By Jordan Coburn
Sam Frick lives more than 600 miles from Atlanta and before this year had never attended a women’s basketball game. Now he’s one of the 17,000 members of the Atlanta Dream’s Fan HQ page on Facebook.
The Indiana resident saw the Dream play the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis in May. Atlanta trailed by as many as 19 points before mounting a second-half comeback and taking its first lead with just 21 seconds remaining. When Angel Reese blocked the Lynx’s final shot to seal a 91-90 Dream victory, Frick was hooked.
“Honestly, that very first game at Minnesota made me a believer,” Frick said.
Women’s basketball is drawing more fans across the country. During the All-Star break, the league reached a record-breaking 73 million viewers on national broadcasts. But the Dream in particular is having a moment. The superstar forward’s arrival brought one of the league’s biggest stars to Atlanta, while the team’s fifth place standing in the WNBA make the Dream a championship contender.
Kevin Earley has watched the new fans pour in. The Atlanta resident started the Dream Fan HQ Facebook group two years ago as a place to share his experiences attending games. As recently as April, it had fewer than 1,000 members.
“Once Angel Reese’s trade went through, the page began to blow up,” Earley said.
Earley, a season ticket holder, says he became a Dream fan because of his daughter. The group now brings together fans who arrived with Reese and longtime supporters who have followed the Dream for years.
Chris Davis, an Atlanta native who has been a fan of the Dream since its inaugural season in 2008, is also considered a Dream Elite member, a status given to season-ticket holders. To him, the Dream is more than just a team. It’s a community that feels like family.
“Some of the players knew me by my first name, and I even got to hang out with a few of them,” he said. “You don’t get experiences like that very often.”
The Dream’s fanbase has even caught Reese’s attention. She showed her appreciation for the fan group after they all wore pink during the teams matchup against the Las Vegas Aces on Aug. 3 to celebrate girlhood and women’s sports. That game drew more than 17,000 attendees, prompting the organization to move the game from the smaller Gateway Center Arena to State Farm arena, where the Atlanta Hawks play.
“Seeing an entire arena PINK for my very own Barbie was truly a dream come true,” Reese posted on social media. “Since I’ve been in ATL, y’all have shown me nothing but love and I’m so thankful for it.”
When Davis first started attending games, he remembers rarely seeing other men like himself in the stands. As a straight Black man, he often found himself defending the league to friends who didn’t follow women’s basketball. Now he says it feels completely different.
“You see fans from every background, arenas are packed, celebrities are courtside, games are on national TV, and ticket prices have definitely gone up,” he said. “That’s great for the league even if my wallet misses the old days.”
Even as the team’s popularity has grown, newer fans have formed deep connections with the Dream beyond the stands. Earley’s daughter Ky was recently featured in a photo on the team’s online store for back-to-school youth apparel.
Many fans around the country admire the team from a distance but at the same time get excited about the possibility of traveling to watch the Dream play a home game.
“I personally have not been to one of their games yet. I would love to attend in person someday,” said Frick’s sister Tera. “But what I am seeing on the screen it looks like a total vibe especially when you see everyone swag surfing.”
For other fans, watching through a screen is entertaining enough, like Frick who plans to continue cheering them on from Albion, Indiana. With the Dream’s success this year, he believes the team can win their first championship ring
“Even through their weaknesses, you can see the vision of a great team being built in front of our eyes,” he said.
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