In late 2022, New York freelance star Breanna Stewart held a meeting at a New York City steakhouse to hear ideas about changing the professional women’s basketball landscape.
Stewart is preparing to spend another WNBA offseason abroad. Alex Bazzell, husband of Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, also saw his wife playing overseas for several seasons. He made a business proposition to Stewart to keep most of the WNBA stars in the United States during the winter.
On the wine, Stewart is immediately interested in the unrivalled concept, a 3×3 league for professional women that will promise the highest salary in the American women’s team sport. She eventually agreed to co-found the alliance with Collier.
“It’s crazy to think about where we are at this meeting,” Stewart said.
Four of the league’s six teams competed in the semifinals on Sunday. The championship game is Monday. Stewart’s Mist Basketball Club has been eliminated, and he said the unparalleled basketball club can enhance players’ experiences in all professional women’s basketball.
The WNBA is about to be a record-breaking season. Last year was the most watched regular season in 24 years, and the fifth game of the WNBA final was the most watched final in 25 years. The alliance also set records of digital consumption and commodities, with the highest overall attendance rate in two decades.
Still, Stewart is optimistic, unparalleled to further push the landscape.
“We just show that when you invest and fall behind us, nothing is possible,” Stewart said.
The playoffs are coming soon! ⏳How do you prepare? ⬇️👀 pic.twitter.com/rdx4agwn5b
– Unrivaled basketball (@unrivaledWBB) March 13, 2025
Here are a few unparalleled ways to influence the WNBA:
1. Raise wages and provide fairness to players
Unparalleled sport is initiated at the key points of this sport. The explosive growth coincides with negotiations between the WNBA and the National Association of Women’s Basketball Players, negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with players looking to push for a higher salary. Players opted out of previous agreements last October.
Unparalleled salary, averaged around $220,000 per player and offers player benefits that the WNBA does not offer. 36 players signed unparalleled signings, and 6 more could reduce damage.
In any case, salary is the top priority of the WNBPA. However, this winter, the difference between average salary (the average WNBA salary is about $120,000) (the average salary in 2024 is about $120,000).
Another part of the unrivalled model – which offers players about 15% of the league’s interest – may also be a pioneer in the changes in the WNBA, which will enter its 29th season this summer. WNBPA said it wanted an equity-based model that evolved as the alliance succeeds in its next CBA’s business.
2. Improved convenience and added childcare services
There are many differences in the league (operation expenses, ownership structure, game format, season length, roster size), but the unrivalled commitment to prioritize player experience can also affect W.
“We are taking what we love and we will tell us about ownership,” said WNBA’s Atlanta Dream and the star of the unrivalled vinyl basketball club Wing Rhyne Howard.
The WNBA arms race is underway, with several franchises establishing new facilities and improving their amenities. Nevertheless, these products can vary widely from franchise to franchise.
Unrivaled months have created a private professional-level training space that dresses up the Miami-area former TV production studio as a comprehensive performance center and arena.
Some unparalleled players are relatively small. Renovated amenities include a sauna and a cold bathtub, not all WNBA Club 24/7 facilities. Several players also appreciate the heating pads on the training room table.
Clare Duwelius, former general manager, vice president and general manager of Minnesota Lynx, was once a key player request. She said, not asking too big or too small. “If the players put it on our radar, our purpose is to provide it,” Devillius said.
Perhaps most importantly, unrivaled also ensures that its facilities offer a strong parenting option. Wayfair Arena has a nursing home, nursery and a children’s room with toys, books, puzzles and even a mini basketball basket with stickers for six teams. The league hires nannies, so players can put down their kids at convenience, whether in terms of game, practice or other league obligations.
Katie Lou Samuelson, forward of Phantom Basketball Club and WNBA’s Seattle Storm, used the services for her 1-year-old daughter.
“Navisa’s daughter (the daughter of Skylar Diggins-Smith) they all made a little friendship together (with my daughter),” Samuelson said. “When we first started, she didn’t want me to leave, and now she’s like, OK, mom, you can go.”
