atlanta and Golden State wrapped up their semifinal wins.
The delay caused some consternation among fans, but the reason why is pretty clinical: media deals.
A post shared by Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries)
All major American sports leagues currently have set dates for when their championship series/games will occur to allow their broadcast partners to build their broadcast schedules and advertising packages in advance to maximize financial and ratings performance.
The continued growth of the WNBA and women’s sports in general makes this decision even more understandable, as broadcast partners capitalize on that rise in popularity.
There are player rest and recuperation measures that factor in as well, especially with the WNBA Finals expanding to a best-of-seven series last year.
The reasons for the break are easy to explain.
Where will the Atlanta Dream play WNBA Finals home games?
What emerged as the biggest question during the break actually has nothing to do with the week of inactivity: where will the Atlanta Dream play their home WNBA Finals games?
The Dream are set to host games three, four and six (if necessary) on Oct. 22, 24 and 29. The team looks to capitalize on the popularity by moving those games to a larger venue than their regular home arena, the Gateway Center Arena at College Park.
A post shared by Atlanta Dream (@atlantadream)
Their home since 2021 seats only 3,500, which would be the smallest-capacity home arena to host a WNBA Finals game since 2019.
The Dream played six regular season games, and all of its home playoff games this season, at the 17,044-capacity State Farm Arena, the home arena of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.
So it makes sense that team management would want to secure a larger venue for its first WNBA Finals appearance since 2013.
But the same reason why major American sports leagues don’t alter their championship start dates is presenting a hurdle to those efforts: scheduling.
State Farm Arena doesn’t appear to be an option due to scheduling conflicts, including the Atlanta Hawks home opener on Oct. 24.
With the city’s largest arena being off the table, the team has two more viable options for higher-capcity buildings: Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion and Gas South Arena in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by WNBA (@wnba)
The Dream have played games at both arenas in past years, including a 2013 WNBA Finals game at Gas South Arena when it was known as The Arena at Gwinnett Center.
The Duluth stadium, with its capacity of roughly 13,000, could be the best option as there are no events scheduled for Oct. 22 and 24, but a Zach Top concert would make the arena unavailable on Oct. 29, were the series to extend to six games.
McCamish Pavilion has a smaller maximum capacity (8,600) but no direct scheduling conflicts. The only complications presented are Georgia Tech women’s volleyball games against Pittsburgh and SMU scheduled for Oct. 23 and 25, which would necessitate a large amount of work over four days to prepare the court and arena for WNBA and NCAA volleyball games on alternating days.
Related
As of Monday, Dream management still doesn’t know if the team will be able to move its 2026 WNBA Finals home games outside of its home in College Park. If a larger venue isn’t able to be secured, it would provide a proper sendoff for the small arena that housed the Dream during its return to WNBA relevance.
Since moving to Gateway Center Arena at College Park in 2021, the Dream have made the WNBA playoffs four consecutive seasons and logged consecutive 30-win seasons for the first time in team history.
The Dream will move back to State Farm Arena full-time in 2027.
Subscribe to the Outsports newsletter to keep up with your favorite out athletes, inspiring LGBTQ sports stories, and more.