The WNBA playoffs might be over with the New York Liberty bringing home their first championship in team history, filling a long void for New York basketball championships, but there are more chances to watch women’s professional hoops coming in the spring of 2025 with the new Unrivaled league announcing a landmark deal with TNT Sports.
Women’s professional basketball leagues during the WNBA’s off-season are not brand new concepts with Unrivaled joining AU Pro Basketball, which will run for its fourth season in Nashville starting in February of 2025, with broadcasting details being announced soon. However, Unrivaled is positioned uniquely different to AU Basketball, a traditional five-on-five basketball format with players earning individual and team points for top plays and performances. In comparison, Unrivaled is a 3-on-3 league featuring 30 core players, all of which play and are current stars in the WNBA.
Specifically, Unrivaled targeted the top stars from the WNBA to play in this new league alongside league creators and founders Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, two of arguably the best players in the WNBA currently, and recent rivals during the WNBA finals.
The league has announced 26 out of its 30 total players including Las Vegas Aces stars Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young, Collier’s Lynx teammates Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams, big scorers in Jewell Lloyd, Arike Ogunbowale, and Kaleah Copper, and rebounding bigs in Brittney Griner, Dearica Hamby, and Angel Reese.
Recently, the league announced not only their six teams (Laces, Lunar Owls, Mist, Phantom, Rose, and Vinyl basketball clubs), new logos, and branding for the start of the season, but a monumental media rights multi-year deal secured with TNT Sports.
Amid battles with the NBA over broadcasting rights for games beyond the 2024-2025 season, TNT Sports moved over into the women’s hoops broadcasting game and could see a large payout for this move. If trends demonstrate the growth and popularity of women’s hoops then Unrivaled could captivate an audience itching for women’s professional hoops content in the absence of the WNBA.
The WNBA finals shattered previous held records this 2024 season, with the deciding game five between the Liberty and Lynx drawing an average of 2.15 million viewers on ESPN. Additionally, Zoomph, a data analytics company for brands and sport announced that the WNBA playoffs generated over 358 million social media impressions, over 12 million engagements, and over $10 million in social value, which were all at least four times higher than the 2023 playoffs.
Perhaps this and all the other shattering viewership, attendance, and impression numbers seen this WNBA season is why TNT Sports is moving into women’s hoops, as the company will most certainly hope to generate more revenue and attention for the network from new fans, who might not otherwise be there, a trend noted this year by ESPN and ION Sports.
According to a statement from Luis Silberwasser, CEO and Chairman of TNT Sports, adding Unrivaled to their portfolio was an intentional move and opportunity, “Our TNT Sports portfolio centers on premium live sports and our media and equity partnership with Unrivaled deepens our commitment to further expanding the depth of top tier women’s sports programming we offer our fans and presents an opportunity for us to shape and amplify the continued growth of women’s basketball.”
Unrivaled, similar to AU Pro Basketball, will play a shortened season of only eight weeks, but TNT has agreed to carry three games per week, two nights on TNT, and one of truTV, and all coverage of the playoffs. The games will also be available on the streaming service Max beginning January 17, 2025, the start of the season.
Despite the rights deal being undisclosed on the agreed upon amount and for how many years, clearly the partnership with TNT Sports and brand founding partner Ally Financial, will allow the players to make the six-figure deals and be provided equity stakes promised in the creation of the league, something professional women’s basketball players have longed for. This year with both leagues, Unrivaled and Au Pro Basketball, more players will have the option to stay and play home in the US, instead of heading overseas.
Time will tell who the additional four players being added to the league are. As of now, many are hinting at whether Caitlin Clark will be added to the league, as rumors continue to swell over Unrivaled offering her “a Lionel Messi-type” deal.
