Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell did not dismiss the idea of a formal partnership with the WNBA ahead of the 3×3 league’s second season, although the sides are “not in constant dialogue” about that potential.
“I don’t want to speak too much of what’s going on behind the scenes, but as I’ve made very clear, we’re open to grow the ecosystem and whichever way that looks like,” Bazzell said during a video press conference on Monday morning from Miami. “So for us, there’s nothing on the table or off the table.”
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Unrivaled tipped off its second season on Monday with 54 of the WNBA’s best players in-market amid an era of uncertainty in women’s basketball. The second deadline for the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations expires on Friday, and the WNBA Players Association (WNBPA) membership voted last month to authorize its executive committee to call a strike “if necessary.” Unrivaled co-founders Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier are vice presidents of the WNBPA and two of seven executive members.
Stewart and Collier were in communication with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert as they built plans for Unrivaled with Bazzell, who is also Collier’s husband. ESPN reported in October that Collier and Stewart initially offered the WNBA a small equity share, but the partnership would have violated league rules and was denied. Professional athletes are generally not allowed to hold ownership stakes within their own league while actively playing.
“I’m not going to speculate into what could happen down the road,” Bazzell said. “Everyone over there [at the WNBA] knows that our door’s always open, and really, our decision maker is always going to be led by the fans and the players at the end of the day. That’s kind of where we sit in totality.”
The CBA negotiations will impact the entire women’s basketball ecosystem. At the core of the conversation is the revenue-sharing and salary structure. Players want a system that ties their salaries to the business. The sides view the “how” of that differently. The WNBA has proposed a CBA with maximum salaries in excess of $1.1 M with revenue sharing and an average salary of more than $500,000.
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Collier said during an appearance on “Good Morning America” on Monday that the WNBA and union were “at a little bit of a standstill” in negotiations and pivoted back to Unrivaled. The league, which plays at a single site in Miami for all but one night in Philadelphia, said previously its average player salary was $220,000 in its first year, slightly less than the WNBA’s supermax salary of $249,244.
“I think we’re just excited to show at Unrivaled that it is possible to pay the players and create a successful business, and that’s what we hope to do in the WNBA as well,” Collier said. “I think we’re amplifying that here at Unrivaled that it is possible. So we’re excited to reach [an agreement in the WNBA]. No one wants a work stoppage, but we do feel really confident in what we’re asking for, and I just feel really blessed to be able to play and create something that is showing these things are possible.”
The CBA could impact whether players can participate at all in leagues overseas and domestically such as Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited Basketball. More than 20 players with WNBA experience will tip off that league’s fifth season in Nashville on Feb. 5.
WNBA team owners implemented a prioritization clause in the 2020 CBA that allowed teams to suspend players who did not report to training camp on time. That could grow to disallow play in other leagues entirely as salaries and possibly the league regular season schedule expand.
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Bazzell said they “don’t believe that future is near” and are spending their time on making sure players have the right resources while they make the “business decisions” about where to play.
“We continue to really be adamant that we’re providing the best spot for all the best players, and as long as we do that, inevitably, it’s going to solve some of the problems that aren’t in our control,” Bazzell said.
Bazzell, who spoke to reporters alongside commissioner Micky Lawler, said Unrivaled will continue to maintain adaptability in a time when the “whole ecosystem” of women’s basketball “may be different in six months.” The league will continue to maintain an open dialogue with the WNBA and its team owners as Unrivaled continues, he said.
