Interest in women’s basketball has soared in the past year, but has it reached the point where fans would support another pro league?
WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier certainly think so, prompting them to form Unrivaled, a three-on-three women’s league that will begin play in January 2025.
The league, first announced in July 2023, unveiled its business model Wednesday, and among those filling in the details were former ESPN president John Skipper and former Turner Sports head David Levy, who’ve signed on as investors and promoters in the new venture.
The Hollywood Reporter reports the league has a solid group of investors, including NBA legends Carmelo Anthony and Steve Nash, former Warner Bros. head Ann Sarnoff, former soccer star Megan Rapinoe and actor Ashton Kutcher.
There’s no question interest in women’s basketball has surged, and while there’s debate about how much of that can be attributed to the “Caitlin Clark Effect,” TV ratings, attendance and merchandise sales are booming.
Levy said there are companies just waiting to spend money on women’s sports.
“If you talk to the media executives that are managing their their businesses … they want women’s sports on their networks, because they’re hearing brands are starting to spend there,” Levy said (via Hollywood Reporter). “If you’re in the advertising business, you want advertising, it’s hard to sell if you don’t have any content.”
The Unrivaled season will be held during the WNBA’s offseason, so the new league has already received commitments from a number of WNBA stars eager to play in the new league. Unrivaled will offer players the “highest average salary in professional women’s sports leagues,” as well as an equity stake.
Turning WHAT IFS into RIGHT NOWS. #Unrivaled pic.twitter.com/KemBTXIyPH
— Unrivaled (@Unrivaledwbb) May 30, 2024
In terms of the format, the six-team league will feature fast-paced, one-hour games on a compressed court in purpose-built arenas.
“I would think that every major company that has a sports media component will want to look at this, we’ll take advantage of that to get in and present it, and David and my job is to find the best combination of rights fees and marketing support and even emotional and spiritual support,” Skipper said.
[Hollywood Reporter]
