Courtesy of Gene Gallin
Since the introduction of the WNBA in 1997, many players have played abroad in their off-season to train and supplement their income. However, this can be difficult for players and their families and can become complex with the WNBA pre-season schedule. In 2023, former UConn teammates and current All-WNBA first team players Breanna Stewart and Naphessa Collier founded the domestic professional three-on-three basketball league Unrivaled.
On March 17, 2025, the league completed its inaugural season. Unrivaled features a unique form of basketball, being three-on-three but full-court. The game consists of three seven-minute quarters and a “winning score” final quarter. In this quarter, 11 points are added to the leading team’s score after three quarters, and then the game continues until a team reaches the “winning score” with no game clock. The court is compressed, and the shot clock is shortened to only 18 seconds. Players also only take one free throw after a foul, worth 2 points on a 2-point shot and three on a three-point shot, respectively. All together, these unique rules make for fast-paced gameplay.
There were six teams in the 2025 season. None of the teams had any geographical connection, and each team initially consisted of six players. All the games were played in the 850-seat Wayfair Arena in Medley, Florida. This created a COVID-like “bubble” experience for players as they all lived in the area for the 2-month season. The league has a $100 million deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, with the first 3 out of 6 years guaranteed. These games occurred 3 nights per week and were on TNT and truTV and streamed on MAX. Unrivaled is a ‘players league’ more than anything else. The league claims to pay the highest average salaries for any professional women’s league, coming in at $222,222—a significant increase compared to the average $130,000 in the WNBA. The league also provided top-tier amenities such as constantly available coaching, impressive gym/recovery spaces, and included childcare.
Over nine weeks, each team played 14 regular-season games. Four of the six teams made the playoffs, and then a champion (the Rose) was crowned. But Unrivaled added another twist when a one-on-one tournament was held during the second week of February, with 23 players competing for a $350,000 prize pool. Collier dominated and was crowned the first winner of Unrivaled 1v1, winning $200,000. One-of-a-kind events like the 1v1 tournament have helped elevate the league’s social media presence.
Despite this, there is some concern that television ratings are lower than hoped. The league stated that its opening weekend viewership peaked at 364,000 viewers. Around a month later, during the 1v1 competition, the final match had 398,000 viewers. However, since then, viewership per weekend has steadily declined. It is hard to track exact numbers due to streaming, but it is estimated to be just under 200,000 per game. While these numbers are in no way dreadful, they are lower than expected, considering the WNBA is coming off of its most-watched season in 24 years. If Unrivaled is to be a long-term success, it will need to find ways to capitalize more on the WNBA’s popularity boom.
One reason Unrivaled is not capturing the viewership of a large portion of WNBA fans is that some of the biggest stars in women’s basketball did not sign with the league this offseason. Despite many people wanting her to join, Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark decided not to participate in Unrivaled. In 2024, twenty-two games reached over one million viewers. Of these games, nineteen featured the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark. Not having one of the WNBA’s most prominent players was a loss to the fledgling league. This is not to say that there are no major stars in the league, many of which have already been mentioned. However, a significant issue was the star’s commitment to Unrivaled. For instance, Sabrina Ionescu was reportedly paid a significantly higher salary to join the league. However, she missed five games in the nine-week season due to scheduling conflicts, such as Paris Fashion Week and stops on her shoe tour. It is hard to draw viewership when the best players can not guarantee they are playing.
This points to another issue Unrivaled faces: sometimes, it lacks a strong competitive nature, and fans have no stake in the games. Since the teams are a mash-up of players from all different WNBA teams, fans are forced to split their loyalties to their regular season teams. Also, given that this is the league’s first year, nobody has strong feelings towards or against any teams. Due to a significant amount of injuries the league was plagued by, it has been forced to add new players throughout the season and switch players from team to team to cover losses. If teams do not have consistent faces, it is hard for fans to care what team wins. And when players like Ionescu only play games when it is convenient for them or treat the league more like a pre-training camp than a competitive organization, fans will not care who wins if they don’t think the players do. To raise ratings for next season, the league has to get people more invested and raise the stakes.
Despite minor flaws, Unrivaled is a sign of significant progress for Women’s basketball. The league intends to improve upon some of this year’s issues, such as moving games to several locations and larger stadiums to increase fan engagement. Unrivaled is revolutionary in how it pays women’s basketball players salaries and the amenities it provides to all athletes, especially mothers. With the upcoming CBA in 2026 with the WNBA, the benefits of Unrivaled will undoubtedly be brought up and will hopefully put pressure on the WNBA to better its treatment of players. Unrivaled has also been clever in ensuring the growth of the next generation of players. The league has preemptively signed current college stars Paige Bueckers and Flau’jae Johnson for the 2026 season. With the popularity of the college game, this is likely to bring in even more fans. Unrivaled has set a new precedent for women’s basketball, offering players unprecedented financial opportunities and support while delivering a new, fast-paced game to the fan. With a goal of future refinement and growth, Unrivaled has the potential to become a lasting part of Women’s Basketball and may leave its mark on the sport as a whole forever.
