Unrivaled basketball league strikes media rights deal with TNT Sports

TNT Sports and Unrivaled Basketball, the offseason 3-on-3 women’s league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, have reached a multi-year media rights deal with Warner Bros.

Beginning in January 2025, the deal will see more than 45 games broadcast in primetime three days a week. TNT will air games on Mondays and Fridays, while truTV will have coverage on Saturdays.

TNT Sports will also become an investor in the league.

The league already features such WNBA players as Arike Ogunbowale, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Brittney Griner, Angel Reese and Chelsea Gray, among others, as well as UConn’s Paige Bueckers.

There have been 26 players announced out of the 30 who will participate. WNBA stars A’ja Wison and Caitlin Clark have yet to commit.

Games played in Miami and take place from Jan. 17, 2025 through March 17, 2025.

Unrivaled will see six teams with five-player rosters play 14 games each, with the season ending with a single-elimination Final Four. Games will be played on a 70-foot court in Miami and feature an 18-second shot clock, three 7-minute quarters and a final 15-point runoff in the final quarter.

There will be an all-star event on Feb. 10, as well as a one-on-one tournament featuring all 30 players. The winner will receive a $250,000 prize.

The league will also offer big salaries to players, with each player receiving a minimum of $100,000 for the season. The total payout for the league will be around $3 million. The six-figure salaries are likely to be the highest average in U.S. professional women’s team sports.

Unrivaled has a star-studded investor base that includes USWNT legends Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, retired NBA stars Carmelo Anthony and Steve Nash, LPGA’s Michelle Wie West, UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma and actor Ashton Kutcher.

Another perk of Unrivaled is that it does not overlap with WNBA training camps — an issue that arose with the addition of a “prioritization clause” in the latest collective bargaining agreement, which went into effect this spring. The clause, which is controversial among players, requires players to arrive to training camp on time or risk suspension for the rest of the season.

Given that the restriction can affect players who spend the offseason overseas, Stewart and Collier announced the creation of Unrivaled ahead of the 2023 WNBA All-Star Game in part to offset the new requirement. Unrivaled was originally planned to debut last January, but the ambitious goal fell short.