MORE: \u2018Isn\u2019t Really Pretty\u2019: Valkyries Grind Their Way to Doorstep of WNBA Title<\/a><\/p>\n A few days before Game 6\u2019s tip-off, the Dream penned a candid open letter to their fans after the WNBA made its bizarre scheduling decision. In the letter, the Dream explained that they tried to initiate conversations with the league earlier in the playoffs regarding their future Finals arena scheduling clashes, and also made clear that playing a midday game was not their ideal choice.<\/p>\n \u201cThis incredible run by our players has also made something else abundantly clear: the Atlanta Dream has earned the right to be taken seriously,\u201d the letter read, after thanking the Dream fanbase. \u201cTwo months ago, when the WNBA finalized playoff dates and times, we raised concerns that the W Finals schedule conflicted with NBA games at State Farm Arena. As we moved through the playoffs, we reiterated those concerns. Our concerns did not receive the attention, nor the urgency that they deserved.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps it was assumed that the Dream would not make it this far. Perhaps, our place in the Finals was not accounted for. Whatever the reason, the reality is that we are here. We earned our place in the Finals, and our city deserves the opportunity to show up for its team.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaying a midday game on a Thursday is not what we would have chosen and not what we fought for. And as much as we have great affection and nostalgia for Gateway Center Arena, we believed that our fans and the city wanted the opportunity to be a part of this historic series, and to see it played on a world-class stage. <\/p>\n \u201c… We have built something special here, powered by our players, our fans, our partners, and a city that believes in what we are doing. We intend to keep building. We intend to keep winning. And we expect the opportunities, planning, and consideration afforded to us to reflect the level at which we compete.\u201d<\/p>\n The Atlanta Dream\u2019s letter to their fans \u2014 Micahya Costen (@micahya_c) October 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n As the Dream\u2019s letter suggests, this WNBA Finals scheduling debacle was completely avoidable. How did we get here, anyway?<\/p>\n Full timeline of WNBA Finals Game 6 scheduling fiasco in Atlanta<\/p>\n Two weeks ago, the situation was publicly brought up when the Dream had to iron out similar scheduling kinks for Games 3 and 4<\/a> of the series. Rather than secure Game 6\u2019s logistical arrangements at the same time, the decision-makers in charge decided to kick the can down the road. <\/p>\n Looking back, this was an epically short-sighted move. The Valkyries evened up the series last Saturday to force a Game 6, which now put the Dream, the WNBA and all parties involved on the clock to book State Farm Arena for Thursday night (Oct. 29), the originally scheduled Finals date.<\/p>\n The arena was slated to host a Hawks game against the Cavaliers that night, and regardless of the occasion, kicking an NBA team out of its home arena less than a week prior to gameday just wasn\u2019t feasible. There were too many moving parts (broadcast partners, ticket sales, team travel, etc.); things had already been set in motion. The optics of playing at their originally planned location, the 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena in College Park, were also not good. In a last-minute scramble, the WNBA decided to split the baby, so to speak, and play a potential title-clinching Game 6 as a Thursday afternoon matinee. No one wins. The TV ratings will probably suffer, at least a bit. And no one comes away happy.<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Ramona Shelburne revealed on The Ringer WNBA Show with Seerat Sohi<\/a> that there was a real possibility of moving the Hawks-Cavs game at State Farm Arena from Thursday to Friday\u2014had it been brought up earlier. Other options discussed behind closed doors included a Friday-Tuesday scheduling change: The Dream would host Game 6 on Friday night\u2014four days after the Valks\u2019 Game 5 win\u2014and then, if needed, the series would return to Balhalla four nights later on Tuesday. But that didn\u2019t end up panning out, and besides, the Valkyries\u2019 faithful had long hyped up a potential Game 7 on Halloween, aptly christening their home arena as \u201cBoohalla.\u201d<\/p>\n How much blame does Cathy Engelbert, WNBA deserve?<\/p>\n A combination of procrastination and poor problem-solving made a farce of the league, turning what was once an inconvenient but solvable scheduling situation into runny egg on the W\u2019s face. Which all begs the question: Who\u2019s to blame? The Dream, in their open letter, pointed the finger at the WNBA and, perhaps by association, commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Here\u2019s what Shelburne had to say:<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s like a blame pie, right?\u201d Shelburne said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of everyone\u2019s fault, some of this is also just the growing pains of being a new league, where you have owners of the Dream that are not the same owners of the Hawks who operate the arena, so they have to all get on the same page. The Hawks owners have been trying to do right by the Dream this whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it falls on Cathy Engelbert, to me, to have gotten in front of this,\u201d continued Shelburne. \u201cA couple weeks ago, when we\u2019re in the semifinals, or in that eight-day break [before the Finals]\u2014it still would have been bad optics. It just wouldn\u2019t have been this scrambled that takes away from Monday night\u2019s game.\u201d<\/p>\n To Shelburne\u2019s point, it is truly a shame that this has become one of the most talked-about narratives heading into the climactic end of a thrilling and historic Finals series. Sadly, it also may not be that surprising, given Engelbert\u2019s track record<\/a> of being more reactive than proactive during her drama-filled tenure as commissioner (she intends to step down at the end of the calendar year). For as much as she has helped grow the league financially, negotiating a collective bargaining agreement<\/a> last offseason to usher in a new and more lucrative era for the W\u2019s players, she has historically struggled to get in front of things. The early rising heat from the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese rivalry. The Sophie Cunningham mess<\/a>. The WNBA\u2019s chronic officiating pains<\/a>. <\/p>\n Engelbert and the W\u2019s lack of foresight to solve a complicated but fixable scheduling problem has hurt its product at the worst possible time, and unfortunately, the players and fans will suffer the most. It may not all fall on Engelbert\u2019s shoulders, as Shelburne laid out, but as the head of the most valuable women\u2019s sports league in the world, there\u2019s an underlying expectation that she should know better, and should know how to stage a smooth-sailing Finals series. <\/p>\n
Per: #Dream<\/a> PR pic.twitter.com\/Md5QcIbnab<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\"){kind=icon}
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