Unrivaled’s Philly stop reflects momentum driving WNBA players amid labor dispute

Philadelphia sports fans are known as some of the most passionate people around. Add in the progressive sensibilities of women’s basketball supporters, and it can create an impact that is truly unrivaled.

On Friday night, more than 21,000 fans packed the Unrivaled 3×3 women’s basketball league’s doubleheader in Philadelphia, which broke attendance records for a regular-season women’s pro basketball game and for Xfinity Mobile Arena, which also hosts the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.

More than anything, the outpouring of fans and palpable energy showed how the rise of women’s basketball is more than a one-woman phenomenon. A celebrity row included comedians Wanda Sykes and Leslie Jones, NBA veterans Andre Drummond and Kyle Lowry, and notable Philadelphians Jason and Kylie Kelce.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, a Philadelphia native, also was there and was as lively as ever, a link between the game’s present and past. In 1998, the last time the city hosted women’s professional basketball, Staley was a superstar guard for the Philadelphia Rage of the American Basketball League (ABL), a short-lived rival of the WNBA.

Similarly, Philly-born competitors Kahleah Copper and Natasha Cloud were treated like basketball royalty. The Phoenix Mercury’s Copper is a WNBA champion and Olympic gold medalist while Cloud, also a WNBA champion, is a steady presence with the New York Liberty.

Philadelphia, the birthplace of the American Revolution, is a profound place to discuss liberty and freedom. And even with Friday’s goodwill, there was an elephant in the room with those 21,000-plus fans: the ongoing WNBA labor dispute between players and owners.

The two sides met Monday, coming to the bargaining table for the first time since October. WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike attended the meeting in person. Kelsey Plum, first vice president, and Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, both WNBPA vice presidents and the co-founders of Unrivaled, joined the discussion virtually. (Plum and Collier initially were scheduled to attend in person but were prevented by travel issues coming from Miami, where the Unrivaled league is based.)

If Friday’s Unrivaled event is any indication, the players came to the table with momentum – certainly more than they had on Jan. 12, when the two sides agreed to a moratorium on league business.

After the Phantom Basketball Club’s 71-68 win over the Breeze, Cloud, who plays for the Phantom, spoke boldly about the players’ angst with the WNBA.

“We’re not worried as the players, if I’m going to be frank and honest and transparent. … All the power is in our hands,” Cloud said to reporters. “We’ve never had a moment like this where there’s been so much momentum, where there’s been so much investment, demand in our sport.

“I’m honestly kind of upset, frustrated … in a lot of ways, just disgusted with the W and how they’re handling this. Their lack of value, lack of worth for us, their lack of even attempting to move the needle for us.”

It seemed almost destined for women’s basketball players, who represent perhaps the most socially progressive professional athletes, to eventually mobilize in a way that changes their financial fortunes and mobility.

They have long made their presence felt in the political and social justice realm, going back more recently to the Atlanta Dream’s support of Raphael Warnock’s bid for the U.S. Senate in 2020 and the Minnesota Lynx’s Black Lives Matter-based rebuke of the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling in 2016.

Even with a strong sense of conscience, the sport has strived for decades to build on championship flashpoints and high-marketability moments. The ABL and WNBA were formed from the momentum around the gold-medal run of the U.S. women’s basketball team at the 1996 Olympics, along with budding rivalries in the college game that made UConn and Tennessee household names.

While the game continued to rise in terms of talent and progressiveness, it would be close to 30 years before lightning in a bottle struck again, this time in the form of a cultural clash between WNBA stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, along with an unprecedented stream of talent.

When Collier and Stewart, both UConn alums, came up with the concept for Unrivaled, they ironically did so in good faith with the WNBA and women’s basketball players in general, whether amateur or pro. Unrivaled offered U.S.-born players stability in the face of the WNBA’s “prioritization rule,” which basically forced players to choose between the WNBA and more lucrative international play. Among amateur players, Unrivaled also signed 14 women’s college basketball players to NIL deals, including standouts such as JuJu Watkins and Flau’jae Johnson.

A press release from April 2025 recognizing Collier and Stewart for being named to the 2025 TIME 100 list said that Unrivaled launched “with the mission to elevate the women’s basketball ecosystem and give players a stake in the success of the league.” However, there might be a more harrowing and defining point of reference – the 2022 detainment of Brittney Griner in Russia.

“It’s really scary. You really have to evaluate, anyone who wants to go overseas, what it’s going to look like,” Collier told CNN at the time. “For me, it’s just not worth it. It’s not the same for every player. But I have a family now. Being at home is just a better option for me.”

The stakes have been high for women’s basketball players for a long time. What the current labor dispute represents is not just a generational opportunity for players to cash in on WNBA expansion and new TV deals. It’s also an opportunity to be adequately respected for their work and marketability.

That truth flies in the face of the misogynistic trolling and misinformation that is an unwelcome part of women’s basketball, and it’s another reason why Philadelphia was such an important landing spot for Unrivaled and the continuing celebration of the sport.

“Philadelphia soul” is the name of the sound popularized by songwriter/producer duo Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, and while their music is entertaining, it also contains empowering messages about political activism. 

Today’s women’s basketball players find themselves holding a similar responsibility, and they are embracing the sociopolitical ramifications of where they are, whether it’s Stewart’s recent rebuke of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or a labor dispute where, according to Cloud, they’re standing “10 toes down.”

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