Unrivaled has proven during the league's second season that its organizers and founders are not afraid to innovate and try something new. The decision to play games in Philadelphia in January resulted in a huge attendance boost, something the league may replicate when it travels to New York for the finals.
Unrivaled announced this week its playoffs semifinals will be hosted at the Barclays Center — home to the New York Liberty — next month. "We wanted to continue to serve our fanbase," the league's president Alex Bazzell said this week of the decision. "For us, it’s just finding the balance of taking some swings. We’re a startup. We get to do things a little bit quicker than most leagues."
The semifinals will take place on March 2.
Unrivaled's decision to travel to Philly paid off
The January games in Philadelphia brought 21,490 fans to to the Xfinity Mobile Arena. That's the largest attendance for any regular-season women's basketball game — ever. Fans made it clear that they're hungry for professional women's basketball, and many theorized that the league's decision to play games in a city that doesn't yet have its own WNBA team helped boost attendance numbers.
The trip was the first time the league has traveled outside of its home base in Miami, Florida, and was also the first professional women's basketball game in Philadelphia since 1998. The popularity of the game bodes well for the city, which will join the WNBA in 2030.
Unrivaled could replicate that success in New York
Though the Barclays Center is home to the Liberty, which gives WNBA fans plenty of opportunities to see games and watch their favorite players, Unrivaled is a different experience. Fans are also hungry for any bit of basketball they get, something that seems especially true as CBA negotiations continue between the WNBA and the players.
As Bazzell als noted, one of the gifts of Unrivaled is that the league is young and can make its own rules. Unrivaled is separate from the WNBA, and that independence allows its team to dream up possibilities and actually implement them.
The decision to travel to New York is also part of a broader plan to add more travel stops during the 2027 season — the league's third. Bazzell told Front Office Sports this week that Unrivaled could play in as many as eight cities next year and has already been in conversation with several arenas around the country.