That time Mickey Mouse sent the Atlanta Dream packing

By her count, Sara Lee Parker has been to just over 220 Atlanta Dream games.

Her fandom — and intro to the WNBA — started in their inaugural 2008 season.

Parker, a Bainbridge native who lives in East Atlanta, said her dedication includes regular season, playoffs and all three of the Dream’s prior WNBA Finals appearances. She belongs to a small group of fans who were original ambassadors for the Dream.

After clinching their fourth Finals trip by sweeping the New York Liberty this month, it was unclear to fans like Parker where the Dream — who will move back to State Farm Arena from Gateway Center in 2027 — would play their Game 3 and 4 home matchups against the Golden State Valkyries.

Less than a week before the best-of-seven series kicked off, confusion, anger and even a change.org petition swirled online. How could the team and city be shorted a proper venue with stakes this high?

Folks called on everyone — from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens — to intervene. Ultimately, a collaborative effort from the Dream, Valkyries, Hawks, NBA, WNBA and both leagues’ broadcast partners brought a solution.

Games 3 and 4 will be played at State Farm Arena.

Before the deal was struck, Parker joined others in sharing her displeasure on social media.

“There were so much chatter, so many pissed people like, ‘What?!’ I think the fans really spoke out. To me, that’s huge. That wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago,” she said.

Parker is referencing both an outpouring of support for the Dream, and willingness for power players to broker deals for women’s sports.

WNBA teams being moved away from their home courts for big matchups in favor of other major sporting or entertainment events has been a part of the league’s history, including its Atlanta franchise.

Mickey Mouse 1, WNBA 0

Parker remembers 2013, when the Dream, down 2-0 in their best-of-five WNBA Finals matchup against the Minnesota Lynx, were moved from their home confines of then-Philips Arena to the Arena at Gwinnett Center (now Gas South Arena) for a decisive Game 3.

There was no scheduling snafu then. Priority simply went to “Disney on Ice,” which had a slate of dates in town. Fans accustomed to Philips would need to travel 26 miles north of downtown to see their team try to save its season.

In Duluth that day of Oct. 10, some 5,040 people showed up to see Maya Moore and the Lynx down Angel McCoughtry and the Dream 86-77.

It was a bittersweet outcome for former Dream forward Le’Coe Willingham. The Augusta native won WNBA titles with the Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm, then joined Atlanta in her final year. She was eager to play for, and retire with, the organization in her home state.

Willingham remembers being frustrated for the fans when news of their Game 3 venue swap broke.

“I’m just going to be honest; it was disappointing,” she recalled.

The energy in town and around metro Atlanta for their Finals run was infectious, she said, but Gwinnett was far. The game was set to tip off on a Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Between MARTA and I-85, the commute alone was a deterrent.

As a starter who played 30 minutes in that game, Willingham didn’t let it affect her.

“I wouldn’t say that messed with my psyche, or I don’t know if it messed with any of the other girls’ psyches, but I think at this level, you’re a professional, so you’ve been through a lot of things up to that moment,” she said.

What made a tough situation for Willingham and her teammates easier to navigate was their staff, led by coach Fred Williams.

Coach Williams was grace under pressure

Known in pro and college circles as “OG Fred,” Williams is a 25-year WNBA veteran and current assistant coach for Indiana University’s women’s basketball team.

Before joining Atlanta in their inaugural season, he held coaching roles with the Utah Starzz and Charlotte Sting, two of the original WNBA teams that no longer exist.

Williams joined the expansion Dream franchise as an assistant behind Marynell Meadors. The staff led their squad to the 2010 and ’11 Finals and were swept both times. That trend continued in 2013 when they played the Minnesota Lynx.

After getting news of the switch, the Los Angeles native thought about his team having to play where Minnesota’s Moore claimed a high school state championship with Collins Hill. His opponent’s best players already had a leg up.

Williams’ team was dealing with injuries and players on international duty all year. It was going to be tough. Like Willingham, his heart hurt for folks such as Parker and other longtime Dream supporters.

“To bump us off from, I thought it was not fair to the fans because they are the ones who — within the city — really held things down,” he said.

He was worried for his players, too.

“When things are snatched from you, it throws you off,” he said, but added being “a truth teller” helped him keep his team focused.

Once the team arrived at their pseudo digs, there was one detail that stuck out to Williams: the floor was slick.

The arena was also home to the Gladiators, a minor league hockey team.

Just like his former player, Williams isn’t talking should’ve, could’ve, would’ve. “No excuses. We got there, we competed, we’re proud of making the Finals,” he said.

Pushing for a sell out at State Farm Arena

Parker feels good about the 2026 Atlanta Dream’s title odds, despite having never won a Finals game. When the team made its first Finals run 16 years ago, she followed them from Washington, D.C., to New York to Seattle for the finals.

Three years later, Parker was there when McCoughtry broke Tamika Whitmore’s single-game playoff record with 42 points to clinch the Dream’s first Finals berth. She held up a sign that read, “Storm here we come,” and took photos with Meadors.

Before Game 3, she remembers the traffic and how it was tough to sell folks on making the trek away from downtown. This time around, that won’t be a problem. Folks want to make sure tickets aren’t sold out.

For her birthday, Parker’s partners surprised her with a ticket to this year’s Game 2 on Monday at Chase Center in San Francisco.

At both upcoming home games on Oct. 21 and Oct. 24, the real estate agent will be in her usual spot: near center court, a few rows behind the scorer’s table.

A WNBA Finals at State Farm feels like a full-circle fan moment for Parker. Former Dream player Tiffany Hayes, now with Golden State, will be there. There’s still a superstar named Angel (Reese).

She’ll be thinking of her past favorites like Ivory Latta, McCoughtry, Érika de Souza, Shoni Schimmel and Renee Montgomery. The bond she sees in past teams is what can carry this current one to a title.

“One of the good things to me is that you can tell that they’re locked in together,” Parker said of the chemistry between Reese, stars Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard, Naz Hillmon, vet DeWanna Bonner and floor general Jordin Canada.

“It’s a sisterhood.”

Willingham and Williams are both glad to see the conversation shift from venue uncertainty to, well, basketball. They’re also proud to see an organization they helped build chart a potential path to sports immortality.

It’s a full-circle player and coach moment for them, too. Williams drafted Gray to the Dallas Wings (Willingham coached her there, too), and Canada played for him when he was with Los Angeles Sparks. Williams and Willingham both coached Valkyries forward Kayla Thornton. The former drafted Hayes in Atlanta.

It’s a franchise that’s been through a lot — a bubble season, social justice movements, ownership shake-ups — but has found its fans, footing and winning formula, Willingham said.

“The city of Atlanta should turn up for these ladies,” Williams texted after learning the Dream would play at State Farm after all.

The former Dream coach added: “Sell out that arena.”