The Atlanta Dream averaged 6,928 fans per game at their home matchups this WNBA season. That is almost double the capacity of their 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena, which meant that the team had to use the 17,000-seat State Farm Arena for some of its biggest games.
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So the math is pretty clear: Gateway Center Arena can no longer accommodate the growing demand surrounding the franchise as the team’s primary home. As a result, the Dream has now announced a new multi-year agreement that will take Angel Reese and the rest of the team to a new but familiar home ground.
In a press release on Oct. 6, the Atlanta Dream announced that starting with the 2027 WNBA season, they will play all 25 home games at the 17,000-capacity State Farm Arena. According to the team’s press release, the move was clearly driven by the remarkable growth in popularity and ticket demand the franchise has experienced, demand that has simply outgrown their current venue and made the shift to a larger, permanent home not just logical but necessary.
The relationship between the Atlanta Dream and State Farm Arena is not new. In fact, it started way before this season. From their inaugural season in 2008 through 2016, the arena, then known as Philips Arena, was actually their full-time home court. During that stretch, however, the team was averaging between 5,400 and 8,500 fans per game. And attendance even dipped to its lowest point after 2016, when a massive multi-year renovation of the building finally prompted the move to McCamish Pavilion in 2017.
The Dream would then move back to the newly renovated State Farm Arena for one season shortly after, but that campaign produced an even lower attendance average of 4,270 fans per game, ranking second-to-last in the league. The circumstances were clearly different then from where the franchise stands today.
The Dream’s stint at the smaller Gateway Center Arena, which will now come to an end after this season, started in 2020. Persistent disagreements with the Atlanta Hawks’ management group over rent and operating costs at the larger venue had made the arrangement financially relatively unattractive.
The Dream was paying to fill a cavernous stadium that sat 75 percent empty night after night. Unable to reach an agreement, the Dream’s front office made the deliberate decision to right-size, moving to a smaller venue that could be consistently filled and operated sustainably.
Now, the equation has flipped entirely. The Atlanta Dream have grown to the point where Gateway Center Arena can no longer meet the team’s needs. In fact, this season, five of the six marquee games the team relocated to State Farm Arena sold out at full capacity.
Before this season, the Dream had sold out that arena only thrice: twice in 2024 for highly anticipated matchups against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, and once more against the Fever in 2025. Interestingly, of the five sellouts this season, two were again against the Indiana Fever, with the remaining three coming against the Aces and the Chicago Sky. This is perhaps a sign that the team’s broader appeal has grown well beyond a single rivalry.
As it appears, the transition to State Farm Arena is already underway. The Dream hosted their first-round playoff series against the Washington Mystics at State Farm Arena, and Game 1 of the WNBA Semifinals against the New York Liberty took place there as well. The team has also confirmed that all remaining home semifinal games, including Game 2 and a potential Game 5, will take place at State Farm Arena. And by the time the 2027 season tips off, it will simply be home.