{"id":942328,"date":"2026-10-27T04:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T04:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/942328\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T04:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T04:38:16","slug":"wnba-finals-series-2026-scheduling-conflict-with-atlanta-hawks-puts-cloud-over-championship-celebrations-atlanta-dream-v-golden-state-valkyries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/942328\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Finals series 2026 | Scheduling conflict with Atlanta Hawks puts cloud over championship celebrations; Atlanta Dream v Golden State Valkyries"},"content":{"rendered":"

A WNBA<\/a> champion could be crowned on Friday (AEDT), but the winner may have to celebrate on a practice court due to a scheduling conflict with the NBA<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries are approaching the end of the WNBA finals with scores tied 2-2 heading into game five, yet it is the noise around the scheduling and stadium allocation that is overshadowing the closing stages of the series. <\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US star Angel Reese is hunting her first WNBA championship. \u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

The championship could be decided in game six on Friday, with the Atlanta Dream set to host the match at State Farm Arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The venue was chosen as the home venue for the Dream during the final series due to its higher capacity, with the team usually stepping onto the court at the 3,500-capacity Chase Centre \u2013 the smallest arena in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

State Farm Arena holds just over 17,000 fans and has hosted the Dream\u2019s sold out game three and four matches, but it is unknown if the potential WNBA championship-winning match will also reach capacity due to its timing. <\/p>\n

It was confirmed by the WNBA that game six will tip off at 12.30pm EST (4.30am AEDT), a timeslot where majority of the sport\u2019s fans will be at work.<\/p>\n

The game was moved to a midday time slot due to a scheduling conflict with the Hawks, who are set to host Cleveland that night for a regular-season game.<\/p>\n

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league wanted to stick with State Farm Arena as the preferred location for game six in order to \u201cgive thousands more fans the opportunity\u201d to be at a possible championship game. <\/p>\n

Despite mass backlash and calls for the NBA to move the Hawks game in support of the WNBA final series, the league would only agree to push its start time from 7pm to 8pm (11am AEDT) to give the arena enough time to turn over the court. <\/p>\n

While that hour-long delay will be of benefit to stadium staff, if the championship is won, the winning team may be asked to cut celebrations on the main court short and move their party to a practice court to ensure the NBA gets on in time. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat championship celebration may not be on that court,\u201d ESPN reporter Ramona Shelburne revealed on NBA Today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard there are discussions about whether there is enough time to turn that arena over and if players will have time to celebrate on court. It could be moved to a practice court.\u201d <\/p>\n

Chiney Ogwumike, a former LA Sparks player, interjected: \u201cYou\u2019re kidding me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 12.30, you just have to do the math. What do they want to do \u2013 tell people to wrap up the celebrations so they can get the Hawks game started? <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a great option, but it is the option they\u2019ve chosen. None of the options were good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Atlanta<\/p>\n

Atlanta Hawks\u2019 Aussie guard Dyson Daniels.\u00a0AP Photo\/John Raoux<\/p>\n

But while fans were left furious by the scheduling issues forced on the Dream due to their small home venue, the team\u2019s guard Allisha Gray was not too bothered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s the Finals. You just gotta do what you gotta do,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re locked in on winning … I don\u2019t care if we\u2019re playing at 8 am, 10am or midnight. We\u2019ve got a championship to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A WNBA champion could be crowned on Friday (AEDT), but the winner may have to celebrate on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-942328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}