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'Stand or hide in the tunnel' for the anthem, Valkyries WNBA fans show loyalty; ready for early Finals Game 6

9 sources · updated 2026-10-28
Left 33% Center 0% Right 67%
3 left · 0 center · 6 right

What happened

The Golden State Valkyries defeated the Atlanta Dream 64-55 in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Monday night at Chase Center in San Francisco, taking a 3-2 series lead. The league scheduled Game 6 for 12:30 p.m. ET Thursday at Atlanta's State Farm Arena, the roughly 17,000-seat home of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, because the Hawks host the Cleveland Cavaliers there that night and moved that game to 8 p.m.; the Dream's usual Gateway Center Arena seats about 3,500, and Games 3 and 4 had already been relocated to State Farm Arena and sold out after earlier date and start-time shifts for a concert and a Hawks home opener. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the Thursday afternoon game would give thousands more fans a chance to attend a potential championship contest. As at earlier Finals games, both teams left the court shortly before the national anthem at Game 5 and returned after it finished; Fox News reported that a WNBA rulebook provision calls for players to stand respectfully on the court but that the league has not enforced it since 2017.
Sourcing check · Partly on the record · 9 articles

3 of 8 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.

What these terms mean and how they're counted
On the record · names a source 3 of 8
On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Cathy Engelbert, Allisha Gray, Steve Kerr and Peter Guber
Primary evidence · cites a document or data 0 of 8
Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: None cited.
Credits another outlet 0 of 8
The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
Unnamed sources 2 of 8
The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
How it developed
When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Oct 26, 18:47 UTC by The Guardian, naming its source.
Not counted 1
Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out

Unpacked

Left-leaning coverage presents Thursday afternoon as the only way to keep a potential clincher in Atlanta's large arena after the Hawks took the building that night. Right-leaning coverage reports that a Friday game in the same arena, with a possible Game 7 moved to Tuesday, was under strong consideration. The Guardian called the early slot "the only way they could make it work", while Fox News said the league has not answered why it passed on that alternative. Right-leaning coverage led its fan interviews with whether players should "stand or hide in the tunnel" during the anthem. Left-leaning coverage of Game 5 and the schedule never mentioned the anthem at all, nor the league rule that players should stand. What audience did the league forecast for a Thursday lunchtime clincher versus the Friday option it passed up?
Bottom line

The Guardian never told readers Friday at State Farm Arena was on the table, so its 12:30 p.m. Game 6 reads as fate rather than a choice Fox News says the WNBA left unexplained.

The receipts — 3 facts one side's coverage lacks
  • A source at Versant, USA Network's parent company, said the Game 6 start-time change was the WNBA's decision contextin Fox News · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • Game 3 was moved up a day because State Farm Arena hosted a Sombr concert on the original date contextin NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • The WNBA rulebook says players should stand respectfully on the court for the national anthem; the league has not enforced that rule since 2017 contextin Fox News · absent from left-leaning coverage
The Left View
Left-leaning outlets present the afternoon Game 6 as an imperfect but collaborative fix to a real venue clash, stressing Engelbert's line that sellout crowds and "extraordinary atmosphere" at State Farm Arena for Games 3 and 4 made it worth giving "thousands more fans the opportunity" to see a title on the line. The Guardian and NBC News highlight player indifference to the clock — Dream guard Allisha Gray said, "I don't care if we're playing at 8am, 10am, midnight" — and Dream coach Karl Smesko's wish that championship games could be "a national holiday," while noting many fans have jobs. Their Game 5 accounts center on Golden State's defense and the expansion franchise's rapid rise, and they do not treat the anthem walkoff as part of the story.
The Right View
Right-leaning outlets cast the 12:30 p.m. ET tip — 9:30 a.m. Pacific — as a demotion of a potential clincher out of prime time, with the New York Post reporting concerns that a Thursday title celebration might have to move to a practice court to clear the floor for the Hawks, and Fox News stating the league "has yet to answer OutKick's questions about why it chose a weekday afternoon over other options," including a reported Friday Game 6 and Tuesday Game 7. Fox also frames fan loyalty around a parallel anthem dispute, quoting supporters who call the walkoff a "non-controversy" or a personal choice, a retired-military couple who stand with hands on hearts, and a fan who said service members died "so that we could decide to stand or hide in the tunnel." Valkyries players joked that fans should "call in sick"; Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin wrote that a 12:30 Finals tip is "Not a good look."
Our Take (balanced)
The left's strongest argument is that the arena conflict is genuine and the attendance tradeoff is measurable: State Farm Arena already sold out Games 3 and 4, Engelbert's stated goal was more fans in a building far larger than Gateway Center, and players on both sides publicly accepted an odd hour. The right's strongest argument is that announcing a weekday lunchtime potential clincher three days out, while declining to explain why a Friday alternative was dropped, undercuts the Finals' marquee status — and that an unenforced standing rule makes the "stand or hide in the tunnel" question unavoidable even if many in the building call it a non-issue. The central unresolved tension is whether the afternoon slot is a defensible swap of television hours for a larger live crowd, or a sign that championship logistics still yield to the NBA's building and that the anthem rule's non-enforcement will keep being read as a statement whether or not most fans care.

9 sources

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