Unrivaled CEO Reveals Why WNBA Stars Are Flocking To The ‘Safest League’ In Basketball
· Yahoo Sports
Every WNBA offseason used to mean one thing for the league’s biggest names: hopping a flight overseas, grinding through unfamiliar gyms, and hoping the body held up before training camp. That routine is losing its grip fast.
Unrivaled CEO Alex Bazzell made the case for why in blunt terms, telling Front Office Sports that his 3-on-3 startup is now the single safest league in women’s basketball to play in anywhere on the planet.
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“There’s a lot of data around our players and the wear and tear,” Bazzell said. “It’s the safest league right now to play in compared to other leagues.”
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That claim isn’t just marketing. Bazzell backed it with a number that should worry every overseas offseason league still trying to poach WNBA talent: 38% of Unrivaled’s players are putting up career-high scoring averages back in the WNBA this season, a stat he credits directly to how the league trains its athletes rather than simply running them into the ground.
“Come in, get better every day, compete against the best, make great money,” Bazzell said, describing the environment he believes separates Unrivaled from the pack.
Money is only part of the pitch, though. Unrivaled built its entire model around player ownership, and that structure now carries real weight. The league’s Series C round pushed its valuation to $650 million, trailing only the Golden State Valkyries among every operation in women’s basketball, WNBA franchises included. Players collectively hold roughly 30% of that total, a pool now worth close to $200 million and growing fast.
“Enjoy the upside of your equity in the league and get the exposure that you want as well,” Bazzell said, tying the financial incentive directly to why stars keep signing multi-year deals instead of testing the free market elsewhere.
The League Is About To Get A Lot Bigger And A Lot Louder After Unrivaled CEO Comments
Unrivaled isn’t staying put in Miami to prove its point. The league confirmed plans to quadruple its road schedule for the 2027 season after sellout runs in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, the latter setting a women’s basketball attendance record at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Co-founder Breanna Stewart has already teased that one of those road stops will repeat from last year, with three brand new markets joining the tour.
“I’m a big believer in staying ahead of the curve, staying aggressive, and nothing is off the table,” Bazzell said. “Whether that’s format, cities, where we go next, or who we sign.”
The roster backs up that ambition. Unrivaled enters its third season with 48 players across eight teams, adding names like Gabby Williams, Olivia Miles and Flau’jae Johnson to a returning core that includes Aliyah Boston and Paige Bueckers. Notably, Bueckers also trained with Kevin Durant with the help of Bazzell. Stewart and Napheesa Collier remain at the center of it, both as players and as the architects of a business model that WNBA franchises are now watching closely.
Not everyone is convinced the format alone explains the pull. Bazzell’s safety pitch lands especially hard against the backdrop of a new rival, Project B, a 5-on-5 international league that has already signed Nneka Ogwumike, Jonquel Jones and Sophie Cunningham for a January 2027 launch. Unrivaled’s answer to that competition isn’t just equity or exposure. It’s a direct claim that players who choose them stay healthier and get better, a pitch no rival league has matched yet.