Unrivaled expands its reach in 2nd season amid evolving women’s basketball landscape: 'Everything we’re doing … it’s working’

PHILADELPHIA — A New York Liberty winter hat glowed seafoam from a puffy jacket’s hood, while a rainbow scarf peeked out from a peacoat. One brave soul in a blue-script branded black windbreaker — better equipped for Florida than the plunging northeast winter temperatures — slipped through the turnstile of the SEPTA Metro B train’s ultimate stop, leading dozens back into the frosty elements.

“Are the Flyers playing tonight?” an older man asked outside the station, scanning the stream of (chiefly) women around him traversing an uptick in traffic at South Philly Stadium Complex.

No, and neither the NHL team nor the NBA’s 76ers could accommodate what was in store at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday night. Unrivaled, the 3x3 league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, brought out a record-setting 21,490 fans that bested the Backstreet Boys’ 1999 tour stop and Michael Jordan’s final game in town as a Chicago Bull. It’s the most to attend a regular-season women’s basketball game in U.S. history, overtaking the final game of Caitlin Clark’s rookie season.

It is also more than 20 times the size of Unrivaled’s soundstage arena in Medley, Florida, and eight times the average TV viewership of 172,000 from the Week 4 doubleheader. Before the league was even announced, Unrivaled intended to take the show on the road to showcase the women’s game, the players and their smaller-court 3x3 style. And to grow the business.

Philadelphia served as the trial run for the barnstorming league. There is a clear appetite for women’s basketball and its players. And an even greater hunger for the camaraderie of the collective in this space that Unrivaled has tapped.

“It's exciting to see it come to fruition, because it's always been a part of the strategy,” Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell told Yahoo Sports on Friday morning. “But I don't know if even we expected the excitement to be this much this early.”

Julia Hunter is locked in. There’s more than two hours until tipoff, but the 9-year-old is watching intently as fans clad in Unrivaled and WNBA gear take their perch on the mechanical bull at Stateside Live!, the complex’s external dining and entertainment facility. Her sister, 3-year-old Alexis, tries to get a better view.

Around them, food is passed around and the drink taps are flowing. There’s pure excitement and a sense of community in the air, no matter the icon showing from unzipped jackets, including one fan who wore a jersey from the ABL’s Philadelphia Rage, the last women’s pro team to play in the city in 1998.

The Hunter family is outfitted almost exclusively in UConn gear after making the two-hour trip from Washington, D.C., that afternoon. Lisa Hunter’s husband, Ian, a Connecticut native growing up in the 1990s Rebecca Lobo era, gifted her the tickets for Christmas. Lisa has enjoyed watching UConn players continue developing in the WNBA, but the six-month offseason “leaves a lot to be desired.” She began watching Unrivaled to fill that itch with Julia.

Unrivaled’s viewership numbers are down overall from the 208,000 average of their inaugural season, but they’ve steadily grown from 139,000 in Week 1 to 172,000 the week before heading to Philadelphia. Bazzell said an earlier start date contributed to the change, a necessity due to the FIBA women’s World Cup qualifying tournament in March. It pitted them directly against the NFL and college football playoffs.

“None of it's surprising to us or our partners at TNT,” Bazzell, also the husband of Collier, told Yahoo Sports. “If you get caught up in the fluctuations of any business, whether its ratings [or] merchandise sales — it’s all a long game that you have to kind of be balanced about.”

Unrivaled came on Lisa’s radar through an admiration for Collier and Stewart, both UConn alumnae, as leaders and mothers setting a standard of support with their league. She cited the importance of maternity protections, and as one of the 73% of women who align their purchasing power with their values, according to a 2022 UBS study, Lisa said she appreciated that the league signed women-forward sponsors like Sephora.

Bueckers is Julia’s favorite player, and on Friday, she’s treated to the standard experience: a game-high 23 points (9-of-13), 6 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. In a tight final quarter, Bueckers’ characteristic mid-range shot kept the Breeze in closing distance, and she scored or assisted on every basket of a 7-0 run. The crowd cheered as loudly for her final bucket as Kelsey Plum’s game-winning layup for a Phantom victory.

By night’s end, the Hunters hoped to make their way to the Unrivaled merchandise tables spread around the concourse. It’s often sold out online, and Julia, attending in her Dallas Wings Buckers jersey, wanted to add a Breeze one to her budding collection. The league made $400,000 in arena merch sales alone, an Unrivaled spokesperson told Yahoo Sports. In all, the night brought in $2 million in revenue for the league, including $1 million in ticket sales.

