On the day of Game 5 of the tied WNBA Finals, the Golden State Valkyries finally found out when and where they'll play Game 6: in the middle of a workday morning for San Francisco fans.
The WNBA brought an end to the chaotic few days of uncertainty by announcing Game 6 in Atlanta will be played at 12:30 p.m. Eastern/9:30 a.m. Pacific on Thursday, Oct. 29, in State Farm Arena. ESPN was first to report the moved time up from the previously-scheduled 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific time slot, with the WNBA making its official announcement a few minutes later.
The news comes two full days after the Valkyries won Game 4 over the Dream, tying the best-of-seven series at two games each and guaranteeing Game 6 would happen. The WNBA did not have an announcement set at the time and, according to multiplereports, had spent the better part of the last two days trying to find a workable solution.
In case you have missed it, the Dream have called Gateway Center Arena in College Park home for the last six seasons, which only has a capacity of around 3,500. But the Dream have moved every playoff game this year to the much larger State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta, an arena operated by the NBA's Hawks that holds a little more than 17,000.
Ever since the Dream clinched a spot in the WNBA Finals on Oct. 9, it wasn't clear where the league was going to hold the three games in Atlanta. The WNBA set the Finals schedule months in advance with national television partners, and State Farm Arena had conflicts for the dates of Games 3, 4 and 6. But on Oct. 13, the WNBA announced that Games 3 and 4 would be moved in order to get them played in State Farm Arena.
That announcement, though, didn't touch on Game 6 and the league did not answer an SFGATE inquiry at the time about what would happen for a possible Game 6. As of last Friday - as in one day before Game 4 - Hawks chief operating officer Steve Koonin was telling Atlanta sports radio station 92.9 The Game that people should "write your local congressman" if they were trying to help get the game into State Farm Arena and that playing in Gateway Center Arena "might be unavoidable."
All of the negotiations sure give the impression that the WNBA avoided coming to a solution because the series might have ended prior to Game 6. According to an ESPN story on Sunday, several sources around the situation "expressed frustration that these issues hadn't been resolved before Saturday."
But even with this feasible solution finalized, there's no underscoring just how embarrassing it is for the WNBA to have the arena issues in the middle of the Finals.
Game 5 of the WNBA Finals is set to take place in San Francisco at 5 p.m. on Monday, with the game televised on USA Network.
This breaking news story will be updated.
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This article originally published at Valkyries-Dream WNBA Finals Game 6 will be played at 9:30 a.m. PT Thursday.