What is Unrivaled Basketball?
In its inaugural season, the Unrivaled basketball league reached over 11 million viewers, which generated over 500 million social media impressions. Unrivaled features a fast-paced 3-on-3 and 1-on-1 format with only 6 teams (36 players total). By contrast, the WNBA has a traditional 5-on-5 format with 13 teams (the NBA has 30). This exciting new game format and league, which was started by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, has attracted high-profile investors including Coco Gauff, Michael Phelps, Megan Rapinoe, Dawn Staley, Juju Watkins, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Carmelo Anthony, Steph Curry, Steve Nash, and most recently Paige Bueckers. The league was also able to secure notable corporate partners including Sephora, Wayfair, Under Armour, IcyHot, Samsung, and many others. In addition, Unrivaled’s incredible debut resulted in a six-year broadcast deal with TNT Sports allowing its games to appear on TNT, truTV and Max.
WNBA superstars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart went from battling it out in the WNBA finals last year to launching their innovative, player-centric women’s basketball league. They started the league to give women’s basketball the spotlight and attention it deserves by investing in the athletes first. This includes paying players closer to their worth. The average WNBA salary in 2024 was around $120,000 for a full season of play which is around 6 months of play, while Unrivaled paid players an average salary of $220,000 for only three months of basketball. Additionally, the WNBA minimum salary last year was $64,000, while Unrivaled offers a minimum salary of $100,000. WNBA players only receive roughly 9% of the WNBA revenue, while NBA, NHL, and NFL players receive closer to 50% of profits.
However, Unrivaled didn’t just stop at better pay. They also offered childcare. At least 8% of WNBA players are mothers and pursuing their passion often takes them away from home with a salary that barely covers childcare let alone travel for their families to watch them play. The Unrivaled league offered a childcare center with toys and other activities as well as a nanny service to babysit players’ kids during games and other obligations. All of the players who participated in the first season expressed content for their treatment at Unrivaled from the training facility and weight room at WayFair Arena to all of the child care options. Many WNBA teams still don’t have home practice facilities let alone access to childcare or even on-sight physical therapy. In 2023, the Las Vegas Aces opened a new $40 million dollar training facility. Before this facility opened, the Aces practiced at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The Aces were the first WNBA team to have their own dedicated practice facility. Most WNBA teams still share practice space with NBA teams or other gyms affiliated with universities. However, things are beginning to change. This season 4 WNBA teams have their own practice facilities, and the Indiana Fever (where Caitlin Clark plays) have plans to build their own facility soon.
Unrivaled Basketball’s success can largely be attributed to its focus on promoting individual players, and also effectively capturing fun and engaging marketing content from the start of the season to the end. The WNBA has made strides in recent years in boosting the following and engagement of its social media accounts run by each respective team. However, Unrivaled recognized the value of marketing its players not only to engage viewers in the young league, but also to help drive off-court brand deals toward the individual players and in turn helping them boost their marketability and income. Their work helped achieve one of the main goals of Unrivaled, which was to help WNBA players earn an income in the offseason without having to supplement their WNBA income by playing overseas away from their family. You might remember Brittney Griner’s experience playing overseas in Russia and getting imprisoned there when she shouldn’t have had to play overseas in the first place.
Could Unrivaled help bring more fans to women’s basketball? Can Unrivaled prove that women’s basketball is just as popular and exciting as men’s basketball and should be treated as such?
The WNBA has made big strides in the last couple of years in its efforts to increase viewership by raising money for ad campaigns, marketing, and expansion. However, the league still struggles to turn a profit. The WNBA brings in about $200 million annually while the NBA brings in roughly $10 billion dollars. The WNBA continues to rely on the NBA for additional funding. With former college stars entering the league who already have huge followings, like Angel Reese (4.9 million followers), Caitlin Clarke (3 million followers), and Paige Bueckers (2.5 million followers), to name a few, that rival the official WNBA instagram account (3.2 million followers), maybe we’ll see the WNBA start to leverage the marketability and popularity of their players more and in turn bring even more fans to tune in to the upcoming WNBA season.
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