WNBA’s 2020 CBA has made considerable progress in its parental care policy, and some organizations have similar settings. Phoenix Mercury has a children’s playroom and provides parenting during competitions. Minnesota Lynx uses local companies to help provide babysitting care, and they have a space for kids to play and sleep in the target center.
“I know I can play in any game, I feel very comfortable, I can do whatever I need to do after the game, and there will be someone there to watch her and take care of her until it’s time to go,” Somerson said. “I’m not in a hurry, it’s really good.”
Unparalleled co-founder Breanna Stewart hopes to bring the 3×3 league to the WNBA. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
3. More partnership opportunities
Unrivaled partnerships with many companies that are new to women’s basketball. More than six of the league’s sponsors are not existing NBA or WNBA partners, including Sephora, Wayfair, Samsung Galaxy, Morgan Stanley and Vistaprint. Collier said the league shows “what is possible when you have a brand to buy with players.” Lexie Hull, guard at the Unrivaled Rose Basketball Club, played for the WNBA’s Indiana fever, said the unparalleled partnership highlights that many companies are eager to work with the Women’s Sports League and their athletes.
As an entrepreneur, unparalleled possibilities are more agile. Since the WNBA is affiliated with the NBA, there is a common coordination on some dual sponsorship agreements.
According to Marketing Brew, the number of sponsors in the WNBA increased by 19% last year, while the league received a record 24 sponsor activations at the All-Star Fan Festival last summer.
Jordin Canada, the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream and the unrivalled Rose Basketball Club guard, said the unparalleled deals “put pressure on the WNBA to put its players at the forefront of more arrangements. Some trades may be better than the WNBA compared to the WNBA and the NBA combined.
One of the unparalleled corporate partners has not kept in touch with the WNBA, one of the franchises in the league. Sephora announced in early January that it would be the founding partner of Toronto Rhythm.
“It’s important to attract all kinds of brands and people and introduce them to new faces,” said Chelsea Gray, star guard of the WNBA’s Las Vegas ACES and the unrivalled Rose Basketball Club. “I would encourage (WNBA) to look at different partnerships and bring them in.”
4. Improve offseason promotions
Unparalleled motivating more than 30 top WNBA players to live in one field, thus promoting more when interacting with each other. Photos and video content are drawn on official unrivalled channels and single player platforms, allowing players to talk more frequently between WNBA fans.
“That’s a missing piece because you don’t know how long it takes for seven months, because you’re overseas,” Stewart said.
In recent years, the WNBA has emphasized the importance of correlation in the offseason. The league signs marketing agreements for several players each season, which will make up for players as brand ambassadors. But unparalleled efforts have promoted these efforts.
Shakira Austin, the center of the unrivalled Lunar Owls basketball club and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, said the unrivalled is “one in 10” in capturing the player’s personality, creating social content that is timely in line with online trends. She hopes to see more in the WNBA season.
“We’re used to knowing which country overseas of God, and you’re lucky to have some good internet service,” Austin said. “So, being able to access almost 24/7 games with WNBA players while we play all year round is a gumbo, and I think it’s something to keep going.”
Unparalleled players and executives say they want the winter joint venture to complement the WNBA, which held its annual draft in April and prompted in the May season.
“The meaning of this league is to help the WNBA,” Hull said. “They should live in cohesion.”
During the unparalleled season, WNBA officials, including Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and league business head Bethany Donaphin visited the Florida league. Stewart said she hopes they look at every aspect of their new career.
Duwelius said the players transferred feedback to her in their unparalleled first season. Stewart wanted more space for in-person fan experiences and training rooms. Unrivaled damage handling and some of the tour plans for next year are also worth a look. Bazzell previously said the league will have no more than four cities (targets for non-WNBA cities and college towns) and will still have a base next season.
However, when players return to their WNBA market, unrivaled effects can be felt in just a few weeks.
“From what we did in W to now flip and switch to the unrivaled W to soon return to W, we just continue to let people know what these players are doing constantly,” Stewart said. “We just want to make sure we’re in the whole sport.”
(Top photo of Napheesa Collier defending Angel Reese: Rich Storry/Getty Images)
