The Atlanta Dream announced Tuesday that beginning with the 2027 season, every home game will be played at State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta, ending a six-year run at the much smaller Gateway Center Arena in College Park.
The franchise framed the move as a natural expansion of game day: “2027 GAME DAYS JUST GOT A LITTLE BIGGER. We’re bringing Atlanta Dream hoops to the heart of the city at @StateFarmArena all season long! Bigger stage, brighter lights, and more room to welcome Dream fans into the action.” An accompanying graphic declared “Bigger Stage. Same Energy!” and labeled State Farm Arena “our new home.”
Dream Announce They’ll Play All Games at State Farm Arena for 2027 Season
The multi-year agreement with the arena, also home to the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, comes as the WNBA expands its regular-season schedule from 44 to 50 games. That gives the Dream 25 home dates in a building that seats roughly 17,000, compared with the approximately 3,500 basketball capacity at Gateway Center Arena, the league’s smallest venue.
Demand has outgrown the College Park building. Under new ownership over the past five years, season-ticket membership has grown more than 400 percent, with buyers in all 50 states. The Dream have sold out every Gateway game over the last three seasons and have already sold out State Farm Arena eight times in that span, including multiple crowds above 17,000. Those sellouts supplied the sample the franchise needed to commit to a full-time move.
“This is an exciting next chapter for the Atlanta Dream, and a direct reflection of the exciting style of play that is Dream basketball, the passion of our fans and the incredible growth of this franchise,” Morgan Shaw Parker, the team’s president and COO, said in the official announcement. “Our players and our fans have transformed Gateway Center Arena into the most exciting experience in the WNBA. State Farm Arena gives us the opportunity to welcome thousands of additional fans while creating an even bigger stage for women’s basketball in Atlanta. We look forward to bringing the energy, traditions and spirit of Gateway with us to the heart of our city.”
Andrew Saltzman, president of business enterprise and chief commercial officer for the Hawks and State Farm Arena, called the Dream one of the league’s elite franchises on and off the court and said the move elevates the visibility of women’s basketball in a venue that already hosts roughly 175 events and nearly two million guests a year.
The timing coincides with a breakout season on the floor. Forward Angel Reese, in her first year with Atlanta after a trade from the Chicago Sky, was named the 2026 Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year—the first player in franchise history to win the award. She set league single-season records with 521 total rebounds and 206 offensive rebounds, averaged a career-high 16.4 points and 12.1 rebounds, and helped the Dream finish the regular season 30-14 and first in the East. The team is currently in the semifinals.
Venue history makes the return to downtown familiar. The Dream played at State Farm Arena (then Philips Arena) from their inaugural 2008 season through 2016, spent time at Georgia Tech, returned briefly, and settled at Gateway Center Arena in 2021. The team says it intends to carry the intimacy and fan traditions of the College Park building into the larger arena’s game-day design while adding more price points and premium options.
Fans can place deposits now for first access to 2027 season tickets: $27 for a lower-bowl seat or $100 for a Dream Elite Premium Membership that includes the first three rows, club access, and hospitality. Details are at the team’s site.
For a franchise that has produced 13 All-Stars, 12 playoff appearances, and three Finals trips since 2008, the move is the clearest off-court marker yet of how far the product and the audience have grown.