After pushing the WNBA forward, Unrivaled faces its next test

Unrivaled arrived in early 2025 as a novel women’s basketball delight. For the first time, fans could watch their favorite players play stateside in the winter, in a full-court 3-on-3 format most hadn’t seen before.

“It’s different, right?” Geno Auriemma, UConn coach and Unrivaled investor, told the Sun-Times.

Unrivaled drew a strong contrast to the WNBA, not just in format but in player experience. That difference became a key bargaining chip in collective-bargaining negotiations.

As WNBA players pushed for a new economic model that rewarded them for the sport’s rising popularity, they could point to the startup league.

Look what we’ve got going on over here in Miami! State-of-the-art facilities. High salaries. Players made equity partners from the start instead of being told to wait until the league hit a certain scale.

A league by players, for players, as co-founder Napheesa Collier called it.

Though CBA negotiations have been tense and prolonged, real gains have emerged. For the first time, WNBA players will share in league revenue without needing to hit specific targets. Max salaries will reach at least $1 million. Minimum standards for facilities are coming.

The question now is what Unrivaled will look like in an ecosystem it helped reshape.

TV vs. touring

Like true startup founders, Collier and her co-founder Breanna Stewart talk about the future as a work in progress. They are still figuring out the right number of teams and the right mix of tour stops.

Its current form raises tough questions. None of the league's eight teams represent a specific place, which limits fan attachment.

The 3-on-3 format also has its limits. Why watch what league President Alex Bazzell calls “enhanced pick-up” when a blue-chip college matchup is also on TV?

For many fans, Unrivaled didn’t offer a clear enough answer.

TV ratings declined in Year 2, with the league averaging about 149,000 viewers as of Feb. 11. The league said its TV partner, TNT, largely expected that dip. But growth will need to resume to keep the partnership strong.

The good news is that Unrivaled’s second season validated demand for the live product. And it hinted at why the future of women's basketball may borrow from the past.

Before women’s professional leagues existed, teams toured from city to city. Unrivaled returned to these barnstorming roots with plenty of success. Tour stops in New York and Philadelphia both sold out, with the Philadelphia event setting an attendance record for a women’s basketball game.

Place was a key part of the appeal. For a night, fans and players could celebrate their connection to a city.

Philadelphia, which does not yet have a WNBA team, became a homecoming for Rose BC star Kahleah Copper. Copper grew up playing on Philadelphia courts and finally got to perform in front of family and friends.

“The guys I used to hoop with, they watch me on TV,” Copper said on the “Bird’s Eye View” podcast. “Half of them have never been out the city, haven't gone anywhere. So for them to see me in person, from this little girl who really couldn't hoop, who they really shaped — that is so dope.”

While Philadelphia had been in the works for nearly a year, Brooklyn was essentially a pop-up. Even on three weeks' notice, celebrities filled the courtside seats. Upper-level fans invented a dance inspired by Liberty mascot Ellie the Elephant. Two of the league’s best shooters drilled game-winning threes.

Still, Unrivaled is not trying to become a fully touring league. Playing in one place is part of their pitch: a chance for players to slow down and reduce strain on their bodies.

But success has a way of changing minds.

“Let’s be frank: when we returned from Philly, there were four teams that were kind of jealous that the other four teams had the experience, and there were four teams who once we got back were like, 'When can we go again?'” Bazzell said before the semifinals. “So it’s funny, like one experience can change the mindset of an entire building.”

Unrivaled now plans to hold six to eight tour stops next year in both non-WNBA markets and existing ones.

Does the future need all the stars?

Unrivaled launched as a premium league featuring many of the sport’s top players. As Year 2 winds down, Bazzell still insists the league wants to be the home for the best talent.

But the landscape is changing. With top WNBA salaries set to exceed $1 million under the next CBA, will top players still want to suit up in the winter?

Rest has rarely been part of the professional women’s basketball cycle, but the sport’s biggest names may soon discover its value. (Some already have: Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson have never played in Unrivaled.)

Still, Unrivaled doesn’t need to panic quite yet.

On the men’s side, there is precedent for offseason leagues surviving without the very biggest stars.

NBA Summer League offers an interesting model. Each July, rookies, second-year players and G League prospects head to Las Vegas to compete. It’s become a basketball tourism destination and a modest TV draw. This past summer it averaged about 255,000 viewers, not much higher than Unrivaled’s inaugural season.

Climbing back to that level seems realistic.

Especially if Unrivaled leans into what worked best this season: the next generation.

In Year 2, Dominique Malonga, the 6-foot-6 phenom, began to dunk confidently. Paige Bueckers, whom Auriemma has long urged to be more selfish, got comfortable taking over games.

It was a compelling sight, watching the next generation of stars growing into themselves.

Whatever direction Unrivaled takes, it will likely require some level of partnership, or at least coordination, with the WNBA.

That may seem counterintuitive, since Unrivaled’s identity comes from its independence. Free of the WNBA’s baggage, the league could innovate and compensate players generously.

But Unrivaled’s founders and executives readily acknowledge that the ecosystem works best when its pieces move together.

Though a formal partnership may still be a long way off, don’t be shocked if the disruptor eventually becomes part of the machine.