ATLANTA — Ahead of the Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever face-off in Atlanta, hype around the WNBA and an excited and expanded crowd for the game put tickets in such high demand that organizers had to switch the venue.
Instead of playing at their normal College Park arena, the Dream vs. Fever game was played at State Farm Arena.
The Fever are led by rookie sensation Caitlin Clark, which led to an increased turnout for Friday night’s matchup. Officials for the Dream said the game was a franchise attendance record.
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While not everyone may know the Indiana Fever team, their star player Caitlin Clark is well known.
A surge of fans and big money for local businesses came along to Atlanta for the game.
“Mary Grace is our daughter. She’s in the seventh grade and she’s a huge Caitlin Clark fan,” Mrs. Drummond told Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin.
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Excitement over Clark is why the Drummond family from Rome, Ga. say they drove all the way to Atlanta to watch the game.
“I know a lot of people like love Caitlin Clark and just the team and the environment,” Mary Grace Drummond said, but her family said their visit wasn’t just for Clark.
Victoria Saxton, “a hometown girl” from Rome, plays for Indiana Fever with Clark. The Drummonds said they were excited to see her play too.
Speaking with Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin, experts said the hype around the game helped boost the local economy.
State Farm Arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks, can hold 17,000 people. The full stadium was packed from sold out tickets, thousands of people were in the area spending money at the game and around town.
“This has been a storm that’s kind of been brewing for several years. We’re seeing in 2024 all that hard work come to fruition,” financial planner Adam Youngman said.
He told Channel 2 Action News that the hard work has the WNBA reporting its highest opening month in 26 years, and all those fan dollars meant local businesses are winners too.
“Hotel sales, food, a drink at the stadium and merchandise sales,” Youngman said. “It’s a pretty exciting time not only for an organization, but the WNBA as a whole.”
The tickets for Friday’s match were sold out for State Farm Arena, meaning the place was packed full of fans.
The Dream and Fever will face off again in August and the game will be played at State Farm Arena again.
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