"We made it to the Finals, but we don't have a home court?" Pushed out by a concert... "Absurd WNBA situation" Atlanta's Game 3, 4, and 6 venues undetermined

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team advanced to the Finals, yet they have no venue to host their home games. The Atlanta Dream has found itself in an unexpected predicament.

Reuters reported on the 13th (Korean time), "Due to scheduling issues, Atlanta will not be able to host WNBA Finals games at State Farm Arena, the home court of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Atlanta Hawks."

Atlanta will face off against the Golden State Valkyries for the WNBA championship.

Game 1 of the Finals is scheduled for 4:30 a.m. on the 18th at Chase Center in San Francisco, California, USA. Game 2 will also be held at Chase Center, Golden State's home venue, at 9:00 a.m. on the 20th.

The venue will then shift to Atlanta, with Game 3 scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on the 23rd and Game 4 for 4:30 a.m. on the 25th. If the series extends to six games, Atlanta's home game will take place at 9:00 a.m. on the 30th.

The problem is that the venues for Games 3 and 4, which Atlanta is set to host, as well as Game 6 if necessary, have not yet been determined.

During this season's regular season, Atlanta played six of its 22 home games at State Farm Arena, located in downtown Atlanta. The remaining 16 games were held at Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia.

All three of their playoff games were hosted at State Farm Arena. This venue, which has a capacity of 17,044, averaged an attendance of 9,695 across the three playoff games.

However, they cannot use State Farm Arena for the Finals.

According to reports, a concert by singer Sombr is scheduled for the 22nd (local US time), the day Game 3 is set to be played. NBA Atlanta Hawks regular season games are scheduled at this venue on the 24th, the day of Game 4, and on the 29th, the day of Game 6 if it becomes necessary.

As a result, Atlanta, which advanced to the WNBA Finals, has been unable to use the large home arena due to conflicts with a concert and NBA schedules.

However, hosting the Finals at their existing home venue, Gateway Center Arena, is also not easy. The venue's capacity for basketball games is only 3,500. This is approximately one-fifth the size of State Farm Arena.

This stands in contrast to the situation of their opponent, Golden State. Golden State will host Games 1 and 2, as well as Games 5 and 7 if necessary, at Chase Center in San Francisco.

Chase Center, which is also used by the NBA's Golden State Warriors, has a capacity of 18,064 for basketball games.

In particular, Golden State has recorded sellouts in all home games played at Chase Center so far this season.

Atlanta had already felt the need for a larger venue. The team announced last week that it would play all its home games at State Farm Arena starting from the 2027 season.

However, coincidentally, they will not be able to use State Farm Arena in this Finals series where they are challenging for the WNBA title.

Reuters reported, "Currently, Atlanta is looking for a venue to move its Finals home games to a larger arena instead of Gateway Center Arena."

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original