{"id":307108,"date":"2025-10-16T04:11:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T04:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/307108\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T04:11:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T04:11:19","slug":"unrivaleds-growth-could-influence-wnba-cba-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/307108\/","title":{"rendered":"Unrivaled\u2019s growth could influence WNBA CBA negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unrivaled could have \u201ca lot\u201d of influence on the WNBA\u2019s future after \u201cdoubling its revenue projections in its inaugural season,\u201d according to Seerat Sohi of THE RINGER. The 3-on-3 league is adding two new teams<\/a>, which means it will \u201cemploy more than a third of the WNBA\u201d this winter. Unrivaled, which runs from January to March, \u201coffers higher salaries than the WNBA despite its shorter season, and it has top-line facilities and training.\u201d Beyond the logistics, the league also \u201cprojects a more optimistic, player-led vision of the future.\u201d The way Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell sells the league is \u201cin stark contrast to the narratives around the WNBA.\u201d NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has publicly called the WNBA \u201ca money loser,\u201d while WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert \u201creferences the importance of \u2018sustainability\u2019 as though the league were still in survival mode.\u201d Sohi notes Lynx F Napheesa Collier, following her criticism of the league and Engelbert<\/a>, could be \u201cin a potential position of conflict\u201d as she co-founded Unrivaled with Liberty F Breanna Stewart, who are also two of the seven players on the executive committee of the WNBPA. If the WNBA season were to get canceled, \u201cmany of the eyeballs and sponsors looking to get in on women\u2019s basketball could turn to Unrivaled.\u201d Collier and Stewart would \u201ccertainly benefit financially, but they\u2019d also stand to have a lot to lose if the WNBA went away for a year.\u201d It could \u201creally get interesting if Unrivaled becomes a bargaining chip\u201d in CBA negotiations (THE RINGER, 10\/14<\/a>).<\/p>\n

TWO SIDES<\/b>: In S.F., Ann Killion wrote as it gets closer to the CBA expiration date, the \u201cantagonism between the two sides has reached new heights.\u201d The players have \u201cpublicly turned on Engelbert, the owners haven\u2019t exactly lined up to support her, the public is clearly on the players\u2019 side,\u201d and even Silver\u202f– who hired Engelbert and who has \u201cpublicly supported her in the past\u202f– recently said the relationships have become \u2018too personal.\u2019\u201d Engelbert \u201cseems to be failing at relationships.\u201d Killion: \u201cShe lacks charisma, doesn\u2019t seem comfortable in the spotlight and\u202f– by all accounts\u202f– has failed to connect with the most important people in the league, the players.\u201d The league is in a \u201chistorically important moment.\u201d The Toronto Tempo<\/a> and Portland Fire<\/a> enter the league in 2026, with three more teams to join before 2030<\/a>. The expansion Valkyries are the \u201cwild success story of 2025<\/a>.\u201d Talent around the globe is \u201csurging and the W is drawing millions of new fans, huge new revenue streams and sponsorship deals.\u201d Killion: \u201cBut could all that momentum be destroyed with a lockout? With a strike? With a labor impasse that can\u2019t be overcome? That would be insane. And there\u2019s no doubt where the public sentiment would fall: with the players and against the reign of Cathy Engelbert\u201d (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10\/14<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unrivaled could have \u201ca lot\u201d of influence on the WNBA\u2019s future after \u201cdoubling its revenue projections in its…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":307109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1339,62,67,132,68,232,1707],"class_list":{"0":"post-307108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-wnba","14":"tag-womens-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115381894045646474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}