WNBA Fans Are Fuming Over a Potential Championship Game at Breakfast Time
“You make it so hard for these women to be successful,” one fan said.
WNBA fans are livid after the potential championship game was moved to the middle of the workday, with many suggesting this is yet another example of the disrespect shown for women’s sports.
The Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream have been facing off in the Finals, a best-of-seven series that’s currently locked in a tight race. The first team to win four games takes the championship—and as of Monday, the Valkyries are leading the charge, having won three games vs. the Dream’s two.
To accommodate the rapidly growing WNBA fanbase, the Atlanta games were moved from the Dream’s usual spot, Gateway Center Arena, to the State Farm Arena, which can hold an additional 13,500 attendees. But in a scheduling conflict absolutely everyone could have seen coming, this meant Thursday’s game—Game 6 of the WNBA Finals and possibly the championship game if the Valkyries take it—was suddenly at odds with the scheduled regular season men’s NBA game at State Farm.
Rather than move the WNBA game back to Gateway Center or, god forbid, reschedule the regular NBA game for another day, a “compromise” was made for Game 6 to take place at State Farm…at 12:30pm ET.
The timing and lack of planning on the WNBA’s part has fans livid. The workday conflict is obvious. Many fans can’t take off work to attend the game, let alone sit at home and watch it live. These are fans that have supported and cheered the teams on, helped the WNBA grow, and to potentially have the season end like this feels like a slap in the face.
The situation is even more egregious for west coast-based fans of the Valkyries, as the game will begin at 9:30am. The team, which is only in its second year, has a real shot at their first championship, and a large percentage of their fanbase may very well miss seeing it happen.
If they do win, it will also make for an awkward celebration. The court will have to be cleared so everything can be reset for the men, pushing all or part of the championship ceremony and post-game celebrations to a second location, which isn’t how things normally go.
“When people say, oh, no one watches women’s sports…this is the reason why those allegations keep coming,” WNBA fan and influencer @jcubedhax said in a viral video blasting the decision. “Because is it that no one watches women’s sports? Or are they scheduling Game 6 of the WNBA finals at 12:30 on a Thursday? You make it so hard for these women to be successful. You make it so hard for the fans to enjoy the product. You make it so hard for yourselves to profit off of the good thing you have.”
@jcubedhax I’m not kidding there’s no way this happens @WNBA #womenssports #wnba ♬ original sound – Coach Jackie J
And that’s proven to be a common sentiment among WNBA fans as they refuse to accept the excuse of scheduling issues and point out that this could have been prevented if any care had gone into planning.
Some fans are still hopeful that the backlash will prompt some sort of change in the schedule, but at the eleventh hour, the best we may be able to hope for is that the Dream win the next game and the championship is pushed off until Game 7.
Either way, one thing is clear: if the WNBA wants to continue to grow, showing even the most basic consideration for laying out the schedule in a way that allows fans to actually watch key games and preemptively spotting potential conflicts—you know, basic business sense—needs to be a priority moving forward.
