The WNBA finals between the Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream will be played Thursday, Oct. 29, at 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT at State Farm Arena.
This newly announced time comes after the league found itself “facing a logistics nightmare for Game 6” due to a scheduling conflict with the Atlanta Hawks NBA team, according to NBC News.
The Decision Came Following ‘Nonstop Frantic Discussions and Negotiation’
The “matinee” game has been scheduled following “a weekend of nonstop frantic discussions and negotiation,” ESPN reported on Monday, Oct. 26. “The Hawks’ home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers that night will move back one hour to 8 p.m. to accommodate the doubleheader, just as the Hawks did for Game 4. This allows a potential Game 7 to remain scheduled for Friday at Chase Center in San Francisco.”
Although both the WNBA and NBA “explored options to keep Game 6 in primetime,” per ESPN, the Hawks and Cavaliers both play on Wednesday night, which would make it impossible for them to play earlier on Thurday when the WNBA finals will now happen.
“I hope everyone gets to see it somehow and I know for some people it’s not realistic — they have jobs and won’t be able to make it,” Dream coach Karl Smesko said while discussing the early time now set for the finals, according to ESPN. “I’m disappointed for that, but I’m hopeful as many people can see the game as possible.”
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase also commented on the decision, noting that the matinee game won’t cause an issue for her players, and she expects the same when it comes to their fans, stating, “The beauty of Ballhalla is they’ll sacrifice. They’re going to sacrifice. They’re going to open the app, they’re going to open their phone, they’re going to watch. I have no doubt that everyone who has been supporting us through this whole way … everybody is going to watch.”
Not Everyone Is Onboard With the Earlier Game
Although the Valkyries and Dream coaches are seemingly determined to roll with the new game time, not everyone is cool with the fact that the big event will now happen earlier in the day than expected. In fact, “[t]he WNBA Finals starting at 12:30 p.m. is an embarrassment, when the league should be celebrating,” according to The Athletic.
After summing up the issue that was faced by the league and the eventual resolution, The Athletic added that “[s]omeone may win a WNBA championship after tipping off at 12:30 p.m. on a weekday, and that someone may be a team from the West Coast whose extremely devoted fans can just about squeeze breakfast in beforehand.”
What can be taken away from this? Well, The Athletic says that what fans witnessed was “[i]nexcusably obtuse planning, astoundingly bad optics, and most of all a wildly crappy thing to do to the people who consume your product, all during the biggest showcase of the sport.”
When the WNBA took to X to share the decision to schedule the game during an earlier timeslot on Thursday, plenty of social media users reacted with comments making it clear that they were unimpressed.
“Possibly a deciding game for your championship being played [on a] Thursday at 12:30pm is a failure of planning,” one person wrote. Another person pointed out, “Nine thirty in the morning is a rough time for West Coast fans to watch a Finals game.”
WNBA Finals Will Be ‘Matinee’ Game Due to ‘Logistics Nightmare’ With NBA, Sparking Strong Reactions