Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Ishaan Bhattacharya Thu, October 29, 2026 at 11:45 AM UTC · 2 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The WWE almost helped the Atlanta Dream host Game 6 of the WNBA Finals on the best stage possible, even willing to make a major sacrifice to help the WNBA.
The WNBA ultimately decided that hosting Game 6 of the WNBA Finals at 12:30 p.m. (ET) would be the best way to move forward without inconveniencing multiple parties, but fans argue the afternoon timeslot undersells the importance of a potentially close-out game.
Among the options the WNBA considered to help Game 6 be hosted in State Farm Arena, one of them was made possible because the WWE offered up a major sacrifice on one of their flagship shows
ESPN revealed that Hawks and State Farm Arena CEO Steve Koonin reached out to WWE President Nick Khan to move the live broadcast of Friday Night Smackdown on October 30 to 9 p.m. ET so that the WNBA Finals could take place in the primetime 7-9 p.m. slot, something Khan agreed to do.
"Khan told him they'd be fine with the later broadcast window if that's what was needed to help the WNBA Finals play in a more appropriate arena."
Friday Night Smackdown airs at 8 p.m. on the USA Network, the same broadcast partners for Game 6 of the WNBA Finals. The WWE agreeing to move their broadcast to one hour later gave the WNBA a window to schedule a primetime evening game, but other concerns made them stick to Thursday afternoon.
With Game 7 currently scheduled for October 31, the WNBA did not want to enter a situation where they move Game 6 to October 30 and be forced to move Game 7 to November 3 and clash with election night in the U.S.
Given all the options emerging, it seems the 12:30 p.m. tip-off on October 29 was the best choice for the WNBA to remain operationally streamlined.
Moving multiple NBA games at the start of their schedule would prove to be more challenging, since it concerns other teams outside the Hawks as well, so the current solution seems to be the best, despite the WWE's best efforts.
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Source: Sports
