'She Hasn't Done This Alone' - ESPN Legend Casts Doubts On Angel Reese's Effect On Dream's 'Historic' Ticket Prices Mohamed Rizvi Fri, October 16, 2026 at 5:37 PM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ticket prices for the WNBA Finals between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries have climbed to historic levels, as reported recently.
Linda Cohn is the latest to weigh in on what that demand says about Angel Reese, and she said price tags alone can't settle comparisons with Caitlin Clark.
Speaking on a podcast Friday, the former ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor, who retired from the network this summer after 34 years, said the conversation is "getting ahead of itself."
"People are already trying to compare the Angel Reese effect with a Caitlin Clark effect. And my question is, based on what exactly? A few ticket listings?" Cohn said.
Cohn's starting point is Clark, whose impact on women's basketball she called extraordinary and well documented. She pointed to the crowds, TV ratings, national attention and merchandise interest that have followed the Indiana Fever guard, and to how Clark has changed the business conversation around the league.
None of that, Cohn said, is a knock on Reese or any other player. "Angel Reese absolutely has her own following and her own impact on the sport."
Her objection is to the evidence behind the comparison. "But if we're going to make comparisons about who's driving ticket sales, let's compare actual ticket sales. Let's compare attendance. Let's compare consistent demand over an entire season, not just a couple of Finals games."
Cohn said the Finals are a big event on their own. "If Atlanta sells 17,000 tickets, that's terrific. But it doesn't mean every one of those people bought a ticket solely because of Angel Reese."
Those fans also bought tickets to see the Dream compete for the franchise's first championship, Cohn said, and to see Rhyne Howard, Jordin Canada, Allisha Gray and the rest of the roster.
Reese has been a key piece of that run. The 2026 Defensive Player of the Year averaged a career-high 16.4 points per game, along with 12.1 rebounds, for a Dream team that went 30-14 and swept the first two rounds.
In the 85-83 clincher over the New York Liberty on October 9, she had 22 points and nine rebounds; Howard scored 21, and Canada added 19 points and 11 assists.
The WNBA announced Tuesday that the Dream would play Games 3 and 4 at State Farm Arena, the Atlanta Hawks' home, instead of the 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena, where they played most of their regular-season home games.
Steve Koonin, CEO of the Hawks and State Farm Arena, told Front Office Sports the full 17,000-seat building will be open for both games. In three earlier playoff games there, the Dream opened only the lower bowl and part of the upper bowl, averaging about 9,700 fans, according to FOS.
A Dream spokesperson told FOS the limited capacity was due to a short turnaround for selling playoff tickets. The team also sold out the full arena five times during the 2026 regular season.
READ MORE: 'Can You Respect Us a Little Bit?' – Sophie Cunningham Urges WNBA To 'Level Up' After Angel Reese, Dream's Finals Arena Fiasco
Game 3 had a $201 get-in price as of Wednesday, the most expensive WNBA Finals game on record, according to TickPick. FOS, though, noted that Game 2 of the 2024 Finals between the Lynx and Liberty had a $225 get-in price.
Most tickets for Games 3 and 4 were only being released to the public this week because of the late arena swap, FOS reported, and get-in prices for both games dropped sharply after the presale opened at noon ET Thursday.
Tickets for both games were set to go on sale to the public Friday morning. How many of those 17,000 seats Atlanta actually sells for October 21 and October 24 is still to be seen.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
Source: Sports
0 Comments