Site for Game 6 of WNBA Finals Still Up in Air

The Valkyries’ win Saturday over the Dream tied the series at 2–2, guaranteeing a Game 6 of the WNBA Finals back in Atlanta. But the Dream may have to play at a small venue unless the league makes another last-minute change.

A Dream spokesperson tells Front Office Sports that the team will host the game at the 3,500-seat Gateway Center instead of the 17,000–seat State Farm Arena if the league does not make any schedule changes to the WNBA Finals. The team is awaiting the league’s decision.

A source with knowledge of the situation told FOS that the league has yet to make a decision on its scheduling and venue for Game 6. Another source says Game 6 remains “status quo” in the meantime.

The Dream have played all five home playoff games at State Farm Arena, the venue owned by the city of Atlanta and operated by the NBA’s Hawks. But Game 6 is currently scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, an hour after the tip-off time for a Hawks regular-season game against the Cavaliers.

Game 5 is Monday night in San Francisco, while Game 7 is scheduled for Saturday night in San Francisco. 

There were also schedule conflicts for Games 3 and 4 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena, but the WNBA announced less than a week before the series started that the two games would be rescheduled allowing the Dream to host games at the much larger venue. The Dream sold out both Finals games at the State Farm Arena, and reached a five-year deal to play their regular-season games at the venue starting next season.

Game 3, which had a conflict with a Sombr concert, was moved back one day, which reduced the rest between Games 2 to 3 from two days to one. Game 4, which conflicted with the Hawks’ regular-season home opener, was moved back from a 3:30 p.m. start to 1 p.m., giving State Farm Arena enough time to change the court to have a one-day WNBA–NBA doubleheader.

But rescheduling won’t be as easy for Game 6. As Dream owner Renee Montgomery told FOS last week when discussing the rescheduling of Games 3 and 4, several parties need to agree to the changes: the league, its broadcast partners, and the Valkyries. And the possible solutions for a Game 6 change may shortchange one of the other parties.

Because of a two-day break between two-day break between Game 5 (Monday, Oct. 26) and Game 6 (Thursday, Oct. 29), Game 6 could be moved back by one day. But there’s also a Hawks home game against the Heat on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

If the league went with its Game 4 solution of playing a matinee WNBA Finals game before a Hawks game, it would be a hard sell to its broadcast partner (USA Network will air Games 5–7) because they’d have to move a primetime game to an afternoon slot. That would work on a Saturday or Sunday, but is much less appealing on a weekday.

One solution could be pushing Game 6 forward by a day or two. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin told 92.9 The Game that State Farm has multiple dates available for Game 6 dates, but said rescheduling will come down to the league. There is nothing scheduled at State Farm on Oct. 30, but there is a Young Miko concert on Oct. 31.

But pushing Game 6 forward would mean the WNBA would have to reschedule a possible Game 7 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, which is currently scheduled for Oct. 31. However, there are Warriors home games on Sunday, Nov. 1 and Monday, Nov. 2 that they would have to account for as well.

A Valkyries spokesperson told FOS that they will “fully support what’s best for the league and will stand behind whatever it decides.”