When the WNBA announced that Game 6 of the Finals between the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries will be moved to Thursday at the ungodly hour of 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time in Atlanta, fans – and players – weren’t thrilled in the least. A middle of the day time slot would be surefire death if fans couldn’t make it due to the work day OR if fans couldn’t watch the live action on television.
The move had been made to accommodate the Atlanta Hawks, who were scheduled to play in the 17,000-seat State Farm Arena at the same time Game 6 was scheduled. However, instead of a low turnout, history was made. The network also noted that the average audience was 1.7 million when including replays on USA Network and CNBC during the original 8 p.m.
ET time slot.” FPS also noted that it’s not clear what the viewership would have been had the game remained in its original time slot. If negotiations went south, Game 6 would have had to have been played at Gateway Center Arena, which holds around 3,000 people. The Dream played at the arena during their regular season.
The Finals move on to a historic Game 7 in San Francisco on Saturday.
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