Unrivaled Basketball League Reportedly Recruiting Caitlin Clark
The new Unrivaled Women's Basketball League, which is set to debut on January 17, 2025, in Miami, announced through a media release yesterday that they've, "reached a multi-year media rights partnership to exclusively present live game coverage on TNT and truTV... with more than 45 primetime regular season matchups three nights a week across TNT Sports platforms."
This partnership with TNT (and its investment in Unrivaled) is massive, given that it had been unknown where Unrivaled would be broadcast.
However, there's still one snag in Unrivaled's blueprint for success: Indiana Fever sensation Caitlin Clark is, at least right now, not planning to join the league next year.
In the waning moments of the Fever's last game of their WNBA season, ESPN broadcaster Ryan Ruocco said, "We talked to Caitlin Clark earlier today. She said she almost definitely will not play basketball this offseason. So it is likely we will not see her play again until April."
Women's basketball's biggest superstar not planning to play in Unrivaled is a massive blow. However, the league doesn't seem content to let Clark walk away so easily.
An October 17 article from Front Office Sports' Michael Mccarthy reported, "Fresh off agreeing to an inaugural TV deal with TNT Sports, the new league will try to recruit Clark in the coming weeks, sources with knowledge of the strategy tell Front Office Sports."
"The fledgling league didn’t want to rush its approach to the 22-year-old after her rookie season in the WNBA," McCarthy continued. "Instead, the new league wanted to give the Indiana Fever star time to recover and golf in her off-season. But with a national TV contract under its belt, sources say Unrivaled plans to approach Clark sometime in the next several weeks."
“Get ready for the full-court press,” predicted one source in the article.
NEWS: The new "Unrivaled" women's basketball league will try to recruit Caitlin Clark in coming weeks, sources tell @FOS.
— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) October 17, 2024
Read my 'Tuned' In column on the startup hoops league's attempt to lure the biggest TV needle-mover in women's sports.https://t.co/kMdOsO0vFr
It will be fascinating to see whether Unrivaled succeeds in bringing Clark on board as we inch closer to that January 17 start date.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.