Inquirer.com – Zurich DR

Author: Gabriela Carroll

  • The WNBA underwent big changes during commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s tenure. Here are the highlights.

    The WNBA underwent big changes during commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s tenure. Here are the highlights.

    Cathy Engelbert was hired as WNBA commissioner in 2019, and upon her retirement in December, Engelbert will have overseen the most critical years in league history, shepherding the WNBA through a period of uncertainty into a period of exponential growth.

    The WNBA is one of the fastest-growing leagues in sports, and under Engelbert’s watch, six expansion franchises have tipped off or been announced — including here in Philadelphia — while a new media rights deal and CBA have been signed.

    “Over the years, it has been amazing to watch WNBA players thrive and lead the massive cultural surge around women’s sports,” Engelbert said in a statement. “I retire knowing we have built something bigger, stronger and more enduring than we could have imagined. I am grateful to the WNBA and NBA team owners and staff, players, investors, fans and the powerhouse league office staff, who believed in what this league could become. I retire with immense gratitude and tremendous optimism for the future of the WNBA, with the best yet to come.”

    Here’s a look at her most consequential moves, and where the league goes next:

    2022: Funding round

    Engelbert sold a 16% stake in the WNBA to a group of outside investors for $75 million in cash flow, to be used to fund marketing and infrastructure. Instead of the 50/50 ownership split between NBA and WNBA owners, the split is now 42/42/16.

    At the time, the deal was the largest funding round ever for women’s sports, and Engelbert valued the league at approximately $450 million. The average franchise is now worth approximately $460 million just four years later.

    Sixers managing partner Josh Harris (left), Detroit Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, and Cleveland Cavaliers CEO Nic Barlage at a news conference announcing expansion teams for Philly, Detroit, and Cleveland.Jonathan Tannenwald

    September 2023: Expansion

    Starting in 2023 with the Golden State Valkyries, Engelbert began the process of expanding the WNBA for the first time since 2008. It was the first of six successful expansion bids under Engelbert’s tenure, and Golden State now is the league’s most valuable franchise, with an $850 million valuation, according to Sportico. In 2024, two additional expansion teams, in Toronto and Portland, were announced.

    In June 2025, the WNBA announced the addition of three more franchises, to bring the total up to 18: Cleveland to begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and Philly in 2030. All teams were purchased by the corresponding city’s NBA team owner. Cleveland and Detroit were both home to previous, now defunct, WNBA franchises, while Philadelphia will be a WNBA city for the first time.

    “The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher,” Engelbert said in a statement.

    The WNBA’s next commissioner has to be a real leader | Mike Sielski

    Coming to Philly was personal for Engelbert. She hails from Collingswood, and her parents were Northeast Philly natives. Her dad, Kurt, was a men’s basketball star at St. Joseph’s and is in the school’s hall of fame.

    The WNBA last year also announced the sale and relocation of the Connecticut Sun to Houston. The franchise was purchased by Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, despite competing bids from Hartford, Conn., and Boston to buy and keep the franchise in New England.

    Caitlin Clark (left) and Angel Reese ushered in a new wave of WNBA fans.Tony Gutierrez

    2024: The Caitlin Clark Effect

    The exponential growth of the WNBA began in earnest with the 2024 WNBA draft, which brought college stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese into the league. Other young stars like Paige Bueckers soon followed.

    Clark, now a standout for the Indiana Fever, raised the bar for college basketball ratings, setting viewership records in 2023 with 9.9 million viewers for the national championship game, in which her Iowa squad lost to Reese and LSU, and the 2024 national title game, with 18.9 million viewers, was the first women’s national title game to outperform the men’s.

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    July 24, 2024: Media rights deal

    Engelbert took advantage of spiking ratings with the expiration of the WNBA’s media rights deal in 2024, signing a new contract worth $3.1 billion, expanding partnerships with ESPN, Prime Video, and NBC.

    “Partnering with Disney, Amazon and NBCU marks a monumental chapter in WNBA history and clearly demonstrates the significant rise in value and the historic level of interest in women’s basketball,” Engelbert said at the time. “These agreements allow the league to continue to build a long-term and sustainable growth model for the future of women’s basketball and sports which will benefit WNBA players, teams and fans.”

    The WNBA set viewership records in 2024, with a record 22 regular-season games attracting at least 1 million viewers. Fever games were the most-watched on ABC, ESPN2, CBS, and NBATV.

