The Golden State Valkyries won their first WNBA championship following a 68-63 victory over the Atlanta Dream in Game 7 on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026. The game, held at the Chase Center in San Francisco, concluded the league’s first seven-game Finals series. The Valkyries secured the title in only their second season of existence, while the Dream remains without a title in four Finals appearances.
The 2026 WNBA season recorded 3.8 million regular-season attendees across 330 games, which the league reported as a new record. Average attendance rose 21% over the previous year's record high. Additionally, the WNBA stated that ESPN, ABC, and CBS saw their most-watched seasons in league history, with three times as many games reaching at least 1 million viewers compared to the previous record set last year.
The Valkyries finished the regular season 32-12 and reached the Finals by defeating the Dallas Wings and Las Vegas Aces. In the championship series, Golden State won Game 1 before Atlanta took Games 2 and 3. The Valkyries then won Games 4 and 5, but the Dream forced the deciding seventh game with an 80-69 win in Game 6. In the final game, Gabby Williams led the Valkyries in the five-point victory.
The results of this championship series and the 2026 season affect a wide range of stakeholders, including WNBA players, fans, and the league's broadcast partners. For the first time, the players in the league competed in a best-of-seven Finals format after the league transitioned from a five-game limit last year. The 3.8 million fans who attended games saw a significant shift in interest, as evidenced by the 21% increase in average attendance.
The change for the league and its viewers is visible in television programming and scheduling. With three times the number of games surpassing 1 million viewers compared to last year, fans are seeing more WNBA content on major networks like ABC and CBS. However, the scheduling of Game 6 at 12:30 p.m. due to conflicts with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks highlighted logistical challenges for teams that share facilities. The Dream ownership criticized this scheduling, stating their concerns did not receive sufficient urgency from league officials.
The Valkyries' victory in their second year follows the offseason signing of Gabby Williams. For the Atlanta Dream, the loss maintains a streak of four Finals appearances without a title, despite performances from All-Stars like Angel Reese and Allisha Gray. Moving forward, the league will likely evaluate the success of the seven-game format and the 330-game regular season schedule as it plans for 2027. The next major events for the teams will be offseason transactions and the upcoming draft, though specific dates for those milestones were not reported.