San Francisco will be the site of the first WNBA Finals Game 7 in the league’s history on Saturday after the Golden State Valkyries missed a chance to clinch their first championship in Thursday’s Game 6 against the Atlanta Dream.
The Valkyries lost 80-69 on Thursday in Game 6 of the best-of-seven series, tying the series 3-3 and making Saturday’s Game 7 the deciding game.
Scheduling conflicts at State Farm Arena in Atlanta prompted the WNBA to schedule Game 6 for 9:30 a.m. Pacific time, or 12:30 p.m. local time in Atlanta, on Thursday. The Dream went ahead by as many as 25 points in the first quarter and held on to force Game 7 on Halloween.
The Valkyries held a watch party for the game Thursday morning at the Thrive City plaza outside of Chase Center, the arena where they and the Golden State Warriors NBA basketball team play in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood.
Now Chase Center, also known as “Ballhalla” for Valkyries games, will host Game 7 at 5 p.m. Saturday. Listings for the team’s official resale ticket partner, Ticketmaster, showed as of Thursday afternoon the cheapest ticket for the game going for more than $440.
The Valkyries, founded by the same group that owns the Warriors, joined the WNBA last year and became the first expansion team in the league’s history to make the playoffs in its first season. This year, they became the first team to make the WNBA Finals in their second season.
The format of the WNBA Finals has changed since the league held its first one in 1997. It was a best-of-five series from 2005 to 2024 before changing to a best-of-seven format last year. The championship would be the first in franchise history for either the Valkyries or Dream.
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