    March 24, 2026: CBA

    After a tense negotiation, the new collective bargaining agreement was ratified by players and by the league, increasing player salaries, providing player housing, and adding an expanded benefits package.

    Amid the negotiations, Napheesa Collier described Engelbert as “negligent” and said the WNBA has “the worst leadership in the world” in her exit interviews last season after officiating controversies.

    “This past February, I sat across from [Engelbert] and asked how she planned to address the officiating issues in our league,” Collier said. “Her response was, ‘Well, only the losers complain about the refs.’ I also asked how she planned to fix the fact that players like [Clark, Reese, and Bueckers], who are clearly driving massive revenue for the league and are making so little for their first four years.

    “Her response was, ‘[Clark] should be grateful. She makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.’ And in that same conversation, she told me, ‘Players should be on their knees, thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.’”

    Before she helped negotiate the WNBA’s ‘life-changing’ CBA, this Philly lawyer hooped at Lower Merion and Penn

    Engelbert has also faced player backlash for a perceived lack of attention to threats from toxic fans and sports bettors.

    “I think as one of the main faces of our league, too, it creates a dialogue that needs to be had. It puts pressure on Cathy, who we’ve been begging to step up for us in these spaces,” said Natasha Cloud, a Broomall native and former St. Joe’s star.

    The league recently has run into conflict with former NBA players like Enes Kanter Freedom and figures like Riley Gaines for lacking a policy restricting trans athletes from competing in the league. There are no active trans women in the WNBA, nor are there any serious prospects to be drafted in the near future.

    But that hasn’t stopped figures like Freedom from coming to games and getting into altercations with players on the court, including Cloud. Engelbert said the league is being used as a “political football” by media members who do not watch or cover the league normally, in order to “sow divisiveness.”

  • Known Ohio State fan LeBron James lends his voice for his Buckeyes’ football hype video

    Known Ohio State fan LeBron James lends his voice for his Buckeyes’ football hype video

    NBA superstar LeBron James may not have played in college himself, but the Akron, Ohio, native is locked in for the start of Ohio State’s football season.

    James, who signed with the 76ers for two years and $8 million earlier this summer, voiced the Buckeyes’ preseason hype video ahead of Saturday’s opener vs. Ball State, themed around “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica. A Sixers reference? Who knows.

    “In old Ohio, there’s a team, known throughout the land, whose name is met with reverence and understanding of one thing: the bell tolls,” James said in the trailer. “Every new beginning is born from another’s reckoning. A judgment of toughness, of fight. Nothing is given; everything is earned. Once these gates close, there’s no more options. Stand before us. Woe to the vanquished.”

    James has been an Ohio State fan since childhood, having grown up in northeast Ohio. He attended Ohio State’s College Football Playoff national title game vs. Notre Dame in January 2025 — as did fellow Buckeyes fan Bryce Harper.

  • Sixers rookie Labaron Philon Jr. takes on Philly fans in ‘NBA 2K27’ — while locked in a glass truck outside of Geno’s

    Sixers rookie Labaron Philon Jr. takes on Philly fans in ‘NBA 2K27’ — while locked in a glass truck outside of Geno’s

    As a kid, Labaron Philon Jr. mostly played with Steph Curry and the Warriors, or the Wizards, with John Wall and Bradley Beal, on NBA 2K’s video games.

    But on Tuesday, he was all Sixers, taking on the challenge of beating 100 fans at NBA 2K27 while locked in a truck outside Geno’s Steaks for an episode of NBAT2’s Stuck in the Truck series.

    “I was kind of good back then, but I’m better now,” the Sixers rookie said of his 2K prowess.

    Sixers add three players in advance of training camp, including Jameer Nelson Jr.

    So, did he have any trouble beating the fans in the truck?

    “Haven’t lost yet,” Philon said.

    Only a few of the fans were competitive. Philon took on everyone from seasoned veterans to a 7-year-old in a Jaylen Brown jersey. But it takes time to defeat 100 fans. Philon spent over four hours in the truck.

    It was one of Philon’s first opportunities to get out in the community and meet fans since the Sixers selected him No. 22 overall in June’s NBA draft. He has spent time at the Sixers’ facility this summer, but he’s finally getting out and seeing more of the city as the season nears.

