Dream says venue concerns went unheeded — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Atlanta Dream said in an open letter that its concerns about finding a properly sized Atlanta venue for WNBA Finals games received neither the attention nor urgency they deserved, and called the resulting Game 6 schedule change “not what we fought for.”
- State Farm Arena will host Game 6 at 12:30 p.m. ET Thursday instead of 8:00 p.m.; the Dream have played every home playoff game at the roughly 17,000-seat arena, compared with 3,500 seats at Gateway Center.
- Atlanta Hawks will move its game against the Cleveland Cavaliers to 8 p.m. Thursday, repeating the one-hour adjustment made for Game 4, because both teams play Wednesday.
- WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert called the sellout crowds and atmosphere at Games 3 and 4 a success and said the State Farm Arena arrangement would let thousands more fans experience Game 6.
- Golden State Valkyries players Kiah Stokes and Veronica Burton urged Bay Area fans to call in sick, while coach Natalie Nakase expressed confidence that supporters would tune in despite the 9:30 a.m. California tipoff.
- Allisha Gray said the Dream were locked in on winning whether tipoff was 8 a.m., 10 p.m. or midnight, while Karl Smesko said he was disappointed that some fans with jobs could not make the game.
Why it matters: Moving Game 6 to the roughly 17,000-seat State Farm Arena gives the Dream and WNBA a much larger championship crowd, but the Thursday 12:30 p.m. ET tipoff puts the game out of reach for some working fans. That is the concrete trade-off in solving the Dream's 3,500-seat Gateway Center capacity problem.
Ask SkimNews
