How Wanda Sykes And Others Helped Bring Women’s Sports To Philadelphia

Aug 24, 2026 05:00 PM - 1 hour ago 3

In 2019, Alex Niedbalski-Sykes complained to her wife, comedian and character Wanda Sykes, astir really Philadelphia didn’t person immoderate awesome women’s sports franchises. Shortly after, during a meal connected their friends’ porch, the 2 relayed their speech to Ashley Lunkenheimer and her wife, Starla Crandall, and asked what they thought astir bringing a WNBA franchise to the metropolis and area they now telephone home.

“My woman and I were like, ‘That would beryllium the top point ever,’” said Lunkenheimer, a longtime lawyer who spent 9 years arsenic an adjunct United States Attorney successful Philadelphia. “Not that we knew what to do, but why not?”

From there, the friends formed the Philadelphia Sisters, a group that has been important successful the emergence of women’s sports successful the city. This week, Philadelphia is location to a WTA 125 women’s master tennis tournament, the first clip the metropolis has had a WTA arena since 2005. Earlier this month, the Women’s Lacrosse League held its inaugural title crippled successful Chester, Pa., conscionable extracurricular of Philadelphia.

In precocious January, the Unrivaled master women’s hoops convention held its first roadworthy circuit astatine a sold-out Xfinity Mobile Arena successful Philadelphia. And successful 2030, Philadelphia will statesman play successful the WNBA, becoming the league’s 18th franchise.

Philadelphia 76ers’ Bid Draws WNBA To City

Still, the caller occurrence attracting women’s sports to Philadelphia didn’t travel quickly and had a overmuch higher value tag than initially envisioned. When the Philadelphia Sisters first inquired astir bringing a WNBA squad to Philadelphia 7 years ago, convention officials told the group they would request to raise $25 cardinal to beryllium considered. During their first gathering pinch a able couple, Niedbalski-Sykes and Lunkenheimer asked if they would put $5 million. It was a amazingly easy sell.

“They’re very financially savvy people,” Lunkenheimer said. “They said, ‘We cognize this is astir return off. Maybe we’ll beryllium proven wrong, but we're beautiful sure.’”

The mates didn’t want their names disclosed, either.

“They wanted to do it for the correct reasons,” Lunkenheimer said. “It would person been an unthinkable investment, but they didn’t want it for fame aliases glory. They conscionable thought this is simply a really awesome transportation that we want to beryllium a portion of.”

Still, the bid didn’t activity out. In October 2023, the WNBA awarded a franchise to the Golden State Warriors, the first clip the convention had expanded since 2008. Golden State paid a reported $50 cardinal description interest for the team, which is known arsenic the Valkyries. The Valkyries are now the league’s astir valuable franchise pinch a $780 cardinal valuation, according to Forbes, $160 cardinal much than the second-place New York Liberty.

As the WNBA’s fame soared, truthful did the costs for a caller team. When they first thought astir putting together a group to get a franchise, the Philadelphia Sisters formed a enslaved pinch David Adelman, a salient commercialized existent property executive and entrepreneur successful Philadelphia pinch a nett worthy of $2.4 billion, per Forbes.

In 2022, Adelman bought a number liking successful the Philadelphia 76ers. He later committed to put successful a Sykes-led bid. As clip passed and the costs to get a franchise multiplied, the 76ers’ ownership group put successful a bid successful January 2025, the aforesaid period the franchise announced it would create a caller arena successful business pinch Comcast Corp. That June, the WNBA awarded a franchise to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia, which will statesman play successful 2028, 2029 and 2030, respectively. The Philadelphia Sisters worked pinch the 76ers during the bid process and are now helping the squad hole for its debut.

“2030 still feels acold away,” Lunkenheimer said. “Nonetheless, if you deliberation astir the caller arena being built and immoderate of the things that the women’s squad will request successful position of abstraction and things, it besides does make sense. It's conscionable sad that we person to hold immoderate longer, But we cognize it's coming, truthful everybody feels really excited astir that reality, for illustration it’s going to happen. It's not a mobility anymore.”

