As the Atlanta Dream host the Valkyries for Game 3 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 17,000 people, they will look to defend home court in their bid to bring the franchise its first championship.
But for the Dream, the demand and the fervor surrounding their championship quest wouldn’t be possible without the bricks they placed after the franchise changed hands five years ago following the purchase of the team by a group led by Larry Gottesdiener.
“When I came in, ownership had just been through the first season — (before) the GM, Dan Padover, and myself,” Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We were the first two hires, and there were only seven people running this organization. Seven people, which is unheard of in professional sports.
“And so we knew at the time that we needed to build the basketball infrastructure, the business office infrastructure, the operational infrastructure. We needed to figure out ‘How do you fill the arena,’ but also more importantly, ‘How did we become relevant to the community?’”
So, the Dream set out to rebuild the trust of the city. First, they wanted to make sure that everyone in the Dream organization — from the athletes to every employee — felt taken care of.
Then, “we asked a lot of questions of our fans,” Shaw Parker said. “We huddled with those seven people, and I asked them, ‘Who do we want to be? Who are we, and what do we want to become?’
“And everybody talked about the importance of what Atlanta meant to them.”
So they developed pillars to guide the initiatives they took to connect with the city. They leaned into “lifting underserved voices, empowering women through basketball, and creating opportunities on and off the court,” as the team’s website puts it.
In 2021, the Dream partnered with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield on an effort to reduce food insecurity, as well as overall physical and mental health.
Last August, the team, along with Cash App, partnered with ForgiveCo. on an effort that eliminated $10 million in debt for families across the city. It helped more than 3,500 people with debts ranging from $500 to $80,000.
This year, the Dream began a multiyear collaboration with Emory Healthcare to bring wellness clinics, mobile health screenings, educational programming, and community resources directly into neighborhoods across metro Atlanta.
In connecting with the community, Shaw Parker saw more and more people flock to the Dream’s home games at Gateway Center Arena. This led to the Dream selling out season tickets for three straight seasons, forcing them to find a new space for the growing fan base.
This month, the Dream announced that they would move all home games for the 2027 season to State Farm Arena.
But the Dream didn’t see that growth in just their ticket sales. They also saw it in retail sales.
They ended the 2025 WNBA season ranked No. 2 in year-over-year retail sales growth in the league. Their retail sales in 2026 have doubled from 2025.
Part of what helped the Dream’s growth was their effort to reach their fans in a relatable way.
In April, the team launched a partnership with Monarch Commerce, which looked to change how fans shopped, engaged and connected with the team. They launched a transformational new retail operations engine, including a new “Drip Shop” in the arena and an online shop.
“Women’s sports is at the intersection of culture and fashion and sport and entertainment, and style is such a big piece of that,” Shaw Parker said.
“One of the things I love the most is the expressiveness of women’s fashion coming into sport and how they wear it. How they rep their teams now is so different from what we’ve seen in men’s sports. But I’m excited to see where our fans take it and how we can keep up with them for the next 10 years.”
The play of the women who fill out the Dream’s roster has also given fans a reason to flock to the games.
The Dream have done a great job of building talent, selecting Rhyne Howard with the No. 1 overall pick, as well as Naz Hillmon at No. 15. One season later, the Dream traded for Allisha Gray.
In February 2024, the Dream acquired Jordin Canada before pushing their chips to the middle of the table to acquire Angel Reese in April 2026.
As the basketball has improved, Dream fans have had even more reason to turn up in the arena. And now a sellout crowd will look to blow the roof off State Farm Arena in Games 3 and 4 of the Finals.
More than 42,000 fans filled up the queue for presale tickets for the Dream’s Finals home games. It made the team’s efforts to get the action to State Farm Arena sweeter.
But it’s created momentum that the Dream are excited to build on.
“I’m so proud of our organization, but I’m so excited for what’s to come,” Shaw Parker said.
“I do feel like they have earned it. Our athletes have earned every bit of this. Our employees in our front office have been working so hard to create this moment and to create this momentum around this team and for us to be able to celebrate as an organization.”