The crowd yearned for it, crescendoing as the always fiery Marina Mabrey walked away from the bait. She shook her fingers “no” on her way to the bench, signaling to the raucous arena that Shakira Austin’s shoulder to the chest wouldn’t crack her flimsy composure. Not tonight.

As much as the fans would’ve erupted for it, there was no Mabrey crashout in Philadelphia. The proud New Jerseyan took over neighboring Philly, scoring an Unrivaled record 47 points that included 27 in the first quarter to set the record for any seven-minute period in league history.

In the first quarter, she drilled four 3-pointers in 80 seconds, the arena lifting in palpable energy at each shot’s parabola. By the time she missed her first in five attempts — and the only one of the quarter — all she could do was laugh into her fist, eyes wide in amusement at the heat check.

When she collected a Temi Fagbenle block and dropped in a seventh and final 3-pointer that quarter, the uproarious standing celebration might have been heard from the nearby train station. She had an Unrivaled record 10 by game’s end.

The ear-piercing surges came often in an 85-75 upset of the reigning champion Rose. Skylar Diggins gave the team’s “Hootie Hoo” call, the full-capacity arena crowd echoing it before she disappeared into the tunnel to embrace her two exuberant children. It was the Lunar Owls’ second win of the season after finishing 13-1 in the inaugural season, led by co-founder Collier, who is unable to play this season due to injury.

“You could feel the love tonight,” Collier told a small group of reporters at the night’s conclusion. “I’m so glad we came here. I can’t even explain it more than I was just so filled up with joy.”

While Collier spoke and fans filed out with bags of newly released merch, Xfinity Arena employees began flipping the arena for the second of three times in two days. The 76ers hosted Sacramento on Thursday and New Orleans on Saturday night. But first, the Flyers defeated Los Angeles in a two-overtime matinee earlier Saturday.

Slotting in arena time between NBA, NHL, PWHL, concerts and events is tricky business. Collier said they began securing Xfinity about a year ago, indicating the league is already either done or in the final stages of solidifying the slate for next year.

It didn’t keep players from tossing out ideas. Bueckers suggested Nashville, where Athletes Unlimited draws crowds, or Houston, a former WNBA home in that league’s expansion pool. Tiffany Hayes suggested a game at UConn, although she knows players might not enjoy the lack of excitement in a rural stop. Lexie Hull wants to see the league go to places without women’s basketball.

“It's so cool when you do a one-off game somewhere, and there's like a bazillion fans going,” Mabrey said. “Because it kind of just reminds all of us that everything we're doing to draw fans, grow the game, it’s working. There’s another city that wants to see us and is excited for a WNBA team to come there [or] having an Unrivaled game there.”

The common thread became players’ hometowns or alma maters. Philadelphia natives Kahleah Copper and Natasha Cloud served as tour guides on the trip, sharing their favorite cheesesteak spots and showing off the courts and baskets on which they grew up. Cloud teared up when speaking of her joy in returning home to play professionally for the first time.

Mabrey would like to see a stop in New Jersey, where she grew up. Or it would be nice to go to Hawaii. She was the third player to mention the island state.

Chelsea and Cierra Cobb step back from the Stateside Live! table, aghast at hearing that players are pining for games on the islands where they grew up and still live. How can they seal the deal, they ask?

The Cobb sisters flew in from Hawaii specifically to attend this Unrivaled tour stop. In all, they said they invested around $10,000 to turn it into a week-long trip and visit historical landmarks. They grew up watching games with their Teresa Weatherspoon-loving dad, who later urged his eldest daughter to model Candace Parker's fundamentals.

“It's a full-circle moment for us,” Chelsea, 30, said. “It's a sister trip. It's standing up for sisterhood.”

Added 28-year-old Cierra: “And sisterhood comes in all forms, whether you know the person standing next to you or not.”

The women said they appreciate the players’ “unapologetic” approach to standing on what they believe. Chelsea felt the “outpouring of hatred toward” Brittney Griner during her detainment in Russia echoed the sexist remarks she heard growing up. Fans who spoke with Yahoo Sports all noted players' awareness and willingness to speak on national issues, particularly regarding social justice.

“[Their] political activism and the ability to use your platform in a way that advances movements that are intersectional is incredible and takes a lot of bravery,” Lisa Hunter said.

Lisa highlighted Unrivaled rookie Bueckers, the 2025 UConn national champion, who spoke openly against the fatal shootings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in her hometown of Minneapolis. The week before Unrivaled’s trip, Stewart became one of the first prominent professional athletes to make a statement against the shootings.

