Unmatched Women's Basketball League debuts on Friday

Unrivaled, a brand new women's 3-on-3 skilled basketball league, launches Friday and represents each a serious test and a possibility for ladies's sports to spice up its growing profile within the United States.

The league, co-founded by WNBA superstars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, has already announced deals with a dozen sponsors and raised $35 million in funding. Collier told CNBC that the league has already shown it has “immense” potential and opportunity.

“If you invest in the players and in women’s sports, I think we’re already seeing a return,” she said. “This is just the beginning for us. It’s the first year and we’ve already been able to do this, so we’re really excited about the future.”

The games will proceed to be broadcast Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery TNT Sports platforms under a multi-year media rights deal. TV rankings might be necessary not only when it comes to total viewership but in addition demographics, said Lee Berke, president and CEO of sports consulting firm LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media.

“You're looking for an audience that tends to be younger, men and women watching, you're looking for the size of the audience,” Berke told CNBC. “Obviously there’s a lot of hype on the first day. You want to see the audience grow and expand as the season progresses.”

Here's what you need to find out about Unrivaled before the primary clue:

In the primary season of Unrivaled, six teams play against one another for 2 months. The season culminates in a four-team playoff tournament, with the championship happening on March 17. A 1v1 player tournament can also be planned for mid-season.

The games are played in a 3-on-3 format and happen on a smaller court in comparison with WNBA courts. They last an hour and are transmitted Fridays and Mondays on TNT and Saturdays on TruTV. Games can be streamed on WBDs Max.

All games might be played on the Mediapro US venue in Medley, Florida, a suburb of Miami. The season takes place throughout the WNBA offseason and is meant to offer an alternative choice to playing abroad.

Many WNBA players spend their offseasons playing for teams in Russia, China and other countries to complement their income. However, the WNBA is Collective agreement The contract signed in 2020 now suspends players for the season without pay in the event that they don’t return from their overseas teams on time for training camp. WNBA training camp begins April twenty seventh.

“It's trying to fill a gap in these players' calendars. It expands the trajectory of professional basketball,” Alex Bazzell, president of Unrivaled and husband of Collier, previously told CNBC.

Unrivaled may also pay many players the next salary than the WNBA. The total salary pool is over $8 million, Bazzell told SB Nation, which is averaging about $242,000 per player this season. Players also receive equity and revenue shares from the league said It offers the best average salary within the history of the ladies's skilled sports league.

At a news conference Friday, Bazzell said the league doesn’t have a minimum or maximum salary, but that pay relies partly on what competitors and other women's sports leagues pay.

“We're taking an extremely aggressive approach when you look at the entire landscape and the entire ecosystem,” Bazzell said. “We try to look at numerous things: What might you be doing abroad? What do you do in the WNBA? How can we beat those numbers, honestly, to make it worth it for them?”

WNBA annual salaries currently range from a minimum of $66,079 to a maximum of $249,244 for core players. Only one player per WNBA team may be named a core player and earn this amount.

The league has 36 Participant for his first season, all playing within the WNBA last yr. There are 15 2024 WNBA All Stars on the roster, led by first-team All-WNBA honorees Collier, Stewart and Alyssa Thomas. Other notable players include Sabrina Ionescu, Brittney Griner and Angel Reese.

Unrivaled has raised $35 million from its seed and Series A rounds from a wide range of high-profile investors. His supporters include basketball stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Carmelo Anthony, in addition to Olympians like Alex Morgan and Michael Phelps. Tennis star Coco Gauff was announced as a brand new investor on January sixth.

Collier said while everyone else now recognizes the rise of girls's sports, athletes recognized the worth of the industry early on.

“I think people in sports have known this for a long time,” Collier said. “Seeing the support from other athletes is really encouraging. They believe in us so much, it was really nice to see.”

Unrivaled's corporate partners, Collier added, are aligned with their vision to grow the game.

“We have said for a long time that this is not a charity. This is a great business opportunity and these brands have recognized that,” said Collier. “Not only do they do this out of the goodness of their hearts, they also believe in the growth of women’s sports. But they also do it because they know this is something that has great potential to be profitable.”

About a dozen firms have signed sponsorship deals with Unrivaled, including Sephora, State Farm, Wilson, Ally Financial and Samsung. Most recently Unrivaled called Sprite as presenting partner for the 1v1 tournament and Bodyarmor because the official sports drink.

“It's hugely impressive, both in terms of the number of sponsors, the quality of the sponsors and the fact that they are non-traditional sports sponsors,” Berke said.

TNT Sports' announcers and studio hosts for unparalleled coverage include Basketball Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie and two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker.

Unrivaled's debut comes amid a surge in national interest in women's sports — particularly basketball.

The WNBA specifically experienced a resurgence with former college stars Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink and Reese leading an attention-grabbing rookie class. The league said it broke an all-time record with greater than 54 million unique viewers throughout the season and posted its best in-person viewership numbers in 22 years.

Last yr's WNBA Finals, during which the New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx in five games, was reported to be the league's most-watched championship series in 25 years ESPN.

The WNBA is expanding the Finals from a best-of-five format to a best-of-seven series starting next yr. Next season, the corporate may also introduce its thirteenth franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, and can add teams in Toronto and Portland, Oregon, in 2026.

Both the WNBA and its players are poised to capitalize on the momentum.

The league may reevaluate its current 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal after 2028, CNBC previously reported and the WNBA players union logged out of his current collective agreement was announced in October. A brand new agreement that will take effect after next season could offer players higher salaries and more advantages, and the increased attention given to WNBA athletes gives them greater influence on the negotiating table.

“Unrivaled” may have a huge impact on the business of girls’s basketball, Collier told CNBC.

“We’re already seeing it expand the landscape. Foreign contracts are increasing, other domestic league contracts are increasing,” Collier said. “We’re trying to expand the normal mindset in the business of women’s sports and you’ll definitely see us pushing for the same things in the CBA.”