"This will be the first time since 1998 since professional women's basketball is back in Philadelphia," said Mayor Cherelle Parker, referencing the Philadelphia Rage, the women's team that played in the American Basketball League before it disbanded in '98.
Unrivaled is a new offseason 3-on-3 women's league. It was founded in 2023 by two current WNBA players. 2025 was its inaugural season; games were played at a hub in Miami. As the league expands for 2026, the newly named Xfinity Mobile Arena gets a shot at playing host as part of Xfinity's first league-wide sponsorship in women's sports.
Comedian and Delaware County resident Wanda Sykes and her wife, Alex, are investors in Unrivaled and have been working to bring women's basketball to Philly for years.
For fellow women's sports advocates like Jen Leary, founder of an organization that throws watch parties throughout the city, this announcement is a slam dunk.
"We know Philly is a sports town. We want to prove to people that Philly is also a women's sports town, and that is happening today," said Leary.
And with a WNBA team set to arrive in Philly in 2030, she hopes this is only the beginning.
"The plan next is to show Unrivaled and the WNBA that they made the right decision coming here, and to show the NWSL that they need to get on board," Leary told Action News.
She hopes fans do that by selling out the arena. Tickets are on sale right now. The back-to-back games are set to take place on January 30th at Xfinity Mobile Arena.