Should Wizards games start earlier next season?

Earlier this month, the Washington Nationals MLB team announced that evening games would have the first pitch at 6:45 p.m. instead of 7:05 p.m. ET. The reason why was because baseball games have some more time-bound rules to speed up pace of play, and so more fans can stay for a full nine inning game.

So that got me thinking. Would it make sense for the Washington Wizards to have an earlier start time for evening games as well?

If Wizards games started a little earlier, like 6:30 p.m., most games would end at around 9 p.m. if there is no overtime. More fans may stay through the end of four quarters. And like the Nationals, kids would be more likely to stay the entire time if there is school the next morning. After all, Fairfax County middle schools start school at 7:30 am, and other schools may start even earlier than that!

There is a major downside to an earlier start time: traffic into Washington. Crowds often arrive late because of the traffic. Afternoon rush hour doesn’t really end until 7 on a good day. And fans from the suburbs, like Fairfax County and Montgomery County, will be shafted. Fans from Loudoun County, even worse than that.

Would you like to see Wizards’ games start earlier next year? Let us know in the comments below.