Dream and Valkyries Left the Floor for All Seven WNBA Finals Anthems; Game 6 Drew 1.5 Million Viewers

Since Game 1 opened the series on NBC with 2.1 million viewers, the WNBA Finals have produced two running storylines that have nothing to do with basketball: where the players stand during the anthem, and how the networks are counting their audience. Both carried into Saturday's Game 7 at Chase Center in San Francisco.

Seven games, seven anthems off the floor

The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries left the court before the national anthem in all seven games, including Saturday night. The winner will claim its franchise's first WNBA title.

Saturday's anthem was performed by San Francisco's Glide Ensemble. The choir's website describes its music as "steeped in protest and visions of a more just and loving world" and says it spreads a message of "diversity, acceptance and love."

The performers changed. Alanis Morissette sang before Game 2 at Chase Center. Ten-year-old Heiress Harris, the daughter of rapper T.I., sang before Game 6 in Atlanta on Thursday. Both teams were off the floor each time.

OutKick first asked about the practice about two weeks ago. The WNBA, the NBA and both teams' front offices have not answered its questions.

Golden State coach Natalie Nakase addressed it at a media availability in Atlanta on Oct. 23. "We're two years in," she said. "That's been part of our pregame."

Asked who established the routine and why, Nakase said, "I really don't know." She added: "I'm not trying to, you know, not answer your question. It's just part of our pregame."

Asked what she does during the roughly 90 seconds off the court, Nakase said, "I'm with my staff, so I'm focused on my plays." Golden State's public relations staff then moved to the next reporter, and OutKick did not get to ask why that work could not happen before or after the anthem.

Nakase's account is the only explanation on the record: it is routine, it predates this series, and the time is used for game preparation. No one has said who set the schedule or whether the league has any position on it.

The ratings claims

NBC and USA Sports have promoted records throughout the series. The numbers are real. The comparisons are shakier.

Game 1 drew 2.1 million viewers on NBC and Peacock and peaked at 3.0 million, up 11% from the 1.9 million that watched last year's opener on ESPN. It was NBC's first Finals game since 2002. The 1997 one-game championship drew 2.85 million on NBC.

Game 2 on Monday drew 1.33 million across USA Network, CNBC, E! and Peacock, up 9% from last year. USA Sports called Game 3's 1.71 million the biggest Game 3 audience since 1999 and the highest ever on cable.

NBC called Game 4 the most-watched Game 4 in Finals history at 1.9 million across NBC and Peacock, a 14% increase over the 1.67 million record set by the Liberty and Lynx on ESPN in 2024. Sports Media Watch put NBC's TV-only audience at 1.66 million, slightly under the ESPN mark. Another 232,000 came from streaming measured separately by Adobe Analytics, which pushed the combined figure over the old record. NBC's release did not include that breakdown.

Game 5 drew 1.4 million, billed as the second-most-watched Finals Game 5. That trails the 2.15 million who watched the winner-take-all Game 5 between New York and Minnesota in 2024.

Game 6 at noon

The WNBA moved Game 6 on Thursday, Oct. 29, from 8 p.m. ET to 12:30 p.m. ET to avoid a conflict with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena. That arena seats 17,000, against 3,500 at the Dream's regular home, Gateway Center. For the Valkyries' home market, tip was 9:30 a.m.

USA Sports said the Dream's 80–69 win averaged 1.5 million viewers across USA Network, E!, SYFY and streaming platforms led by Peacock. That is 4% above last year's primetime series-clincher between Las Vegas and Phoenix. The network said the audience averaged 1.7 million when replays on USA Network and CNBC in the original 8 p.m. slot are included.

The release did not split TV from streaming.

Nielsen previously told Front Office Sports that total TV audience at noon on Thursdays this month was about 40% of the 8 p.m. ET audience. One source familiar with TV ratings told the outlet that moving a championship-level event from primetime to midday could cut viewership 40% to 60%. How many people Game 6 would have drawn at night is unknown.

The yardstick has also changed. Nielsen made Big Data + Panel its standard in 2025, drawing on smart-TV and set-top data from 45 million households. It expanded out-of-home coverage in 2025 from 66% to 100% of the contiguous U.S. TV population, and on Aug. 31 introduced wearable devices that pick up TV audio to measure co-viewing. Nielsen says the changes are meant to improve accuracy and do not guarantee higher ratings. Last year's and 2024's figures were not produced under the same system.

League-wide numbers

The league's own season totals are large by any measure. WNBA Communications said nationally televised games reached more than 91 million viewers, double 2025. A record 51 telecasts averaged at least one million viewers, up from 19, and nine topped two million, up from four. Fans watched more than 320 million hours of regular-season coverage.

Outgoing Commissioner Cathy Engelbert called the 30th season "one to remember."

What comes next

Game 7 was scheduled for an 8 p.m. ET tip on USA Network and CNBC. NBC and USA Sports have not yet released its audience. The test is whether that release separates TV from streaming, and says which Nielsen method produced the number, so it can be compared with the 2.15 million for 2024's Game 5.