Unrivaled basketball league signs 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.

From January 2025, the contract stipulates that more than 45 games will be broadcast in prime time, three days a week. TNT will broadcast the games on Mondays and Fridays, while truTV will broadcast on Saturdays.

TNT Sports will also become an investor in the league.

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

26 of the 30 players have been announced to take part. WNBA stars A'ja Wison and Caitlin Clark have yet to commit.

The games will be played in Miami and will take place from January 17th to March 17th.

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

On February 10th there will be an all-star event as well as an individual tournament with all 30 players. The winner will receive $250,000 in prize money.

The league will also offer players high salaries, with each player receiving at least $100,000 for the season. The total payout for the league will be around $3 million. The six-figure salaries are believed to be the highest average in U.S. professional women's team sports.

Unrivaled has a high-profile 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 advantage of Unrivaled is that there is no overlap with WNBA training camps – an issue created by the inclusion of a “prioritization clause” in the latest collective bargaining agreement that went into effect this spring. The clause, which is controversial among players, requires players to arrive on time for training camp or risk being banned for the rest of the season.

Because the restriction may impact players spending the offseason overseas, Stewart and Collier announced the creation of Unrivaled before the 2023 WNBA All-Star Game to partially offset the new requirement. Unrivaled was originally scheduled to launch last January, but the ambitious goal was not achieved.