Good morning! Tulsi Gabbard confirmed as director of national intelligence, Macquarie Group is leaving the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, and Unrivaled tries out startup-style basketball.
- Startup season. For the past several weeks, some of the best women's basketball players in the world have been grounded in Miami, with a private chef and an on-site esthetician. That's the standard set by Unrivaled, a new three-on-three women's basketball league that is running during the WNBA off-season.
Star WNBA players Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart cofounded the league, which is led by Collier's husband Alex Bazzell, a WNBA and NBA trainer. The league raised $35 million in funding to get off the ground, with lead investor the Berman family of the credit-card business CardWorks (who have put in a bid for a WNBA franchise in Charlotte). That's more than the league needed to raise, Bazzell says. Around 40% of Unrivaled's revenue this season is coming from sponsorships, with more revenue than the league expected coming from other sources; its biggest sponsorship is with Samsung Galaxy (the WNBA and NBA are sponsored by AT&T). Its games have aired on TNT thanks to a multiyear deal; the first matchup in January drew an average 312,000 viewers, a number that's close to what WNBA games used to get on lower-tier networks before the league's recent surge. Unrivaled itself has 20 full-time staffers, with closer to 60 to 70 people working during the season.
Unrivaled is positioned as an alternative to players' traditional off-season plans—earning sizable paychecks playing basketball outside the U.S. The ability to remain stateside (and compete in one city, rather than even travel domestically) is appealing to players who were accustomed to leaving behind their friends and family—and brand partners—for months at a time. Along with Collier and Stewart, Unrivaled players include Angel Reese, Brittney Griner, and Sabrina Ionescu (but no Caitlin Clark).
Right now, the WNBA and its players' union are negotiating their next contract—with player compensation expected to rise for the 2026 season. Whether star players feel the need to compete during the off-season after WNBA salaries improve remains to be seen. Inaugural Unrivaled players were given equity in the league that only vests after four seasons—"just like a normal startup," Bazzell says.
While the WNBA has been in transformation mode, Unrivaled has the opportunity to build something from scratch. In some ways, that's easier—no union negotiations and no baggage. "It allows a lot more flexibility, and it allows us to be a little bit more aggressive and innovative," Bazzell says. The Unrivaled season is running from January to March, and this week players are competing in a one-on-one tournament.
But Unrivaled benefits from the path the WNBA has carved. Fans are tuning into Unrivaled games to watch their favorite players, who they know from the WNBA. "That was always the model—we get the most popular, best players in the world, and they're going to probably bring their fans with them," Bazzell says. While Unrivaled has teams that compete against each other, those teams so far don't have city affiliation—or owners, although selling ownership stakes is on Unrivaled's agenda. Some fans are turning out to watch games in Miami, but most of the buzz is on social media.
As Collier told me last fall about Unrivaled: "We're really trying to revolutionize the game a little bit."
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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