Unrivaled's short-notice Brooklyn semifinals: 'The voice economy is very strong in women's basketball'
BROOKLYN — My Apple Watch started pinging with “loud environment” warnings right around the time Brittney Griner’s name blared across the PA system.
Elaborate pregame introductions are common in basketball but not usually like this: For Unrivaled’s New York debut last night, the players made a surprise entrance through the crowd. Griner and her Vinyl teammates emerged from the concourse behind Barclays Arena Section 106 and marched down to the court just as the players did recently in Philadelphia. Kelsey Plum, Natasha Cloud and their Phantom teammates did the same a few sections over.
The sellout crowd of 18,261 regularly sent my wrist-worn decibel meter north of 100 during the semifinal twinbill, peaking at 113. (The Phantom beat the Vinyl; the Mist routed the Breeze.) The arena doors only opened at 6pm ET, but a line began forming across the plaza out front by 3pm — not bad for a hastily organized game only a few weeks in the making. Hilary Knight, Sue Bird, Alex Morgan, Kelley O’Hara, Wanda Sykes, Issa Rae, Carmelo Anthony, Jason Sudeikis and Ashton Kutcher were among the celebrities in attendance.
Unrivaled CEO Alex Bazzell explained that his staff had been in advance discussions with Barclays, but with a caveat: “We didn’t expect for it to be this quickly — it was more about next season.”
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2026/03/03/unrivaleds-short-notice-brooklyn-semifinals-the-voice-economy-is-very-strong-in-womens-basketball/