    “It’s been good just to see all the things happen, but even before that, me being drafted to a team that I feel like is a really good contender, and then just adding on all the other stuff that’s been coming with it, I feel like it was meant to happen, really,” Philon said. “I’m blessed that I’m in the situation that I am, to play with one of the best teams probably in the NBA right now.”

    Labaron Philon Jr. had to defeat 100 fans in “NBA 2K27” on Tuesday. It took him over four hours.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    He hasn’t matched up against any of his new teammates in 2K yet, but it was a “surreal” moment to see himself in the game for the first time when he fired it up on Monday to practice.

    Ahead of his rookie season, Philon earned a 71 overall, with his highest skill score an 82 for playmaking. NBA 2K27 releases globally on Friday.

    “Most people don’t feel like it’s fair, but I feel like it’s fair,” Philon said. “Just because you’re a rookie. You’ve got to climb your way up. I think it should be like that.”

    Naomi Osaka honors fashion ‘trailblazer’ Allen Iverson with U.S. Open outfit
  • Naomi Osaka honors fashion ‘trailblazer’ Allen Iverson with U.S. Open outfit

    Naomi Osaka honors fashion ‘trailblazer’ Allen Iverson with U.S. Open outfit

    All of Nike’s tennis kits for the U.S. Open are basketball-inspired, after the New York Knicks’ NBA championship earlier this year. Carlos Alcaraz is wearing a jersey-style top, and the women’s kits prominently feature mesh similar to netting.

    Naomi Osaka paid homage to Sixers icon Allen Iverson with her walk-on outfit for her first-round match at the U.S. Open.

    Osaka, known for taking big swings with her on-court fashion, walked out in a gray dress, covered in news headlines written about her, before taking the hood off to reveal a headband over her braids, her tribute to Iverson’s iconic look.

    “It’s my, I guess, my tribute to Iverson. I really like him a lot,” Osaka said following her first-round victory over Anastasia Zakharova. “I mean, Nike said basketball, so I said, ‘OK, you want basketball, I’ll give you basketball.’”

    In her post-match news conference, Osaka wore an Iverson T-shirt, and also posted the look on social media with the caption “The Answer.”

    The four-time Grand Slam champion and current world No. 14 praised Iverson for being a “trailblazer” in NBA fashion. Iverson’s street style famously was a driving reason then-NBA commissioner David Stern instituted a dress code, mandating players to wear business casual to the arena.

    “I think he’s also someone that I look up to a lot, because he’s … done a lot in fashion, whether it’s on purpose or not, but he’s shifted the way that NBA players dress,” Osaka said. “I also think the whole conversation around clothes in sports and also just expressing yourself through style, I feel like he’s someone that I look up to in that regard.”

    Osaka said she and Iverson had “zero” communication before she put the look together, but she hoped he would see it. Iverson reposted her tribute on his Instagram with the caption: “Wow what an honor! Big fan, can’t wait to meet you!”

    Osaka’s next match is Wednesday against Kateřina Siniaková.

  • Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s new Philly apartment was flooded after being hit by lightning

    Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s new Philly apartment was flooded after being hit by lightning

    New 76ers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s tenure in Philly is off to a bumpy start.

    On TikTok, Caldwell-Pope’s wife, McKenzie, said that just 30 minutes after signing the lease on their new Philly apartment, the building was struck by lightning and started to flood.

    “I hear the loudest bang. All of a sudden, [expletive] starts shooting out of the ceiling and water is pouring in, dumping in,” McKenzie said in the video. “So everyone just starts screaming, and we’re like, ‘We have to get out of here.’ When I say it was coming, it was like — there was at least two, three inches of water in there before we got out.”

    @mckenziecaldwellpope First day in Philly 🦸🏽‍♀️ #storytime ♬ original sound – McKenzie Caldwell-Pope

    The fire department had to free their movers who had gotten stuck in the elevator.

    “All of the elevators are broken, so we had to climb down 14 floors to get to safety,” McKenzie said. “We get down there (and) no one wants to believe me about what happened. I’m like, ‘Guys, I heard lightning,’ and the front desk is trying to tell me, like, ‘No, something just tripped the sprinklers.’ Girl, you go up there, it’s Niagara Falls. That ain’t no sprinkler, girl. Something bad just happened.”

    No one was hurt, but McKenzie said they are currently living in a hotel while the unit is repaired. He could always commute from NYC by helicopter with LeBron James.

