Unrivaled sets professional women's
basketball attendance record in 3-on-3 league's Philly debut
[January 31, 2026]
By DAN GELSTON
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Natasha Cloud rooted for the 76ers as a kid
growing up in suburban Philadelphia and — like so many hoopsters
back in the day — idolized Allen Iverson.
So when the former WNBA champion and current New York Liberty
standout hit the same court where Iverson once dazzled, Cloud
couldn't help but look up to his retired No. 3 jersey in the rafters
and let the moment truly sink in; that women's professional
basketball was back in Philadelphia for the first time in nearly 30
years — and she was a key figure in the comeback.
“Man, like how crazy it is that I'm standing here about to play for
the first time professionally in my home city,” Cloud said.
Cloud plays for Phantom BC, one of the teams in the burgeoning
3-on-3 women’s professional basketball league, Unrivaled. Unrivaled
hit the road for the first time in its brief history, breaking free
of its Florida bubble to expand its reach and stage two games on
Friday night in Philadelphia.
The first tour stop was a smashing success.
Cloud held an “ Abolish Ice ” sign as she was introduced to a
roaring ovation from a professional women’s basketball
regular-season record crowd of 21, 490 that included “Good Morning
America” host Robin Roberts, Sixers guard Kyle Lowry, and comedians
Leslie Jones and Wanda Sykes.
The previous regular-season attendance record of 20,711 was set in
the WNBA by the Indiana Fever and Washington Mystics on Sept. 19,
2024.
Kelsey Plum scored 22 points to lead the Phantom to a 71-68 win over
the Breeze in the first game. Marina Mabrey then gave the
record-setting crowd a record to cheer on — she scored an
Unrivaled-high 47 points to lead the Lunar Owls to an 85-75 win over
Philly native Kahleah Copper and league champion Rose.
Copper, the 2021 WNBA NBA Finals MVP for the Chicago Sky, played her
role as both tour guide — she took her teammates to Dalessandro's
Steaks — and promoter — she needed 64 tickets to the event — to
perfection.
“I think the city is ready for women's professional sports,” Copper
said. “I'm excited that, one, that it's here, and two, that I'm a
part of it.”
Philly's rich basketball history is largely comprised of household
name Hall of Famers and All-Stars out of the men's game. Wilt
Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant played high school basketball in the
area. Sixers stars from Iverson to Julius Erving to Joel Embiid have
brought fans to their feet for decades.
Yet no women's pro game had been played in the city since 1998 when
the Philadelphia Rage played for the now-defunct American Basketball
League. Philly native Dawn Staley, who attended the doubleheader,
has carried the banner for women's basketball out of the city — her
hometown street was named in her honor in 2017 — but the college
teams have largely been immaterial on the national scene.
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Unrivaled's debut is the expected first step toward
Philly basketball breaking into the conversation as a women's hotbed
of hoops. Pep rallies and watch parties sprouted Friday night around
Philly and a pair of lower bowl tickets on the secondary markets
matched the price and high demand of recent Sixers' games.
Philadelphia is planning on a new arena that will be completed
hopefully by 2030 and will serve as the new home for the WNBA team
set to join the league.
For all the hype in the city — Cloud gave a shoutout to a
credentialed media member wearing a Philly Loves Women's Sports
sweatshirt — Unrivaled's doubleheader also comes at a pivotal moment
for a league experiencing growing pains in televised viewership in
its second season.
The eight-team league is averaging 92,000 viewers on TNT and truTV,
down 49% from last year through the comparable number of games
(183,000 through 26 games). Unrivaled telecasts on TNT in primetime
are averaging 68% fewer viewers than primetime programming on TNT
the four weeks prior to Unrivaled starting (93,000 viewers vs.
291,000).
While ratings matter to prove 3-on-3 is more than a novelty act,
Cloud focused more on the packed house later that night as proof of
“how hot, booming, (in)-demand, that women's sports, women's
basketball in general is, right now.”
Co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, Unrivaled's
first tour stop in Philadelphia could represent a proving ground on
whether taking the product on the road can lead to new revenue and
expand the league’s fan base, while recalibrating a business model
that was originally rooted in centralization.
“I would love to see Unrivaled tour more often,” said Breeze forward
Cameron Brink. “We saw that this is a city that wants to cheer on
women’s basketball.”
Brink flashed a TikTok-worthy moment when she dunked at practice
Thursday for the first time since the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks star
suffered a torn ACL in her left knee in June.
Breeze and former UConn star Paige Bueckers — the 2021 AP Player of
the Year — are just two of the players responsible for packing the
place on Friday night. Unrivaled players participated in community
events and connected with fans — especially young girls — that
opened their eyes to how starved the Philly sports scene is for
professional women's basketball.
“To see the turnout, to see the sold-out arena, to just see the love
that they have for women’s sports, it means a lot for the future too
in terms of getting a WNBA team,” Bueckers said. “It’s really cool
just for the game to continue to expand and for us to see that
turnaround and for us to see that support everywhere we go.”
Unrivaled CEO Alex Bazzell did not specifically take questions
Friday but popped into the press room for a brief rah-rah speech and
suggested more touring dates could be ahead.
“We're going to continue to make the sports world proud by the
product we put out,” Bazell said.
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