There was a time when the WNBA remained in the shadows of the NBA. And for almost a decade, the female basketball league struggled. Thankfully, things started to change, and with Caitlin Clark coming in, the WNBA got a sudden boost.
Suddenly, everybody was talking about the WNBA, and the investors too came in large numbers. Following the path to success, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier introduced a 3-on-3 basketball league, Unrivaled.
And it was an instant hit. In only its second year, Unrivaled has mesmerized its fans. And following the unprecedented success of the Philadelphia event, the Unrivaled is making plans to take a trip to New York.
Alex Bazzell Sounds Elated As Unrivaled Set To Debut In New York
As per the recent update, the Unrivaled playoff semifinals will be taking place on March 2 at the Barclays Center. This will be a huge moment for the Unrivaled as the Barclays Center is home to the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA.
Speaking about the same, CEO Alex Bazzell pointed out that the plans for a New York event were conceived for a long time. Now, as the Philadelphia crowd showed so much love, the league is hoping to take things to the next level.
“We’ve been in conversations with Barclays for a while. We had already built a relationship. Candidly, we were looking at potential stops for next year, so we’re in active dialogue with numerous venues across the country. This just so happened that the Nets were out of town. Coming off the heels of Philly, the excitement around it, we look at this as an opportunity we couldn’t pass up,” said Bazzell.
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Unrivaled going New York!!https://t.co/7DdrlFrLjk
— Debmallya Chakraborty (@DebmallyaC93340) February 14, 2026
Surely, all eyes will be on the New York event now. While the average attendance for the New York Liberty last year was 16,323, the overall capacity of the Barclays Center stands at 17,732. And all of this has been possible as Philadelphia made history in terms of crowd turnout.
Why Was The Philadelphia Event Special For Unrivaled?
Back on September 19, 2024, 20,711 WNBA fans came to witness the final game of Caitlin Clark’s rookie season. Since then, none of the regular-season games in professional women’s basketball crossed the threshold of 21,000 fans.
That was until Unrivaled hosted its Philadelphia event. As the crowd came in large numbers, the official attendance stood at 21,490. This was history as the numbers dwarfed the WNBA’s highest attendance by a mile.
21,490 fans attended Unrivaled in Philadelphia, breaking the record for the most-attended regular season pro women's basketball game ever. pic.twitter.com/jhI1RIWwJm
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 31, 2026
Thus, with things looking promising, it now remains to be seen what’s next for the 3-on-3 league.