Unrivaled basketball to be top-paying women鈥檚 pro sports league
MIAMI (BVM) 鈥� Unrivaled is a new 3-on-3 women鈥檚 professional basketball league founded last summer by WNBA players Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. The league is scheduled to tip off in January 2025 and will do so in historic fashion.
"It feels like everyone is benefiting from women's sports except for the people that are in women's sports." -Napheesa Collier
All about , the new women鈥檚 basketball league started by and .听听
— We Need To Talk (@WeNeedToTalk)
Recently, it was reported that Unrivaled will set the record for the highest-paying average salary in women鈥檚 professional sports history.
Speaking Thursday on FanDuel TV鈥檚 鈥淩un It Back,鈥� NBA Insider Shams Charania reported the league is expected to pay double the average salary of the WNBA which is around $120,000. Top salaries in the new league are also expected to be higher than what they are in the WNBA.
鈥淭his league will be run opposite of the WNBA season. The average salary in the WNBA is $120K鈥� The salary in this 鈥楿nrivaled鈥� league is going to be about double that." reports that a new women鈥檚 3-on-3, six-team league is coming!
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV)
The exciting news for the new league comes in conjunction with Unrivaled announcing that it has closed a seed funding round before its launch in a few months. There is a long list of notable investors in the league thus far including former NBA players Steve Nash and Carmelo Anthony, pro soccer player Alex Morgan, former USA soccer star Megan Rapinoe and former women鈥檚 golfer Michelle Wie West.
UConn women鈥檚 basketball coach Geno Auriemma is also an investor in the league as are actor Ashton Kutcher, former ESPN president John Skipper, former Turner president David Levy and former Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff, among several others.
鈥淚 believe it鈥檚 a good investment 鈥� that David and I and the other group of investors have the chance to be on the ground floor of something that I think is going to be quite impactful,鈥� . 鈥淚t鈥檚 a rare opportunity where we can create something 鈥� and don鈥檛 need to disrupt something else.鈥�
Unrivaled will run opposite the WNBA season and could ultimately serve as a substitute for players who have had to go play overseas during the WNBA offseason in order to make money. The league plans to run from January to March, featuring 30 players across six teams. One of the unique facets of Unrivaled is that the 30 players who join in 2025 will also receive equity in the league.
The six-team, 3-on-3 league will be played in an arena in Miami that features a compressed full court. There are reportedly already at least 10 WNBA players signed on to join the league, including Collier and Stewart, but the rest of those names have not yet been disclosed.
The idea was ultimately spearheaded by Collier after talking with her husband, president of Unrivaled and trainer of numerous NBA and WNBA players, Alex Bazzell, about where the women鈥檚 professional game was at a couple of years ago.
鈥淥bviously it sounds crazy at first,鈥� . 鈥溾�榃e should create a league.鈥� It鈥檚 not like it鈥檚 just a 鈥榃e should go out for ice cream tonight鈥� kind of thing.
鈥淪o, yeah, just started as a conversation randomly after a game, and then it formed into this thing where we can make so much change, and why wait for someone else to do it when we can do it ourselves?鈥�
The Minnesota Lynx star joined forces with reigning WNBA MVP Stewart to make the league happen, capitalizing on an era where women鈥檚 professional basketball and women鈥檚 sports as a whole are becoming increasingly popular.
鈥淭he women鈥檚 game is at such a pivotal point right now 鈥� but unfortunately, still, the majority of the money that we make is off the court,鈥� Collier said. 鈥淪o we want to change that 鈥� to make money playing basketball.鈥�
鈥淓specially in the women鈥檚 world, this has never happened before,鈥� . 鈥淭he average salary is the highest ever in a women鈥檚 league around the world, six figures, making sure that not only are we going to have the best product, but also the product is going to get what we deserve.鈥�
More details are sure to come out about Unrivaled in the near future, but it already seems on the right path to becoming a truly groundbreaking league in women鈥檚 professional sports.