    “One of the electricians said, ‘Yeah, you got struck by lightning, and there’s a one in 400 million chance of a unit getting struck the way this unit got struck,’” McKenzie said.

    Of course, plenty of Sixer fans had jokes about the long series of improbable disasters that have happened to the franchise over the years. But maybe this is just what the Sixers needed to turn their luck around?

  • Philly Open organizers believe the event has the ‘potential to grow into something special’ after strong fan turnout

    Philly Open organizers believe the event has the ‘potential to grow into something special’ after strong fan turnout

    In the final of the inaugural Ennoble Care Philly Open on Penn’s campus on Saturday, Katie Volynets beat Tereza Valentová, 6-3 and 7-5.

    The event marked the return of the Women’s Tennis Association to the city after more than two decades. Event organizers Top Notch Management and the Philadelphia Sisters secured a three-year contract for the tournament to be held in the city through 2028, but tournament director Alex Guthrie said the plan is for the Philly Open to become a regular stop on tour.

    Radnor High School’s tennis program gets a hands-on experience at the Philly Open: ‘That was really inspiring’

    “We put a lot of time, energy, and investment into this,” Guthrie told The Inquirer. “We want this. We didn’t invest all this time and energy just to do it for three years. We see this as a 10, 20-year thing. I think this has the potential to grow into something special.”

    Guthrie said the organizers weren’t sure what to expect from fans. Crowds at WTA 125-level events can vary widely from session to session and tournament to tournament, but the WTA was impressed with the turnout in Philly, especially for the day sessions.

    The tournament sold out its opening day on Aug. 23, selling 1,500 tickets, and maintained a solid crowd for the remaining sessions. For the final, fans packed the grandstand, the nearby grass hill, and some unticketed even peeked in from a bridge outside the grounds.

    “I was so surprised that even the day it rained, the fans stayed all night and watched the match finish,” Volynets said. “That was really impressive to me, and says a lot about the crowd. I also thought that they cheer so well, because they’re so respectful, they clearly know their tennis. They cheered both sides on while still making me feel like a home favorite.”

    Katie Volynets claimed the inaugural Ennoble Care Philly Open on Saturday.Thibault Camus

    Hosting the tournament the week before the U.S. Open helped draw a field of several top-100 players, including both finalists (Volynets ranked 91st, while Valentová was 57th). Semifinalist Julia Grabher was a late entry to the field, after a late U.S. Open withdrawal pulled her out of qualifying and straight into the main draw.

    “She was already in New York for qualifying, and she texted me, ‘Hey, do you have any wild cards open?’ And a space had literally just opened up for us,” Guthrie said. “If we were anywhere else, she couldn’t just take an hourlong train ride.”

    The not-so-secret weapon that helped the Philly Open draw an unusually strong field of players

    Some players on tour, Guthrie said, avoid first-year events to make sure the facilities and management are up to par before committing. After the success of the 2026 edition, he believes it’ll be an easier sell next year.

    Working with a new facility at Penn, which hadn’t previously hosted a professional event before, added a few “quirks and challenges,” but ultimately Year 1 was a success among the players.

    “I love these kind of courts,” Volynets said. “They’re grippy, so you can play different spins. If you play a slice, it stays low, if you hit topspin, it goes high. I love how the courts accept the spin. I think it makes tennis so fun to play and so fun to watch.”

    Spectators watched from the bridge near Penn’s tennis courts throughout the Philly Open week.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Organizers have already begun conversations with potential sponsors for 2027, and hosted a few prospective sponsors during the week. In order for Philly to attract a larger 250 or 500-level WTA tournament, more sponsorships and funding would be required, according to Guthrie.

    But the tournament is on stable footing. The Philadelphia Sisters hope the event will become another permanent installment of women’s sports on the Philly sports calendar.

    “From a Year 1 perspective, the foundation was laid very well,” Guthrie said. “Now that it’s happened, and people see what the event is — we were selling something that didn’t exist. Now we have proof of concept, fans know what to expect, and sponsors know what to expect.”

  • HBSE president Bob Myers calls LeBron’s choice to pick the Sixers his ‘hardest path’

    HBSE president Bob Myers calls LeBron’s choice to pick the Sixers his ‘hardest path’

    Did choosing Philadelphia mean LeBron James chose the hardest path for his final decision in the NBA?

