Coming off a historic season for the WNBA, Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty and Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx announced the launch of Unrivaled. Set to launch in January of next year, the league is a three-on-three structure located in Miami. There are six clubs (Laces, Lunar Owls, Mist, Phantom, Rose, and Vinyl) with six players each. Unrivaled aims to provide female basketball players with another option to play domestically during the offseason, rather than playing overseas like they usually would. WNBA salaries are notoriously low, but Stewart and Collier have set their sights on exceeding the maximum $214,000 payment in the regular league. All 36 players will receive an initial payment along with equity and a share of the revenue of Unrivaled. Since its announcement, the league has signed partnerships with Wilson Sporting Goods Co., Under Armour, and the TNT broadcasting channel in addition to up-and-coming stars like Flaujae Johnson and Paige Bueckers, illustrating the strides women’s basketball has made in the past years.
