The 2024 WNBA crushed records in almost every category. But after the New York Liberty won its first championship at the end of October, W fans would traditionally be left waiting a full calendar year for women’s professional basketball to return.
Not this time.
Friday night, Unrivaled, the league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, debuted to a sold-out crowd in primetime thanks to the league’s partnerships with TNT in the U.S. and TSN+ in Canada.
From the jump, the premiere of Unrivaled delivered on its promise and investment. The games took place in state-of-the-art facilities built exclusively for their 36 competing athletes, with high-quality branding, a fan fest, and engagement with the league’s enormous sponsors and partners. TNT loaded the broadcast with star power, including pre-, half, and post-game shows with WNBA and TNT broadcasting star Candace Parker and Atlanta Dream owner Rene Montgomery.
From the tip-off, the first game in the arena felt big despite only holding 850 seats thanks to the energy and engagement from the crowd, starting with massive applause as Stewart hit the first bucket in Unrivaled history for the Mist Basketball Club.
After the games, Lunar Owls point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith compared it to playing in her Indiana state championship game.
“I liked the competitive fire,” said Las Vegas Aces and Rose Basketball Club star Chelsea Gray. “Everyone is in tune with it from the players to the fans.”
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anyways here is some of our boom boom room dialogue from the postgame show tonight😭😭😭 https://t.co/UqUCnC4CZg pic.twitter.com/KRkRZhE9zd
— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) January 18, 2025
The investment from TNT was apparent throughout both games as the analysis flowed. Announcer Lisa Leslie’s signature catchphrases (“in her bag” and “boom, boom room”) resulted in X and women’s basketball fans humorously commenting and keeping a tracker. Regardless of Leslie’s lack of diversity in her phrasing, the women’s basketball community was excited over the production, camera angles, and play throughout the Friday night doubleheader. The production team only needs to make minor adjustments as there were a couple of moments in both games where graphics were incorrect or sound issues hampered the announcing crews.
I love the concept of @Unrivaledwbb…it’s great see our pros hoopin on tv during the winter months…
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) January 18, 2025
Sideline reporter Allie LaForce added engaging content by speaking to players directly on the bench during the games but also finding Unrivaled investors and celebrities in attendance to spotlight the star power of the league (i.e., interviewing former USWNT player Alex Morgan, former NBA player and coach Steve Nash). However, the interviews ran a bit long, causing the screen to be split between gameplay and interviews, which was distracting from what was happening on the court. Hopefully, TNT will adjust and cut these interviews down to be supplementary and focus more on the play.
The stage is set! Here are the rules! pic.twitter.com/u9XGZi8XiG
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) January 17, 2025
The games and the new rules and format were easy to follow, especially since the Unrivaled social team spent significant time ensuring the format was well explained and covered. This included a single shot for free throws allowing for a better pace of play, as well as a compressed full court that accelerated the movement of both games. Perhaps the most intriguing feature was the “winning score” where, after three periods of seven minutes, the fourth is untimed and becomes a race to a pre-determined points total.
Friday night’s opening game could not have been scripted more perfectly as rivals Diggins-Smith and Jewell Loyd (as well as friends, co-founders, and 2024 WNBA Finals opponents Collier and Stewart) faced off. Showing off the drama of the winning score, Diggins-Smith led her team back to beat the Mist on a buzzer-beating three to win the game 84-80.
The first game winner in UNRIVALED HISTORY!!
@SkyDigg4 pic.twitter.com/IfJHHu3mka
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) January 18, 2025
In the second game, it seemed that Vinyl Basketball Club was going to run away with it, up nine points at the end of the third. However, the Rose narrowed the lead. They didn’t have enough of a push to win the game and Vinyl took their opener 79-73. The fourth-quarter winning score format, coupled with a commercial-free final quarter allowed the flow of the game to remain high caliber, physical, and competitive without the stops that drag out fourth quarters in the traditional game. This was a major win and takeaway for the league and its format.
One night in, Unrivaled cemented itself as an exciting option for WNBA players to not only stay home instead of shipping off overseas but also showcase their skills and provide women’s professional basketball fans with a new and innovative product.
We’ll have to see the numbers in terms of social media engagement, especially after the amount of time and work the players, their social teams, and the league have put into creating content to allow fans to get to know the players and discover their chosen club they will align with for the season. We’ll see what the viewership numbers look like for opening weekend, but it’s safe to say the league premiered to overwhelming praise and excitement from those watching at home.