{"id":942773,"date":"2026-10-23T01:58:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/942773\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T01:58:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:58:22","slug":"angel-reese-and-atlanta-dream-help-wnba-finals-make-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/942773\/","title":{"rendered":"Angel Reese and Atlanta Dream help WNBA Finals make history"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Dream<\/a>‘s impressive postseason run is getting lots of viewership, and the latest numbers prove that fans are paying attention. Even before the franchise gets a shot at its first WNBA title, Angel Reese the team has helped the league hit a major viewership milestone.<\/p>\n

Saturday’s showdown with the Golden State Valkyries<\/a> averaged 2.1 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, according to figures released Wednesday by NBC Sports. No opening game in WNBA Finals history has ever drawn a larger audience, according to NBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The matchup also outperformed last year’s Finals opener by 11 percent, with the audience reaching 3 million as the contest neared its conclusion. Golden State ultimately came away with a 68-64 victory, but the broadcast still made history.<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Dream and Angel Reese are taking a big step forward<\/p>\n

For Atlanta, the moment marks another huge step forward. The Dream hadn’t reached the Finals since 2013, and their return has been fueled by Reese, a social media sensation with more than 5 million Instagram followers alone, and a roster that’s helped transform the team’s fortunes. Now, that comeback story is drawing a massive audience, too.<\/p>\n

Viewership numbers aren’t in for Game 2 or Game 3 yet, but there’s no reason to think this trend won’t continue. The Dream won both of those matchups.<\/p>\n

The Dream would notch its first WNBA championship with two more wins, and that’s not lost on Reese.<\/p>\n

“Y’all not taking this from us, and that’s in my heart,” Reese said after Game 3, according to ESPN<\/a>. “Like, I’m not letting you take this from us. I think [that confidence] becomes contagious within the team. They feel that confidence too.”<\/p>\n

Atlanta is back at it against Golden State on Saturday. The WNBA Finals are a best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Dream‘s impressive postseason run is getting lots of viewership, and the latest numbers prove that fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-942773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}