In Philadelphia, fans shown on the video board with “Abolish ICE; Go Birds” signs received cheers, as did those in merchandise supporting higher salaries in the WNBA.

The night prior, Cierra stood in her hotel room, ironing 13 letters and a basketball onto the back of her black-and-red leather jacket. It took about four hours, her sister said, and she waffled on how exactly to express her thoughts. Ultimately, she kept it brief: “Pay the players.”

“Seeing the players advocate for themselves, even as a young adult, it motivates me,” Cierra said. “Because this is not a new fight for us [as women]. Fighting for equality in our workforce is a battle that we’re probably going to fight our lifetimes. But if the players fight so that the next generation doesn’t have to, I’m all for it.”

Bubbling under the surface in Philadelphia were the WNBA and WNBA Players Association’s negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). A crack emerged earlier on Friday when Kelsey Plum told reporters the sides would meet in person on Monday.

Collier, Stewart and Plum are three of the seven players on the executive board, a conflict of interest that WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike also shares as a recent signee of Project B. There are implications for Unrivaled and other offseason leagues entrenched in the talks.

Bazzell is open to a formal partnership with the WNBA and told Yahoo Sports on Friday he remains "adamant we’re not here to compete with the WNBA.” He doesn’t view his league as having an "appetite for a longer schedule,” and rather wants to focus on remaining a singular hub for athletes with top-notch resources.

While WNBA CBA negotiations remain ongoing, he said it’s “business as usual” for Unrivaled. He wants to ensure WNBA owners understand what’s going on in the 3x3 league now and in the future as they grow the ecosystem, a phrase he’s used repeatedly.

“It's hard, because sometimes all you read is headlines and speculation of, ‘Oh, is Unrivaled competing? Is this a conflict?’” Bazzell told Yahoo Sports. “My only job is to make sure they know directly from me what our intentions of the league are, and that no one wants to get a CBA more done than I do because it brings more stability to my family.”

Collier made $631,907 in salary over the last three WNBA seasons since coming off her four-year rookie contract. As an MVP-caliber star, she would make at least $1 million per season under both the recent WNBA and union CBA proposals. Players authorized the executive committee to strike when they find it necessary, and some have said they are preparing financially for a strike.

Collier opted not to comment on the CBA meeting, instead focusing strictly on Unrivaled’s first tour stop. The founders always intended to tour, and intend to expand the feature in year 3.

“We want to be at minimum four to six stops next year,” Bazzell told Yahoo Sports. “That's certainly within our vision, and we're already strategizing how the calendar works.”

Unrivaled runs about eight weeks for a total of 56 regular-season games. Most players enjoyed taking a road trip, but cautioned against growing it too fast.

“One of the appeals was not traveling too much,” Diggins said on Thursday. “We kind of appreciated that, and so I'm sure it's like a balance that we'll have to find, but I know a lot of us are really excited to be here.”

Bazzell said all of the players know about the range. The traveling potentials are written into contracts, and players have equity in the league, so they benefit from lucrative visits. To balance the travel and athlete recovery, Unrivaled wants to be more efficient by hitting multiple cities in a weekend. For this trip, they flew four teams out on a Wednesday and shuttled them back to Miami late on Friday night for games on Sunday.

As for where, Bazzell said there will be a wide range of markets that meet at least a few key marks: those that experienced women’s basketball in the past, are highly supportive of women’s sports now or have been in the past.

“Some of it is [a] gut call on making sure when we reach out to venues, the cities are involved the way Philly was involved,” Bazzell said. “Because I think you have to be wanted where you go, too. That’s a key element.”

Philadelphia mayor Cherell L. Parker was instrumental in bringing the league to town, along with the Philadelphia Sisters advocacy group, ahead of the WNBA’s inaugural season there in 2030. A star-studded guest list featured Wanda Sykes, Dawn Staley, Leslie Jones, Jason and Kylie Kelce, Robin Roberts, and 76ers Kyle Lowry and Andre Drummond.

“What we learned from Philly is it's going to be a big awareness builder in our infancy,” Bazzell said. “Even getting out to a much bigger audience and arena, and having [a lot of] them experience it … for the first time, is going to be really cool and rare.”

Back at the SEPTA station before the broken records and lucrative night, the older man asking about the Flyers paused en route to the nearby casino. He hadn’t heard of Unrivaled and couldn’t stop asking questions of the format, the style and the structure.

He intends to check it out sometime soon, he yelled back. He’s intrigued.