Gabby Williams’ 26-point performance helped the Golden State Valkyries hold off the Atlanta Dream 68-64 in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Saturday at Chase Center.
Game 2 will tip off Monday at 8 p.m. ET in San Francisco and will air directly opposite “Monday Night Football,” with the Washington Commanders facing the San Francisco 49ers at 8:15 p.m. ET.
That overlap is one of several that drew a sharp response from WNBA analyst Rachel DeMita, host of the “Courtside Club” podcast.
Rachel DeMita Sounds Off on WNBA Finals Scheduling Against Crowded Sports Calendar
In a TikTok video posted Sunday, DeMita opened with a blunt verdict before going through the Finals calendar game by game: “Whoever does scheduling for the WNBA needs to be fired immediately.”
“So, Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, they put smack dab in the middle of the day on a Saturday, going up against some of the biggest college football games. You had Texas-Florida, Ohio State-Indiana,” DeMita said.
“I was actually covering the Ole Miss game that day. Game 2 is now scheduled to compete against ‘Monday Night Football.’ Game 3 is on day two of opening night for the NBA season, and it happens to be the night that they have [11] games going on at once. Just ridiculous.”
That date was a late change. Game 3 was originally scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 22, until the league announced on Oct. 13 that Games 3 and 4 would move to State Farm Arena.
This moved Game 3 up a day and Game 4’s tip-off to 1 p.m. ET.
The NBA’s Atlanta Hawks also pushed back their home opener against the Houston Rockets that Saturday evening.
Game 4 that Saturday again runs into college football, though DeMita acknowledged it would end before that night’s baseball.
Game 5 is where the conflicts stack up. On Monday, Oct. 26, the game, if needed, would tip off at 8 p.m. ET against “Monday Night Football” and Game 3 of the World Series, which also starts at 8 p.m. ET.
If the series goes the distance, Game 6 meets “Thursday Night Football” on Oct. 29.
“All of those things will be happening at the exact same time,” DeMita continued. “Game 6 coincides with ‘Thursday Night Football,’ and then Game 7 would be on Halloween, also college football Saturday. There was also like a whole week off between the semifinals and the finals. I don’t know.”
According to a report from Sports Media Watch’s Jon Lewis, before this year, the last Finals game played on a college football Saturday was the deciding Game 5 in 2006.
DeMita offered one concession before closing her argument: “There just has to be a better way. I know that they’re trying to lengthen the season, but having the WNBA Finals coincide with all of these other, like, really big sporting events, it’s just not it. I don’t know, we got to figure something out.”
While the noise around scheduling decisions in a growing league like the WNBA will continue at its own pace, Golden State and the Dream will have their sights set on an all-important Game 2.
A Valkyries win Monday would send them to Atlanta two victories from the franchise’s first championship. A Dream win would even the series before it shifts east and help Angel Reese and Co. avoid a daunting 0-2 hole.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.