Mayor Cherelle L. Parker stepped to a podium at LOVE Park, with a message to “formally and officially proclaim to the world that Philly is Unrivaled.”
It was a reference to the winter women’s professional basketball league, which on Thursday afternoon announced it will make its first tour stop in Philly on Jan. 30 for two games at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Joining Parker onstage were other key figures in turning that into reality, including Alex Sykes, the wife of actor Wanda Sykes and member of the Philadelphia Sisters advocacy group, along with Unrivaled and WNBA player Natasha Cloud, city council member Isaiah Thomas, rapper Tierra Whack, and Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell.
“People ask all the time, ‘Well, what made you decide Philly?’” said Bazzell, the husband of Unrivaled cofounder and WNBA superstar Napheesa Collier. “And, at some point, you have to listen to your gut. We’ve taken a lot of risk and belief along the way of you can’t just always look at data. …
“Sometimes, you’ve just got to feel it in your gut, and feel it in your heart. That’s what really ultimately led us here today.”
» READ MORE: Here’s why Unrivaled picked Philadelphia to be the first stop on its nationwide tour
Collier and two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart founded the league that staged its inaugural season last winter, with all games played in Miami. It has drawn big-name investors, including the Sykeses, Dawn Staley, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. It played a three-on-three format, evoking a playground style that Kahleah Copper, the North Philly native who is now in the WNBA Finals with the Phoenix Mercury, said helped rejuvenate her love for the game. And on Thursday, Cloud reiterated the benefits of playing at home during the WNBA offseason instead of an overseas league.
“This is a league that is continuing to set a precedent for women’s basketball across the realm,” Cloud said. “ … To be able to stay here [in the U.S], to be able to provide for my family, and do it with such top-tier individuals and human beings, it’s the best.”
Cloud boasted to Bazzell on Thursday’s stage that, “There’s a reason you chose Philly. That’s because it’s the best sports town in the world.” Still, bringing it inside an NBA and NHL venue will be a test, after last year’s Unrivaled games were played inside an 850-seat Wayfair Arena.
Parker did not sugarcoat the “responsibility” locals have to pack the arena. And when Cloud’s onstage remarks were interrupted with the news that 5,000 tickets had been sold in the 30 minutes since the announcement, she countered with, “Let’s get it to 10 [thousand]. What y’all doing? I need y’all to buy that thing out.”
“As unfair as it may be,” Parker added, “Unrivaled is going to be valued on its face to the nation by the numbers who actually fill those seats.”
Unrivaled’s Philly tour stop helps bridge the gap before the city’s WNBA team begins play in 2030. Cloud, the “Delco kid” who played for Cardinal O’Hara and St. Joseph’s, noted that this will be her first time playing a game in Philly since college. Cloud and Parker also echoed the importance of “see her, be her” representation — without needing to drive to New York or Washington to catch a professional game.
» READ MORE: Unrivaled helped Kahleah Copper find joy in basketball again. Now it could be coming to her hometown.
“When you get a chance to see these athletes compete and train and lead,” Parker said, “it lets them know that women literally do have game, too, on and off the court.”
Among those impacted could be the young kids that Cloud high-fived from a corner of the announcement stage. Or the players in attendance from Philadelphia Catholic League champion Neumann-Goretti, and the Big 5 college programs. Or those who peppered the crowd wearing jerseys belonging to Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson, and Sue Bird.
For one night in January, they will be able to watch the pros play here. To celebrate, Parker asked those gathered to raise one finger into the air, and say, “one Philly. A united city. Philly is Unrivaled, baby!”
“I want you to remember that this is history in motion,” Parker added. “And it’s no shocker that it’s happening right here in the city of Philadelphia.”