Unrivaled Women's Basketball League Details and Broadcast Deal Revealed
Ever since it was announced earlier this year, anticipation has been building for the new Unrivaled Women's 3x3 Basketball League.
New York Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart (who is the co-founder of Unrivaled, along with Minnesota Lynx superstar Napheesa Collier) made a May 30 appearance on "Good Morning America" to provide some details about the new league.
“It is going to be the top 30 athletes, where we will play 3 on 3, 1 on 1, and just be home,” is among what Stewart said. It was also announced that the league would be taking place in Miami, and start in January 2025.
However, there were still some questions to be asked and answered about this new league after it was announced. It was initially unclear which players will be participating (we have since learned who 26 of the 30 players are), when exactly the league will start, and whether a media/broadcast deal will be in store.
Additional light has now been shed on these questions, as part of an October 16 media release from TNT Sports/Warner Brothers.
"TNT Sports and professional women’s basketball league Unrivaled have reached a multi-year media rights partnership to exclusively present live game coverage on TNT and truTV – along with all games being streamed on Max – beginning with the league’s inaugural season," the media release wrote.
"The agreement will feature more than 45 primetime regular season matchups three nights a week across TNT Sports platforms, with twice-weekly games on TNT as the lead network on Mondays and Fridays and additional broadcasts on truTV on Saturdays. Unrivaled live game action will tip off January 17, 2025."
Also of note within the release is that TNT Sports will become an equity partner with the league, and have agreed to invest an undisclosed amount of money into Unrivaled.
BREAKING:
— Meghan L. Hall (@ItsMeghanLHall) October 16, 2024
TNT Sports announces a multi-year media rights deal with @Unrivaledwbb to exclusively present live games.
— 45 matchups, 3 nights a week (MON/FRI on TNT & SAT on TruTV)
— TNT will also invest an undisclosed amount in new league
Unrivaled tips off January 17, 2025.
The fact that Unrivaled struck a broadcast deal with TNT is massive news and bodes extremely well for the new league. Also, fans having a precise date of January 17 is another cause for excitement.
X user Vanshay Murdock also posted a photo of what the Unrivaled court will look like.
A look at the new Unrivaled basketball court via TNT Sports 🤩 https://t.co/Gg7Wu9AYlp pic.twitter.com/mPF0NlyDMw
— Vanshay Murdock 🎥🎥 (@VanshayM) October 16, 2024
This exciting news is yet another example of women's basketball's massive growth of late — and conveys that this boom is not going away anytime soon.
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.