No regular-season women’s professional basketball game has attracted as many spectators as last Friday’s Unrivaled event. Held at Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena, the player-led 3-on-3 league drew a crowd of 21,490 fans, marking a sold-out doubleheader and setting a new attendance record for a women’s pro basketball game during the regular season.
For comparison, the highest-attended WNBA regular-season game was between the Washington Mystics and the Indiana Fever on September 19, 2024, at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., which was notable as Caitlin Clark’s final rookie season game. However, two WNBA Finals games—in 2003 and 2007—each attracted 22,076 fans at the Detroit Shock’s Palace of Auburn Hills. Unrivaled also boasts that the attendance at Xfinity Mobile Arena, home to the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, is a record for any event held there.
Fans were treated to an exciting opener, with the Phantoms scoring 22 points, capped off by Kelsey Plum’s winning shot. Natasha Cloud, a Philadelphia native and member of the winning Phantom team, was emotional in a post-game interview, expressing her deep affection for the city.
The Philadelphia event marks the kickoff of the new Unrivaled Tour, designed to grow the presence of women’s professional basketball. Though Philadelphia has never hosted a WNBA team before, the city secured an expansion franchise last year, with play set to begin in 2030.
Fan Take:
This milestone attendance shows the incredible appetite for women’s basketball and highlights the power of player-driven initiatives like Unrivaled. For WNBA fans, this event signals a promising future where the sport continues to capture bigger audiences and expand its reach in passionate basketball cities like Philadelphia.
