🏟️ Unrivaled's Historic Season For Women's Basketball

Happy March Madness and welcome to this week’s edition of Sports Industry Weekly as we share insights from the top business headlines from across the sports industry!

Unrivaled’s Debut Season Changes the Game

It’s been just eight weeks since Unrivaled tipped off, and the league has already made history in women’s basketball.

Co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, the 3-on-3 league provided WNBA players with a high-paying offseason alternative, averaging $220K salaries and providing equity stake in the league.

Unrivaled’s impact in women’s basketball is already undeniable:

📺 Record-Breaking Viewership – More than 11.9 million viewers tuned in across TNT, truTV, and Max, delivering the 10 most-watched women’s basketball games ever on TNT Sports’ networks.

💰 Game-Changing Compensation – Players earned over $8.65 million in total compensation, including their salary pool, the one-on-one tournament prize, and the championship-winning Rose squad players, who took home $50,000 each.

🎟️ Sold-Out Crowds – Every game at Wayfair Arena was a sellout, with total season ticket sales surpassing $1M in revenue.

🏀 Big-Name Backing – Unrivaled secured $35M in funding from investors including Stephen Curry, Dawn Staley, and Geno Auriemma.

📲 Massive Social Growth – The league hit 730K+ total followers across all social media platforms, and Unrivaled players collectively gained 1M+ new fans this season.

💥 Major Brand Partnerships – More than 20 corporate brands partnered with and supported the league by providing content, experiences, and products, including Under Armour, DraftKings, Miller Lite, Ally Bank, Sprite, Wilson, and more.

🔥 Merch Mania – Unrivaled’s debut season saw over $1 million in merchandise sales, including the signing of a licensing deal with WNBPA.

The league has established a lasting business model for women’s basketball, and we’re already excited to see how they continue to build and grow headed into Season Two.

☘️ Bill Chisholm, the managing partner at Symphony Technology Group, is set to acquire the Boston Celtics from the Grousbeck family for an record $6.1 billion. This transaction marks one of the most significant franchise sales in North American sports history, exceeding the $6.05 billion sale of the Washington Commanders in 2023.

🏆 The WNBA, COSM, and MLB are among the top 10 most innovative sports companies of 2025, according to Fast Company’s latest sports industry breakdown.

🏈 Saquon Barkley’s company, SRQB LLC, filed a trademark for his reverse jump silhouette, allowing its use on future goods and services, including cups, mugs, clothing, and headwear.

🎙️ Chiney Ogwumike had a great week as she announced a new WNBA scripted comedy series, “The W,” on Peacock and a new YouTube series with Uninterrupted, “C-Suite Ballers,” where she shares the stories of the most influential women in sports.

👟 Nike, Inc dominates the Men’s March Madness sneaker sponsorships in 2025, with a total of 41 of the 68 competing teams signed to Nike or Jordan Brand. The rest of the list includes Under Armour (14 teams), adidas (12 teams) and New Balance (1 team).

🏀 AT&T gave basketball fans an epic BFF reunion commercial with the "Nova Knicks" spot that premiered ahead of the start of March Madness, starring Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo.

⚾️ Apple TV+ is releasing a new documentary, "Fight For Glory: 2024 World Series," on March 28th. It follows the 2024 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees, providing behind-the-scenes access to the players, managers, and their families.

🏀 Five WNBA teams (Aces, Mystics, Sky, Sun, and Wings) have already announced relocation venues for their home games against the Indiana Fever in anticipation of larger crowds for Caitlin Clark in the upcoming 2025 season.

🌹 MLB Opening Day is less than one week away, with teams already beginning to announce their Opening Day guest pitchers. Derrick Rose will be throwing out the first pitch for the White Sox, as the city of Chicago continues its celebration for their city’s favorite hoops star.

⚽️ A new NWSL team in Denver is set to kick off in the 2026 season, with plans for a state-of-the-art 14,500-seat stadium slated to open in 2028.