The 2026 WNBA Finals reached the first Game 7 in their history, two days after a Game 6 played at lunchtime because nobody had held the building. We have read both accounts and still can't tell you whose diary it was. Elsewhere, the Indianapolis Colts held a closing-down sale and the NBA licensed its logo to two prediction markets.
The ruling: Game 6, 12:30pm, because the building was taken
On Thursday 29 October the WNBA played a Finals elimination game at 12:30pm Eastern, 9:30am in San Francisco. It had been due at 8pm (Front Office Sports). The Atlanta Hawks had State Farm Arena that night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and NBA labour rules demand a 22-hour break between games, which ruled out moving the Hawks to the afternoon (CNBC). The Atlanta Dream's regular home, Gateway Center Arena, seats 3,500. State Farm seats about 17,000 (CNBC).
On Tuesday the Dream's owners published an open letter. "Two months ago, when the WNBA finalized playoff dates and times, we raised concerns," it said, and those concerns "did not receive the attention, nor the urgency that they deserved" (CNN). "Perhaps it was assumed that the Dream would not make it this far."
Sources close to the league gave CNBC a different account: securing an arena is the team's job, playoff dates went out in December 2025, and the Dream never secured anywhere but Gateway. We found no on-record league answer to the letter's specific claims.
The other days were no help. Friday night belonged to wrestling on USA Network, Saturday afternoon to the Breeders' Cup, and Saturday night at the arena to a Young Miko concert (CNBC). Steve Kerr, who coaches Golden State's NBA team, called the move "better than having it at the YMCA" (CNBC).
Two media executives told CNBC, part of the company that held the rights, that the switch would cost hundreds of thousands of viewers. USA Sports, the rights holder, then reported 1.5 million, up 4% on last year's primetime clincher, with Game 2 at 1.33 million (USA Sports, CNBC). What 8pm would have drawn is unknown (Front Office Sports).
The Dream move into State Farm Arena permanently in 2027, a building the Hawks operate (CNN).
The number: 1967
That was the last time a defensive tackle was traded for more than one first-round pick, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter (theScore). On Thursday the Chicago Bears gave the Tennessee Titans first-rounders in 2027 and 2028 and a 2027 fourth for Jeffery Simmons, 29, and a 2028 fifth (Bleacher Report).
Two days earlier the Indianapolis Colts sent Quenton Nelson, an eight-time Pro Bowl guard, to the Seattle Seahawks for a 2027 third and a 2028 fifth (Fox Sports). The trade deadline is 10 November (theScore).
The call: one grid place for a fight in practice
Early in second practice in Mexico City on Friday, Max Verstappen passed Liam Lawson into Turn 12. Lawson tried to retake the place and they touched, breaking the Red Bull's floor and the Racing Bulls' front wing. A red flag followed (Formula1.com).
The stewards' document, as Formula1.com printed it, said both drivers behaved "in a manner that was considered unacceptable", and that "similar incidents this year" led them "to escalate the penalty from that of a formal warning to a grid position penalty". Each driver lost one place and took a penalty point.
The case for: they had been warned at the team managers' meeting that same day, and both admitted the moves were "clumsy". The case against: one place is a light price for contact that stopped a session.
Right call or wrong call?
Around the grounds
Football. 28 points. That was Harry Kane's margin over Kylian Mbappé in the Ballon d'Or vote, 1,055 to 1,027, one of the smallest in its history (ESPN). Kane is the first Englishman to win since Michael Owen in 2001 (The Sporting News). The ceremony left France for the first time, going to the London Palladium to honour the first winner, Stanley Matthews (The Sporting News).
NFL. The Minnesota Vikings are 6-0 after beating the Indianapolis Colts 16-10 last Sunday. Kyler Murray threw for 150 yards and a touchdown, Will Reichard made a 52-yard field goal with 1:39 left, and Harrison Smith sealed it with a late interception (Valley News Live). Two days later the Colts began selling, and later that week the Vikings' division rivals in Chicago bought.
F1. Who starts at the front in Mexico City today? Lewis Hamilton, 41, with his first pole for Ferrari and his first grand prix pole since July 2023, by 0.009 seconds from George Russell (Sky Sports). Can Kimi Antonelli be champion tonight? Sky Sports says he can. He qualified fifth and gains a place from Max Verstappen's penalty (Formula1.com). The result will be on the wire tomorrow.
Tennis. Alexander Zverev becomes the 30th man to reach world No. 1 on Monday, at 29, and opens in Paris against Lorenzo Musetti or Hubert Hurkacz (ATP Tour). He arrives off a defeat. Alex de Minaur beat him 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 in the Vienna semi-finals to go 10-0 indoors this season (Sky Sports). Carlos Alcaraz was his opponent in today's final.
Golf. 22 under par won the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur today, and it won it for Miyu Yamashita for the second year running. She closed with a 68 to finish two clear of Yan Liu (ESPN). Twelve months ago she needed an eight-shot final-round comeback and a three-way playoff for the same trophy (NBC Sports). An amateur, Marisa Tojai, shared third at 19 under (ESPN).
NBA. Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams broke his left fibula and dislocated his left ankle with 1:14 left in a 108-101 win over the LA Clippers last Sunday. The game stopped for about five minutes as a stretcher came out. Cason Wallace tore a labrum in the same game. Both need surgery, with no timetable yet (NBA.com). "Most importantly, things could have been a lot worse," he said.
WNBA. How did the first Game 7 in Finals history end? The Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 before 18,064, a title in their second season, the fastest by an expansion team in league history, according to the WNBA (Yahoo Sports). Who decided it? Gabby Williams had 2 points at halftime and 30 at the end, and took Finals MVP (Yahoo Sports). Last week the series stood 2-2.
The argument: should the NBA have signed with the prediction markets?
Last week's question, whether Shai Gilgeous-Alexander should have stayed on for three more points, is still open.
On 26 October the NBA named Kalshi and Polymarket its preferred prediction market exchanges and signed a memorandum with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Bangkok Post, Focus Gaming News). League and team personnel may not trade NBA contracts, and both firms must share information on suspicious trading. In return they get official data and the league's marks (Focus Gaming News).
For signing: these markets already ran NBA contracts, and now the league can see inside them and veto the easiest ones to rig. Against: Terry Rozier, who denies wrongdoing, was arrested a year ago in an FBI gambling probe over alleged injury tips, and the league has now put its logo on the product. Victor Wembanyama has called it "very sad to see some players promoting" sports gambling (Bangkok Post).
Protection or endorsement?
One from the archive
Forty years ago on Friday, on 6 November 1986, Manchester United sacked Ron Atkinson and hired Alex Ferguson from Aberdeen, with the club second from bottom (FourFourTwo). The last straw was a 4-1 League Cup replay defeat by Southampton. Chairman Martin Edwards made the case for the man he had just fired: five full seasons, "never out of the top four", two FA Cups (Steven Pye, Asharq Al-Awsat).
Manchester United spent this week on a row over the captaincy, lost 2-0 at Chelsea and went into Sunday 17th, nine games without a win (BBC Sport). Roma come on Tuesday.
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