WNBA Teams Skip National Anthem in Finals Despite Rule
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What happened
During Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco, Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries players left the court less than a minute before the national anthem and returned seconds after it ended. The same sequence occurred before Game 2 on Monday night. The WNBA’s 2026 official rulebook directs players, coaches, and trainers to stand and line up in a dignified posture along the sidelines or foul line during the anthem. OutKick asked the league and both teams why the players were off the floor and whether they would be present for Game 2; neither the clubs nor the WNBA answered those questions before publication.
Sourcing check · Rests on documents, no one quoted · single origin · 3 articles
SINGLE ORIGIN · EVERY OUTLET TRACES THIS TO FOX NEWS
No article quotes anyone; the reporting rests on WNBA rulebook, official rulebook. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 0 of 2
- 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: No article does.
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 2 of 2
- 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: WNBA rulebook, official rulebook
- Credits another outlet 0 of 2
- 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 0 of 2
- 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 19, 11:09 UTC by Fox News, naming its source. First document in the first report, from Fox News (WNBA rulebook).
- 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
BLINDSPOT.
Only right-leaning outlets are covering this story
— the other side's media is silent.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage has not reported this story at all. Right-leaning coverage says the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries left the court during the national anthem, even though the league rulebook requires players to stand and line up. Fox News reports they did so again in Game 2. It also reports that the WNBA has not answered questions about the absences. A reader of left-leaning coverage is missing the absences, the written rule, and the league's silence.
Fox News leads with the league remaining silent after the teams skipped the anthem again. Daily Wire instead contrasts a pregame fashion walk with the skipped anthem and writes that the rituals are "mutually incompatible."
Has the WNBA told either Finals team they may leave the floor, or is the anthem rule simply unenforced?
Bottom line
Left-leaning readers would not know Fox News reported a second anthem skip by both Finals teams, or that the league has stayed silent on its own stand-and-line-up rule.
The receipts — 6 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Both the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries were off the court for the national anthem in Game 1 and Game 2
- The 2026 WNBA rulebook requires players, coaches and trainers to stand and line up during the national anthem
- The WNBA has not responded to multiple requests for comment on the anthem absences
- The teams left the floor less than one minute before the anthem and returned seconds after it ended
- The practice of WNBA teams skipping the national anthem dates to the 2020 season
- OutKick attended all five of Saturday's pregame and postgame press conferences but was not called on
The Right View
Fox News and OutKick reported the absences as an apparent break with the league’s own anthem protocol, noting that both Finals teams left the floor in Games 1 and 2, that reporters were not called on at press conferences, and that the WNBA and both clubs declined to say whether discipline was under consideration or whether players would be told to appear. Daily Wire, reprinting a Sport & State column, framed the skip as a practice dating to 2020 social-justice protests, contrasted it with a pregame fashion runway for Game 2, and cited military-family ties of several players on the two rosters. Both outlets treated the cited rulebook language and the league’s silence as central facts.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive on checkable events and documents: named teams, two specific games, a cited 2026 rulebook provision, and a documented non-response to on-the-record questions. Established is that both Finals teams were off the court during the anthem in Games 1 and 2 and that the outlets covering the story received no explanation from the league or clubs. Unconfirmed are the teams’ stated reason, whether the league treats being off the floor as a violation of the lining-up rule, and whether any discipline or instruction followed. No left-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch for a league or team statement, any enforcement action, and whether the pattern continues in remaining Finals games.
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