Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 women’s professional basketball league co-founded Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, will launch in January with the highest average salary in women’s team sports history.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium made the announcement on X:
Shams Charania @ShamsCharania
The new league begins its first season in January and will take place in the winter, which is opposite of WNBA season. The initial 30 players also receive equity ownership in the league.
Unrivaled @Unrivaledwbb
Turning WHAT IFS into RIGHT NOWS. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Unrivaled?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Unrivaled</a> <a href=”https://t.co/KemBTXIyPH”>pic.twitter.com/KemBTXIyPH</a>
“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,” Stewart said in a statement.
Catalina Fragoso/NBAE via Getty Images
Unrivaled will feature a compressed full-court play style, with 30 women being part of the inaugural season. Information on rosters will be announced at a later date, but the press release did note several “superstars” have signed on.
U.S. women’s national team co-captain Alex Morgan leads a group of investors from across the sports world. Former USWNT teammate Megan Rapinoe, former NBA guard Steve Nash and Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman are among the notable names involved as part of the Trybe Ventures collective.
UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, former NBA forward Carmelo Anthony and actor Ashton Kutcher are among the other individual investors.
“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,” Collier said in a statement. “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.”
The new league could present an opportunity for WNBA players to stay stateside during the offseason. Many WNBA stars spent their offseasons supplementing their income by playing in European leagues, and Unrivaled should provide an opportunity for at least some notable names to stay home.
If the league expands, it could become a true second major professional women’s basketball league.
