Until Monday afternoon, no one knew where or when Game Six of the WNBA Finals was going to be played. The meeting between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries was set to be held in Atlanta at 8 p.m. ET in State Farm Arena — the 17,000-seat building where the Hawks play. It seems to fans that no one cared to look at whether or not the Hawks, who own the building, had a game that day.
The series is tied 2-2 between Atlanta and Golden State and has featured stunning performances from the league’s stars. Golden State star Gabby Williams dropped 26 points in Game One en route to the Valkyries’ first Finals victory as a franchise.
In Game Two, Angel Reese put up 30 points and 16 rebounds, proving how badly Atlanta and the Dream want this win. Reese took the competition back to Atlanta and State Farm Arena for Game Three, where she had another double-double and guard Rhyne Howard added 16 points. The next two games saw the Valkyries’ wins, not because of one star, but as team efforts. Golden State’s depth has been praised throughout their run to the Finals.
The Timeline
As for Game Six, which was scheduled for the aforementioned evening start time in Atlanta, the time has been changed after a scramble by the WNBA to find the Dream somewhere to play. The Dream’s NBA counterpart, the Hawks, were scheduled for a 7 p.m. game on Thursday before it was moved back an hour to accommodate the women’s league. It took until midday on Monday for a formal decision to be made. This is a look so ridiculous for WNBA leadership that it’s been regularly asked why when Atlanta made the playoffs, accommodations weren’t made.
The Dream play their home games at the Gateway Center, a 3,500-seat venue that is by far the smallest in the WNBA. They began moving high-profile matchups to State Farm Arena in recent years. This season, thanks in part to the popularity of Reese, who was traded to Atlanta from Chicago in April, the Dream played five regular-season games in State Farm Arena. They hosted the first two rounds of the playoffs there, too. Next year, State Farm will become the Dream’s permanent home.
The Implications
What this means for fans and players is that Game Six, where the Valkyries could win the entire series, will be played at 12:30 p.m. ET and 9:30 a.m. local time for Golden State fans. They’ll be forced to watch their team, which has sold out almost every game this season at Chase Center in San Francisco, win a WNBA Finals on their lunch break. That well-deserved celebration for Golden State may not actually be on the court. According to ESPN, there are discussions about whether there’s enough time to turn the arena over in time for the fans to celebrate on the court. It could be moved to a practice court.
In an open letter posted to social media by Atlanta’s owners, they allege that concerns over scheduling conflicts with the Hawks were brought up over two months ago.
“Our concerns did not receive the attention, nor the urgency that they deserved,” the owners wrote.
Golden State, which fought for Games Three and Four to be played in the bigger arena, can agree that:
“Playing a midday game on a Thursday is not what we would have chosen and not what we fought for,” Atlanta’s owners say.
End Of My WNBA Rant: What Happened To The Progress?
This is not what fans deserve in the league’s historic 30th season. These fantastic, powerful teams have never been more exposed to the national spotlight. It’s amplifying the women’s hoops community as we’ve never seen before. Instead of a celebration of where the league is going, this celebration will transport them back to the past — a time when no one watched, and few let them celebrate publicly.
