The professional women’s basketball league Unrivaled announced an innovative model for women’s sports compensation and ownership. The league also revealed the successful closing of an oversubscribed seed funding round, which included prominent industry leaders and an esteemed group of investors, along with new insights into the league’s format and operations in anticipation of its inaugural season set for January 2025. Co-founded by renowned women’s basketball players Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, Unrivaled aims to transform the landscape of domestic women’s professional sports by focusing on investing in its athletes.
Co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, Unrivaled is supported by renowned athletes and prominent industry leaders, including Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash, Gary Vaynerchuk, Ann Sarnoff, John Skipper, and David Levy.
Unrivaled launches innovative model for women’s sports compensation and ownership to advance the growth of women’s basketball.
A player-owned league, Unrivaled aims to provide athletes with equity and a genuine stake in its success. The league will present historic contract opportunities, offering the highest average salary in the history of women’s professional sports leagues. Featuring 30 of the top women’s basketball players across six teams in a 3-on-3, full-court format, Unrivaled will showcase the most entertaining and competitive version of the sport for fans. Several prominent women’s basketball stars, including reigning WNBA All-Stars, have already reached agreements with Unrivaled, with official announcements to be made this summer.
“For years, women have relied heavily on off-court sponsorships for a majority of their income. With Unrivaled, we’re revolutionizing the game by prioritizing investments in our stars and ensuring their on-court performance is reflected in their pay,” said Stewart. Collier added, “With the growing popularity of women’s basketball and the WNBA, this is an opportunity for us to extend our visibility into the traditional basketball season. Breanna and I set out to create a league that would change the way women’s sports are viewed and ultimately how sports leagues operate. We may have had the vision, but this isn’t just our league – it belongs to the players, and the Unrivaled model reflects that.”
Through her firm, Trybe Ventures, U.S. Soccer co-captain and two-time FIFA World Cup Champion, Alex Morgan, has assembled a team of diverse and accomplished investors to support the launch of Unrivaled. This distinguished group of investors includes renowned athletes and executives such as activist and two-time FIFA World Cup Champion Megan Rapinoe, two-time NBA MVP and eight-time NBA All-Star Steve Nash, five-time LPGA Champion Michelle Wie West, and Koby Altman, General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Renowned figures in sports media, including John Skipper, co-founder of Meadowlark Media and former President of ESPN, and David Levy, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) and former President of Turner, have made investments in Unrivaled. They will lead the efforts in securing league media rights. Furthermore, HS&E will assist with the league’s sponsorship sales initiatives.
“The interest and enthusiasm for women’s basketball is reaching unprecedented levels, leading brands and media companies to prioritize their involvement in the sport as they recognize its significant upside, growth, and return on investment,” said Levy. “Unrivaled presents an exceptional opportunity for both brands and media companies to align with today’s top basketball players, and I am thrilled to work alongside John, and the Unrivaled team to introduce this exciting and competitive new league to the marketplace.” “It is clear that sports fans are falling in love with women’s basketball,” added Skipper. “Showcasing the best players in the world in a 3-on-3 format will accelerate the understanding of just how good these players are and how exciting this game is. I am very excited to have an opportunity to see this up close.”
Unrivaled’s seed round also includes investment from:
- Range Group
- Geno Auriemma: 11x National Champion Head Coach, UCONN
- Ann Sarnoff: Former Chairwoman and CEO of Warner Brothers
- Richard Sarnoff: Chairman of Media of KKR
- Moira Forbes: Executive VP of Forbes Media
- Carmelo Anthony: 3x Olympic Gold Medalist, 10x NBA All-Star and entrepreneur
- Gary Vaynerchuk: CEO & Chairman of VaynerMedia, and 5x New York Times best-selling author
- Ashton Kutcher: Actor, producer, and philanthropist
- Dan Rosensweig: Executive Chairman of Chegg
- Desiree Gruber: Television producer and Founder/ CEO of Full Picture
- Dan Benton: CEO of Andor Capital
- Tyus & Tre Jones: NBA Players
Accelerate Sports served as Unrivaled’s investment bank for the capital raise.
This new version of professional basketball will be tailor-made for the everyday basketball fan with its pace, spacing, and star power. “Sports are about competition and I believe what we are building is going to be one of the most competitive and entertaining products on the market because of format and our investment in star power,” said Alex Bazzell, President at Unrivaled. “The marketability of women’s basketball players is at an all-time high and we view Unrivaled as a platform to help our athletes maximize their moment.”
Unrivaled is pleased to announce the official commencement of its inaugural season on January 17, 2025.
Photo/Unrivaled/X
Unrivaled contributed to this column
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