{"id":47194,"date":"2025-08-05T14:24:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/47194\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T14:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:24:10","slug":"unrivaled-president-addresses-prospect-of-wnba-schedule-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/47194\/","title":{"rendered":"Unrivaled President Addresses Prospect of WNBA Schedule Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tUnrivaled<\/a>, the women\u2019s 3-on-3 basketball league founded by stars Napheesa Collier<\/a> and Breanna Stewart<\/a>, advertises itself as an additive offseason solution for top players who don\u2019t want to go overseas to supplement their income. Unrivaled\u2019s relationship with the WNBA<\/a> continues to grow more complex<\/a>, though, amid the W\u2019s acrimonious collective bargaining negotiations<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe WNBA\u2019s prioritization rule is a sticking point.<\/p>\n

\n\tSeattle Storm guard Gabby Williams has long been critical of the policy, which under the current CBA<\/a> threatens a full-year suspension for players who fail to report to the start of training camp regardless of commitments elsewhere. Williams recently said the WNBA\u2019s stance puts it in opposition to leagues such as Unrivaled, the winter competition heading into its second season.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnrivaled\u2019s inaugural campaign finished on March 17, while this year\u2019s WNBA training camp began April 27. But those dates are not set in stone going forward. With expansion teams on the way for the WNBA, a longer regular season could come closer to clashing with the 3-on-3 division. The prioritization discussions during recent CBA negotiations has made some players feel like the league is trying to undermine Unrivaled and other alt-leagues.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s a WNBA business decision at the end of the day,\u201d Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell said in a phone interview. \u201cI think it would be pretty short-sighted to move and think that way based on what we\u2019ve done in the ecosystem, and quite honestly, the success we\u2019ve proven in Year 1 alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBazzell\u2019s comments followed Williams suggesting the W doesn\u2019t like Unrivaled while speaking last week on Sarah Spain\u2019s Good Game podcast. The All-Star forward has contemplated not playing in the WNBA if she\u2019s not adequately compensated for the additional games being added in an expanded season.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMaybe I won\u2019t be in the [WNBA] if I get a much better offer from Unrivaled or another team overseas,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI think a lot of players are thinking about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBazzell maintains he\u2019s only had positive conversations with WNBA team owners and league officials about Unrivaled, and he says that any animosity toward his venture would be news to him. \u201cThat\u2019s a question that the WNBA would be a little more equipped to answer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Bazzell does acknowledge the complexities, including team owners\u2019 concerns about players arriving to training camp on time and healthy in April. Unrivaled also provides leverage to the Women\u2019s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) during current labor talks. The basketball executive walks a delicate line as both Unrivaled president and husband to Collier, who serves as both a co-founder and a vice president on the WNBPA\u2019s executive committee.<\/p>\n

\n\tCollier\u2019s double roles have been criticized by some as a conflict of interest, with her and Stewart, also a vice president on executive committee, publicly defending their positions recently. While Collier and Stewart are both in CBA meetings, reviewing proposals from the union and the league, Bazzell said that he has no insight into the negotiations as it is a private matter between parties.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ll certainly know what players are thinking, because I live with one of them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s never been a thought or concern that the WNBA is trying to push us out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe most recent proposals sent to the WNBPA include various labor limitations, according to a source familiar with the ongoing negotiations, most notably requiring players to prioritize the WNBA season, which likely will be extended, even if it overlaps into schedules of alternative leagues or offseason overseas campaigns.<\/p>\n

\n\tWNBA management and labor are grappling over how to distribute a sudden influx of league-wide revenue, with the game surging in popularity and commercial opportunities. Additionally, WNBA team values have exploded, up 180% year-over-year to an average of $269 million in Sportico\u2019s WNBA valuations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the reality is that most teams still lose money, and the losses will likely continue into the next CBA. Owners and other stakeholders want players to be fully committed to the WNBA season to ensure owners can cover the increased expenses\u2014including the charter flight plan that costs $25 million a year\u2014and investments, such as building standalone practice facilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tTeams will get a bump in 2026 from the new TV deals, which are expected to generate an average of $260 million a year, but not all central revenue trickles down to the clubs. NBA owners own 42% of the league, and the 2022 investment consortium owns 16%.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe WNBA did not return requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnrivaled, which plans to increase players\u2019 salaries next season, made its presence known during All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis last month. The league hosted its own pop up filled with various activations while announcing marketing deals with current college stars, including USC\u2019s JuJu Watkins and UCLA\u2019s Lauren Betts.<\/p>\n

\n\tBazzell says he\u2019s focused on building the best business possible, signing players to multi-year deals as he patiently waits to see what happens with labor talks. He\u2019s embracing the uncertainty while Unrivaled tries to future proof itself against any external factors.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe operate based on what the information is today,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense for us to guess how the CBA unfolds. We\u2019re always going to be adaptable to do what we need to do to deliver success.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unrivaled, the women\u2019s 3-on-3 basketball league founded by stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, advertises itself as an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[4657,49,48,4233,729,82,4646,630],"class_list":["post-47194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cba","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-sports","tag-unrivaled","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}