WNBA Moves Potential Title-Clinching Finals Game To Lunchtime

The WNBA was faced with the following issue: After the first four games of the WNBA Finals, played at the raucous 18,064-seat Chase Center in San Francisco and then at equally raucous 17,044-seat State Farm Arena in Atlanta, the Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream are tied at two games apiece. The teams will play a Game 5 in San Francisco on Monday night, and a now-necessary Game 6 on Thursday in Atlanta, where the Dream’s primary venue, Gateway Center Arena, seats just 3,500. You'll recall that this was the exact issue the league and the Dream had to scramble to resolve before the Finals started. Games 3 and 4 were originally scheduled for nights when State Farm Arena was already booked for a Sombr concert and the Atlanta Hawks' home opener. The WNBA ultimately changed the Finals schedule to ensure that the Dream could host Games 3 and 4 in the larger venue. They've now hosted all their home games there this postseason. But at the time, the Dream and WNBA didn't settle on a plan for what would happen if the series went six games. The Hawks, the building's primary tenant, are again scheduled to host a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the same night as Game 6 on Thursday. With only one travel day scheduled between Game 6 and Saturday's Game 7, there wasn't as much room to futz around with the schedule this time. After the Valkyries guaranteed a sixth game with Saturday's win, ESPN's Alexa Philippou and Ramona Shelburne reported that the league was considering a number of solutions, none of them ideal. One, in fact, seemed totally ridiculous: playing Game 6 as a Thursday matinee.

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