    Bob Myers, Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment president of sports, said he believes so on the Cousins podcast with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. If James had returned to Miami or Cleveland, there would have been minimal expectations, Myers said, pointing out that the Sixers star already achieved at the highest level in those stops.

    Instead, Myers argued, he opens himself up to more scrutiny by heading to a new destination for a shot at winning.

    “He goes back to Cleveland, he’s made, man,” Myers said. “There’s only one reason [to come to Philadelphia]. It’s to win. It wasn’t because I played there before, or I grew up there, I want to play with my friend. It was because I want to win. So, I’m going to go where I want to go because it gives me the best chance to win.”

    Brett Brown

    James’ decision to come to Philadelphia is an “endorsement” of where the Sixers are and the roster they have built, after over a decade of The Process, said Brett Brown, who was part of the Sixers’ last chase for James in 2018.

    The only Sixer remaining from Brown’s time coaching the team is Joel Embiid, the centerpiece of The Process. Brown coached perhaps the Sixers’ most competitive championship team, the 2017-18 squad that ultimately fell to the Raptors in Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals, following Kawhi Leonard’s miracle buzzer-beater.

    Brown was fired by the Sixers in 2020. He never managed to acquire the third star he felt the squad needed alongside Embiid and Ben Simmons after Jimmy Butler’s departure. After the team’s huge summer, which included the acquisition of James and Jaylen Brown, he said the upcoming years will be “fantastic” for the city.

    “And you know what?” Brown told Liberty Ballers. “Down deep, I’m really happy for Joel. It’s an opportunity, maybe the last, that he can do what I know down deep he wants to do — and that’s to be remembered as a champion. There’s a side of me that thinks like that as it relates to my old days with Philadelphia, and Joel especially.”

  • Last week, Esha Velaga took the MCAT. This week, the Penn senior made her pro tennis debut — right on campus.

    Last week, Esha Velaga took the MCAT. This week, the Penn senior made her pro tennis debut — right on campus.

    On Friday, Esha Velaga sat for her MCAT.

    That gave her just about one day to prepare for her first professional tennis match at the Ennoble Care Philly Open, a WTA 125 event being held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Hamlin Tennis Center. Later that evening, she learned she was going to play her second — in doubles, with Penn teammate Lara Stojanovski, the next day.

    “It’s been so hectic,” Velaga said. “Obviously, it didn’t go the way I wanted to in both singles and doubles, but no matter what, it was genuinely so cool. Even if I wasn’t necessarily preparing to the best of my ability, it was really fun.”

    Velaga, a senior, lost her qualifying match 6-2, 6-4 to Ekaterina Ovcharenko in front of a packed crowd of Penn teammates, coaches, and friends cheering her on. She is headed for medical school after graduation instead of a professional tennis career. But she is planning on using the experience as a springboard for the Quakers’ upcoming season.

    “We can compete here, even though we haven’t been doing professional-level training,” Velaga said. “I think we’ll definitely use the momentum and the good energy as well, and bring it into our very high-energy college season, and just know that no matter what team we compete against, we always have a chance, and we’re in it.”

    Penn senior Esha Velaga played in her first professional tennis match on Sunday at the Ennoble Care Philly Open.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    Velaga and Stojanovski were all-Ivy honorable mentions in doubles in 2025-26, but hadn’t practiced together all summer. They ultimately fell 6-4, 6-2 to the second-seeded team, but considering the circumstances, both were happy with the experience.

    “It was a lot better than I expected,” Stojanovski said. “I think our chemistry since I came here as a freshman has been really good. We get each others’ games, so I don’t think we needed that much time to get on, but I do wish we had a little bit more time to prepare because I genuinely think we have the level.”

    The Philly Open is the first WTA tournament in the area in over 20 years. Since the opening of the Penn Tennis Center, the university has been trying to attract a professional event, and they are taking full advantage of the opportunity.

    Velaga lost both her matches, but thinks the experience will pay dividends for the Quakers this season.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    The event is a boon to all of Penn’s tennis players. Stojanovski and Velaga got the wild-card entries into the draw, but other Penn players on campus got the chance to serve as hitting partners for players on-site and to watch their trainings.

    Stojanovski said playing against the professionals showed her just how high the level is in college tennis, and that they have the ability to compete.

