WNBA Moves Games 3 and 4 of the Finals to State Farm Arena, Giving Atlanta Thousands More Seats

WNBA Finals Games 3 and 4 Move to State Farm Arena, Giving Atlanta Roughly 17,000 Seats Instead of 3,500 at Gateway Center Arena

Craig Carton can't believe the WNBA Finals will be played in Atlanta in front of 3,500 people | Craig's cartoon show

The WNBA Finals are almost over, but the controversy is brewing. The Atlanta games will only hold 3,500 fans because State Farm Arena was booked for another event. Craig Carton cuts through the planning chaos.

The WNBA will move Games 3 and 4 of the Finals to State Farm Arena in Atlanta, giving the Dream thousands of additional seats for sale. To accomplish this, the league moves one game to another day and changes the start time of another game.

The league announced Tuesday that Game 3 against the Golden State Valkyries will be played Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. ET, one day earlier than originally scheduled.

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Game 4 will remain on Saturday, October 24, but the shift will start at 3:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. ET. The NBA's Atlanta Hawks also agreed to move their home opener against the Houston Rockets back 30 minutes from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., to match the dream.

State Farm Arena already has a Sombr concert scheduled for Oct. 22, which conflicts with Game 3. The new arrangement allows Atlanta to use a building that seats roughly 17,000 instead of its usual home, the roughly 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena.

Commissioner Cathy Englebert said the move will "dramatically increase seating capacity" and bring in thousands more fans around the world. The Southeast will have the opportunity to attend the first Finals game played in the Atlanta market since 2013.

"This is what the players and fans deserve," added Larry Gottsdiener, the majority owner of the Roya.

The best-of-seven series begins Saturday, Oct. 17, in San Francisco, with Golden State hosting the first two games before the finale moves to Atlanta.

Game 6, if necessary, is scheduled for Oct. 29 in Atlanta. Tuesday's announcement did not specify where the game would be played.

Atlanta has already covered the top tier seats during these playoffs

As Outkick pointed out last week, curtains covered the upper level seats during Atlanta's semifinal game against the New York Liberty. The Dream reported 9,745 fans for that Oct. 4 game in an arena that normally seats about 17,000.

"We just decided to open the lower bowl with the short rotation and really focus on selling those tickets," said a Dream spokesperson. The team said it eventually opened up a portion of the upper level after selling about 8,800 lower-bowl seats.

Atlanta sold out five of its six regular-season games at State Farm Arena, but there's a reason behind the frenzy. The two featured Indiana Fever Kaitlin Clark, and there's no extra ground for having the league's biggest star in town.

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Two shutouts against Las Vegas, Atlanta's home opener, and that Barbie-themed game. The competition was Chicago HBCU and Divine Nine Night. The lone sellout game, against Toronto Tempo, drew 9,685 fans.

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So, is a WNBA Finals game as big a draw as those events? We are finding out.

Tickets don't go on sale to the general public until Oct. 16, just five days before Game 3. Remember, Dream mentioned a "short rotation" when explaining why they initially kept the upper bowl closed earlier in the playoffs. Now, they've put themselves in a similar spot, and this time, they're promising thousands more fans the chance to be there.

A bigger arena looks great in a press release. Let's see how much of it the dream really needs.

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