{"id":843123,"date":"2026-09-10T16:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843123\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:46:11","slug":"unrivaled-is-returning-to-philly-in-2027-after-a-record-setting-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843123\/","title":{"rendered":"Unrivaled is returning to Philly in 2027 after a record-setting debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n

After a record-setting debut at Xfinity Mobile Arena in 2026, Unrivaled will return to South Philadelphia<\/a> on Feb. 15, 2027.<\/p>\n

The South Florida-based three-on-three women\u2019s basketball league hit the road for the first time in 2026, bringing four of its eight teams to Philadelphia for its inaugural tour stop. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was our first tour stop ever, and because we broke every attendance record, it was a no-brainer to come back to Philly,\u201d Unrivaled commissioner Micky Lawler said. \u201cIt felt like Philly was part of our family, and we\u2019d worked hard to get there and to do what we did there. So it was like Thanksgiving coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Philly stop was the most-attended women\u2019s professional basketball game<\/a> in history and set venue attendance records at Xfinity Mobile Arena. <\/p>\n

Celebrities like Dawn Staley<\/a>, Kylie and Jason Kelce<\/a>, Kyle Lowry<\/a>, Robin Roberts, and Leslie Jones were in the building<\/a>, and big names like Paige Bueckers<\/a>, Marina Mabrey, and locals Natasha Cloud<\/a> and Kahleah Copper<\/a> were on the court for the 2026 doubleheader. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was unbelievable,\u201d cofounder Napheesa Collier said. \u201cYou could feel the love tonight. I\u2019m so glad we came here. I just can\u2019t explain it more than I was just so filled up with joy. It was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawler could not confirm which of Unrivaled\u2019s teams or players would play in the 2027 tour stop. The four clubs will be finalized later in December.<\/p>\n

The event was such a success<\/a> that Unrivaled moved the semifinals of its playoffs to the Barclays Center<\/a> and is embarking on a multicity road trip this winter, starting with Boston. <\/p>\n

Ashley Lunkenheimer, vice president of the Philadelphia Sisters, an organization dedicated to bringing professional women\u2019s sports to Philadelphia, said attendees from last year\u2019s event already are inquiring about purchasing suites, and there\u2019s increased sponsorship interest. Tickets go on sale for the general public at noon. <\/p>\n

The Sisters played a critical role in attracting Unrivaled to Philly<\/a>, which provided proof of concept that women\u2019s sports can be successful in the city. Lunkenheimer hopes Unrivaled\u2019s continued presence in the city helps to lay the foundation for Philadelphia\u2019s WNBA team, which is set to begin play in 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Philadelphia specifically, it\u2019s the makings, I hope, of a season ticket list, right?\u201d Lunkenheimer said. \u201c… We need to build back the awareness for the broader crowds, so they all know when the WNBA comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unrivaled was the first major pro women\u2019s basketball event in Philly since 1998. Philly\u2019s embrace of it ensured it won\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a mutual opportunity to showcase that we believed in our city and in Unrivaled,\u201d Lunkenheimer said. \u201cI\u2019d like to believe that\u2019s why New York and Barclays said, \u2018Let\u2019s jump on that.\u2019 Now they\u2019re going to all these other cities because every other city is saying, \u2018We want it.\u2019 They could have said, \u2018Well, we\u2019re going to skip Philly. We already did that.\u2019 But they didn\u2019t. They value that partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Unrivaled in Philly<\/p>\n

Before the three-on-three professional women’s basketball league returns to Philly, catch up on our coverage of last year’s stop at Xfinity Mobile Arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min After a record-setting debut at Xfinity Mobile Arena in 2026, Unrivaled will return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,356939,434],"class_list":["post-843123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-unrivaled-basketball-philly-tickets-date-2027-return","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}