    “It’s been an amazing experience because we got to practice with professionals, see how they’re preparing, see how they’re practicing, how they’re recovering,” Stojanovski said. “What are they doing differently?”

  • Return of the Philadelphia Cycling Classic made ‘perfect sense.’ It was all about filling in the details.

    Return of the Philadelphia Cycling Classic made ‘perfect sense.’ It was all about filling in the details.

    Carlos Rogers was devastated when the iconic Philadelphia Cycling Classic hosted its final race in 2016.

    “It was like a schism across my body,” Rogers said. “As a fan, it was a big gash. It was a feeling of loss, as a passionate cyclist and as a fan.”

    For years, he and others both in and outside the Philly cycling community lamented the loss of the race. But while attending the Maryland Cycling Classic in 2022, Rogers decided he’d “had enough of people missing it.”

    “Someone’s got to step up,” he said.

    The Philadelphia Cycling Classic — and famed Manayunk Wall — returns this weekend. Here’s everything you need to know.

    Rogers, a salon owner in Old City, had helped organize smaller bike races before, but never anything on the scale of the 14.4-mile course through Philadelphia. Virtually everyone he talked to in the community, from local government leaders and civic organizations to those formerly involved with the Philly Cycling Classic, was interested in bringing the race back.

    The hard part, of course, was finding the money.

    “I was throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what would stick with any kind of corporate sponsors,” Rogers said.

    “Someone’s got to step up,” said Carlos Rogers, co-owner of the Philadelphia Cycling Classic. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    One of his connections referred him to entrepreneur Eric Robbins, who lived in Manayunk in the late 1990s and remembered how great an event the race used to be for the neighborhood.

    Rogers’ enthusiasm and determination made it a “no-brainer” to partner with him on bringing back the race. Robbins looped in former Mayor Michael Nutter, who used to represent the Manayunk and Roxborough neighborhoods in City Council. But from there, it still took about a year and a half to secure the funding.

    “There were a tremendous amount of no’s,” Robbins said. “For us, the vision of 2026, of bringing it back after a 10-year hiatus, it made perfect sense. It’s the greatest year to bring it back, but also the most difficult one.”

    This Philly artist and bike enthusiast designed the Philadelphia Cycling Classic trophies for free.

    Because of the large number of sports events in the area this summer, from the World Cup to the PGA Championship to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, sponsorship dollars were extremely competitive. As the lead organizers, they knew why bringing the race back was important, but with so many events happening, they struggled to find sponsors who understood their mission.

    “We’re reintroducing an historic event to a whole new crowd of people and bringing along the folks who knew it because they longed for it,” Nutter said.

    Former Mayor Michael Nutter is one of the co-owners of the Philadelphia Cycling Classic.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Rogers was reluctant to publicize his efforts to bring back the race until they’d actually secured the funding.

    “I knew how easy it would be to fail, and then how everybody could point the finger and be like, here’s another clown trying to do something. … I had no resumé of success at this level, where people would invest in me.”

    A visual history of the Philadelphia Cycling Classic, from the Art Museum to the Manayunk Wall

    But he ultimately decided to go to the press late into the process, as a last-ditch effort to get the race up in 2026. His hope was that maybe a CEO or local business leader would see it and be moved to support.

    That didn’t happen, but it did put a bit of “wind in his sails” as more people learned about the efforts and tried to push it along. Ultimately, through a mutual connection, he met with Bob Flexon, CEO of the UGI Corporation, who happened to be an avid cyclist himself, and got AmeriGas on board as the title sponsor in September 2025.

    Carlos Rogers (from left), Brian O’Reilly, Eric Robbins and Former Mayor Michael Nutter toast with the new Philadelphia Classic Lager from Mainstay brewery during an event at Craft Hall on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Since then, it’s been a mad dash to rebuild the teams that made past iterations of the race so successful. Former race director Robin Morton and G4 Productions are leading the production, and numerous city employees who managed logistics for the race 10 years ago are still in place.

    “[Raffaele Casale], he’s worked security barricade staging for 31 years of the race, and he’s on our crew this year,” Rogers said. “He could put barricades around the course blindfolded. He knows every turn, every corner, every pothole. He’s a secret weapon.”

    Rogers, Robbins, and Nutter coined the race “the People’s Race.” Spectating the men’s and women’s races, which will be held Sunday, is completely free, everywhere from Kelly Drive to the iconic Manayunk Wall. They hope it will be a big community celebration, like the Philadelphia Marathon, and what the race once was.

