WNBA Finals Game 6 Scheduled at Noon

The Atlanta Dream will play the Golden State Valkyries at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday. The midday start for Game 6 of the WNBA Finals has drawn sharp criticism from players and fans who expected a prime-time slot.

The scheduling decision stems from a conflict with the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks, whose home court is the venue for the game, are scheduled to host the Cleveland Cavaliers at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Rather than moving the NBA game, the WNBA set the finals game for the afternoon.

The controversy intensified after the league moved Games 3 and 4 from the Dream's regular season home to a larger venue. On October 13, the WNBA announced that the finals games in Atlanta would be played at State Farm Arena. The 5,000-seat Gateway Center Arena was deemed too small for the expected crowd, while State Farm Arena seats nearly 17,000 fans.

Chiney Ogwumike, an ESPN basketball analyst, criticized the timing on air this week. She stated that the players and fans deserved a prime-time broadcast and called the last-minute handling of the schedule an epic fail. One viral TikTok post described the 12:30 p.m. start as quite literally insane.

The Dream's owners blamed the league in an open letter to Atlanta. They wrote that they raised the concerns months ago but the issues did not receive the attention and urgency they deserved. The WNBA has not issued a public response to the criticism.

The series is currently tied with the Valkyries leading 3-2. A win Thursday afternoon would secure the franchise's first championship. The game is sold out despite the early time, following a record-breaking Game 4 that drew nearly 2 million television viewers. The team has encouraged fans to call out sick from work, noting the game airs at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time.