Game 6 of the WNBA Finals between the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries will take place at midday on Thursday in Atlanta.
The league announced on Monday in a statement that the game will tip off at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time (16:30 GMT) on October 29 at State Farm Arena. The contest had originally been scheduled for 8:00 p.m. local time, but a scheduling conflict with an NBA game forced organizers to alter the timetable.
The schedule change occurred because the Atlanta Hawks are hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers in an NBA game at the same arena on Thursday evening. The Hawks delayed their own start time to 8:00 p.m. to allow both basketball games to be played in the building on the same day.
State Farm Arena capacity
State Farm Arena, located in downtown Atlanta, serves as the home venue for the Hawks and can accommodate about 17,000 spectators. According to the WNBA, the arena already hosted Games 3 and 4 of the Finals, with both encounters selling out completely.
The Dream normally host their home games at Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia, an arena that opened in 2019. That facility holds only about 3,500 seats, which prompted the league to seek a larger stage for the postseason series.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert thanked the organizations for their cooperation to keep the game at the venue with the larger capacity. Engelbert has served as the commissioner of the Women's National Basketball Association since 2019.
Hosting two major sporting fixtures in the same facility on a single day requires substantial arena operations. Venue staff must clear the seating bowl, clean the building, and prepare team locker rooms between the conclusion of the afternoon matchup and the evening tipoff.
Fan reaction to workday schedule
The shift to an early afternoon tipoff sparked controversy among basketball fans. Supporters criticized the decision to schedule a match that could decide the WNBA title during the middle of a regular workday, when many fans are at work or school and unable to attend or watch on television.
The new timetable creates an even larger hurdle for supporters of the visiting team. The three-hour time difference between the East Coast and the Pacific Time Zone means the game will begin at 9:30 a.m. in California, where the Valkyries are based.
The Golden State Valkyries, an expansion team based in the San Francisco Bay Area, are competing in their first league finals against the Dream, who joined the WNBA in 2008. Both squads now face an unconventional daytime schedule before the Hawks and Cavaliers take the floor on Thursday night.