    “This race is by Philadelphians, for Philadelphians,” Rogers said. “We haven’t brought in any outside components. We put the band back together.”

  • Andrew Painter has best start of his career as Phillies cruise past the Cardinals: ‘The ceiling is so high for him’

    Andrew Painter has best start of his career as Phillies cruise past the Cardinals: ‘The ceiling is so high for him’

    A few short weeks ago, the Phillies struck out looking for a back end starting pitcher at the trade deadline.

    Three days prior, out of options for the fifth slot in their rotation, the team recalled top prospect Andrew Painter, who’d struggled through his first go-round in the majors.

    On Saturday against the Cardinals, Painter showed exactly why the Phillies and everyone else were so high on him in the first place, striking out eight in a one-run, seven-inning performance in the Phillies’ 12-3 win, the best start of his major league career.

    “The whole outing today, he looked like — he was a dog on the mound,” J.T. Realmuto said. “He wanted to get guys out. He wanted to attack the strike zone. He looked really confident out there.”

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    Painter earned a big standing ovation from the Citizens Bank Park crowd after throwing the last of his 102 pitches.

    “The guy we saw today, the ceiling is so high for him,” Realmuto said. “If he has that demeanor and that much confidence on the mound, he can be whatever he wants in this game.”

    Painter gave up just one run in the sixth inning, an RBI single from Alec Burleson.

    Since his 2024 Tommy John surgery, Painter has been trying to rebuild his fastball, which was identified as his best weapon as a prospect. He threw 32% of his fastballs for either called strikes or whiffs on Saturday.

    “It doesn’t look as hittable,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “ … I think one of the things they talked about is him working sideways when he was here. I don’t know. I look at it from a hitter standpoint, guys that are going sideways, they’re dragging the barrel. Pitchers, when they’re going sideways, they’re dragging the arm, and they’re also showing the ball early.”

    The Phillies worked with him on getting down the mound, and also on “letting go” and being more aggressive.

    After a blow-up first inning in his last start in Minnesota, Painter said he focused on using that first inning against St. Louis to attack and win the at-bats, instead of “falling into the trap” of using it to “feel stuff out.”

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    He started Saturday’s game with a 1-2-3 inning, including two strikeouts. Painter didn’t walk a single batter and generated 20 whiffs total. He also made heavy use of his new changeup, something he worked on in his stint in triple A. He got six whiffs and averaged 92 mph on the pitch.

    Having that changeup in the mix, which he threw 28 times compared to 25 fastballs, could be helping his fastball tick back up where he and the Phillies want it.

    “It tends to widen out the fastball grip, probably a bit less forearm fatigue, but I think it’s harder, and it moves more too,” Painter said. “Being able to play those two pitches off of each other helps a lot.”

    Even deep into the seventh inning, Painter threw a 99.6 mph fastball on his 100th pitch.

    “There’s a lot of mechanical things that lead to a little bit more gas in the tank later in the games,” Painter said. “ … I know that’s probably my last at-bat. I didn’t want to walk off that mound with anything left in the tank.”

    Brandon Marsh (left) greets Kyle Schwarber after Schwarber’s solo home run in the eighth inning.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    But the Phillies didn’t even need a gem from Painter to pick up the win, thanks to their thriving offense. The Phillies have long been a team that relied on the long ball, but by the time Bryce Harper hit the Phillies’ first home run of the game in the sixth inning, they’d already scored eight runs thanks to their small-ball game.

    Alec Bohm, who hit the walk-off triple in Friday’s win, stayed hot in the first inning, knocking a single to left to score the Phillies’ first run after Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner walked and singled to get on base. Edmundo Sosa followed with a double to make it 3-0 in the first.

    In the third, Bohm, Sosa, and Luis Arraez loaded the bases with singles, then Bryan De La Cruz knocked in two more runs with a single. J.T. Realmuto added a sacrifice fly, and Derek Hill doubled to put the Phillies up by 7-0. Schwarber added another sacrifice fly in the sixth, followed by Harper’s three-run homer. Schwarber homered in the eighth off position player Pedro Páges to cap off the Phillies 12-3 win.

    Arraez was removed from the game with lower body cramps in the third inning. Hill was removed with neck stiffness in the sixth. Both will be evaluated.