Philadelphia Sisters Help Lure Unrivaled To City

As the Philadelphia Sisters hold for the WNBA to arrive, they person been progressive successful different initiatives. They were instrumental successful convincing Unrivaled to travel to Philadelphia successful January. Sykes and Niedbalski-Sykes ain number equity stakes successful Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 women’s convention founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart that began play successful 2025.

That first season, the convention played each its games successful a accumulation installation successful Miami that holds astir 1,000 fans. But Sykes helped person Unrivaled to big 2 games successful Philadelphia this past season. The doubleheader drew much than 21,000 fans, the largest crowd successful Xfinity Mobile Arena history for immoderate arena and the astir fans to be a regular play women’s master hoops crippled anywhere. In September 2025, Unrivaled announced a Series B finance information that values the convention astatine $340 million, up importantly from erstwhile it started.

“Women’s sports is booming,” said Niedbalski-Sykes, a longtime business executive who worked for 18 years astatine Polycor Inc., a institution that owns much than 40 quarries and 12 manufacturing plants. “It’s exploding, which is amazing.”

When Unrivaled announced successful October 2025 that it would travel to Philadelphia, the convention held a property convention crossed from City Hall, wherever the metropolis honored the Philadelphia Sisters. The gathering drew the attraction of Renee Bridges, the head of diversity, equity and inclusion for the United States Tennis Association’s Middle States region who stopped to watch what was going on. Bridges astatine the clip was moving to get a WTA arena to Philadelphia and asked the Philadelphia Sisters to help.

Philadelphia WTA Event Features 9 Top 100 Players

Top Notch Management, an arena proprietor and usability and agency representing athletes, is operating this week’s Philly Open, which is being held astatine the University of Pennsylvania and is portion of the WTA 125, the second-tier of master women’s tennis. The title sponsor is Ennoble Care, a location wellness company, wherever Lunkenheimer useful arsenic wide counsel and main compliance officer.

Melissa Pine, vice president of operations for the WTA 125, wrote successful an email that the Philadelphia Sisters “are connected a ngo to make Philadelphia a premier destination for women’s sports.” She added that UPenn’s Hamlin Center is an “exceptional venue” and that Philadelphia’s proximity to New York helped the Tour determine to return to the city. The U.S. Open starts adjacent Sunday successful Queens, N.Y., astir 100 miles from UPenn, making it convenient for players and officials.

The Philly Open’s 32-player tie includes 9 of the apical 100 players successful the world, each of whom is expected to play successful the U.S. Open, including Americans Ashlyn Krueger and Katie Volynets. Krueger and Volynets won their first information matches Sunday successful consecutive sets. Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, is besides playing successful the Philly Open, having received a chaotic card. Stephens, who hasn’t played galore matches the past 2 years, plays her first information lucifer connected Monday night. Stephens, who was erstwhile arsenic precocious arsenic No. 3 successful the world, is now No. 240.

Pine said that the WTA signed a multi-year statement pinch the Philadelphia arena organizers, truthful the tourney will beryllium backmost adjacent year.

“We want to put down roots, build a instrumentality guidelines and create thing the metropolis genuinely looks guardant to each year,” Pine said. “Philadelphia has the history, the organization and the sporting civilization to beryllium a semipermanent location for master women’s tennis, and that is precisely what we are building toward.”

Philadelphia Sisters Eye Growth In Other Markets

The Philadelphia Sisters, meanwhile, person grander ambitions. They are moving to bring different women’s events and teams to the city. And they are readying to thief groups successful different cities do the aforesaid arsenic a measurement to grow and make an impact.

“The imagination is location are a batch a batch of quiet cities that should person women’s master sports,” Lunkenheimer said. “Maybe they aren't large capable to person a venue for a $250 cardinal dollar WNBA franchise. But why can't they person immoderate of the smaller franchises correct now that will yet get that big?”

Said Niedbalski-Sykes: “They person to conscionable cognize they tin do it because we started pinch nothing. We started pinch the sensation of wanting to make it happen, and we did. Everybody beautiful overmuch tin do it if you person the will. You tin decidedly person immoderate benignant of women’s master sports. We person benignant of the blueprint to make it happen. We would emotion for group to telephone and say, ‘Hey, thief us,’” and we go this large nationalist blueprint.”