Atlanta Hawks pay for wedding of fans who met at a home game

Sports and dating don’t necessarily mesh well. The ‘Kiss Cam’ is always uncomfortable, the food options are limited, if not overpriced, and for fans of the team, it can be hard to gauge just how into the game you should get.

Is it a good move for a die-hard fan to scream after every foul call? Probably not.

Usually, sports and weddings never mesh. The Atlanta Hawks, however, are going for the unusual here.

The team is paying to host a wedding at their home stadium, Phillips Arena, for a lucky couple who met at a Hawks game back in 2015. On that evening, Atlanta was hosting “‘Swipe Right Night” where Hawks fans on the dating app Tinder would have a chance to meet up and see a game. The promotion brought together Avery Armstrong and Ben McCleskey for the first time.

It was a cute way to capture the essence of a popular trend in dating. Only for McCleskey and Armstrong, the night was the beginning of a serious relationship. So when the Hawks hosted “Swipe Right Night 2.0” a year later, and the couple was still together, the team knew it had to invite them back.

It was also on that night where the Hawks presented the couple with an offer: if they ever got married, the team would be happy to host the wedding — all expenses paid.

A year later, that’s exactly where they find themselves.

On March 3, McCleskey and Armstrong will walk down the aisles of Phillips Arena to center court where they and 200 of their friends and family will gather for the ceremony. A celebration will later be held at the team’s Courtside Club.

This is, understatedly, a very cool move by the Hawks. It’s also a great way to one-up all the unfortunate marriage proposals at sporting events.

McCleskey and Armstrong both had to shoot their shot at a Hawks game and boy did it pay off.

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Schustee