The WNBA Finals have reached the point where the basketball is no longer the only headache. With the series tied 2-2 after Golden State’s 67-62 win on Saturday, nobody seems to know where Game 6 will actually take place, even though it is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET and listed with the venue still marked TBD.
According to ESPN, conversations among the WNBA, NBA, Valkyries, Dream and Atlanta Hawks continued into Sunday. The complication is simple on paper and messy everywhere else: State Farm Arena is open in theory, but the Hawks are set to host the Cleveland Cavaliers there the same night. If State Farm cannot be used, the fallback is Gateway Center Arena, the Dream’s regular home.
A Dream spokesperson said the team is waiting on the league to sort it out.
“ We are waiting to hear from the league if any changes can be made to allow us to play in State Farm Arena. If not, the game will be played in Gateway Center Arena,” the spokesperson told ESPN.
The league, for its part, has not given a timetable for a decision.
“ We continue to explore all options,” a league spokesperson said. One source close to the situation put it even more plainly: “ There are problems with all the solutions,” the source said.
One possible fix would shuffle the rest of the series as well, moving Game 6 to Friday, Oct. 30 and, if needed, Game 7 from Saturday, Oct. 31 to Tuesday, Nov. 3.
That would create three days between Games 5 and 6, and again between Games 6 and 7. The WNBA would support that plan, sources said, but only if both teams agree to it.
That route is far from clean. The Hawks and Cavaliers are already on a back-to-back Thursday, and shifting that NBA game creates its own mess.
Moving it to Cleveland has also been discussed, though that would hand the Hawks a home-road back-to-back. A matinee would solve the timing conflict, but not the larger issue.
The Hawks have been open to another doubleheader, while the WNBA reportedly sees a weekday afternoon as a worse fit for a Finals game than a weekend slot.
Other Atlanta options, including Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, are not considered ideal.
What makes the situation harder to swallow, at least for people involved, is the sense that this could have been handled long before it reached this point.
“ This should’ve been solved weeks ago, and definitely at the same time Games 3 and 4 were solved,” one source said.
Atlanta has already shown what this series can look like in a bigger building. Games 3 and 4 sold out State Farm Arena, a sharp contrast to the 3,500 seats at Gateway Center Arena, the Dream’s normal home.
Dream spokespersons are still waiting on the league to say whether the arena can be used again. Hawks and State Farm Arena CEO Steve Koonin said the building has offered multiple dates and that the decision rests with the league.
Asked about fans hoping for a change, Koonin told 92.9 The Game to “ write your congressman. ”
The building issue has already drawn attention from people around the series. After Game 4, Angel Reese was asked whether she wanted Game 6 at State Farm or Gateway.
“ Here,” she said.
Reese also said playing “in front of the home crowd again would be amazing. ”
She backed that up in Game 3, finishing with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Atlanta’s 97-71 win at State Farm.
On the other side, Golden State owner Joe Lacob has already made his position clear about the optics.
“ The look would not be too good to have Ballhalla and 18,000 fans here and 3,500 over there,” Lacob told the Associated Press.
Golden State has said publicly that it will go along with whatever the league decides. ESPN reported that the final call could carry millions of dollars in impact for both leagues.
There is at least one detail that removes the long-term concern: the Dream are set to become full-time State Farm Arena tenants in 2027. That does nothing to settle Thursday’s problem, though, and the clock is still ticking on a potentially title-clinching game for two teams chasing a first championship.
Game 5 is set for Monday at 8 p.m. ET in San Francisco.
Whoever wins that one moves a step closer to the trophy. The league still has to figure out where the next game will be played.
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