Unrivaled is a 3×3 league run by players for players. It was founded by Nephessa Collier, forward for the Lunar Owls BC, and Breanna Stewart, forward for the Mist BC, in 2023. They have created a business model that is extremely attractive for players.
Before Unrivaled was created, the only option for WNBA players to make money in the off-season was by playing overseas, which took them away from their families and proved to be taxing. The turnaround between the overseas season back to the WNBA season is very quick. Collier and Stewart created a league that took place in a singular location: Miami, Florida. It only takes place between January and March, giving players enough time to rest before WNBA training camp in April.
“Unrivaled showed that it’s possible,” says Collier. “To do it in a way that creates a sustainable business, I think that we really raised the bar for women’s sports.”
The inaugural season was played in 2025, in which the average salary for a player was $222,222 — already higher than the average salary for the 2025 WNBA season, which sits at $150,000. With salaries projected to continue to grow as the league does, the players will be taken care of.
The salary is not the only thing drawing players to the league. Collier and Stewart created a facility in Miami that is not just an arena to play at but an all-inclusive facility that has a weight room, saunas, cold plunges, customized locker rooms, child care, and much more.
“Just being here has been a great experience,” Satou Sabally, forward for the Phantom BC, said. “This is up to our standards that we expect and deserve. It’s really great to operate in a room where everything is functioning on a high-performance level.”
The league has already seen tremendous growth from the inaugural season to the 2026 season. They added two brand new clubs, Hive BC and Breeze BC. They also created a development pool of six players in order to make it easier for them to find players to replace those who get injured, while also allowing the developmental players to improve their skills.
Not to mention the revenue growth. With the league being valued at $95 million in September 2024, it has now grown to a value of $340 million in September 2025.
Unrivaled is also ensuring its long-term growth by signing 14 of the most elite college players to NIL deals as part of “The Future is Unrivaled Class of 2025,” which includes big-time players such as Lauren Betts, Audi Crooks, Azzi Fudd, and many more. This program included “The Future is Unrivaled Summit,” in which the 14 college players traveled to Miami to participate in media shoots, skill development sessions, and more.
“Together with Unrivaled, Samsung is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in sports,” said Olga Suvorova, Vice President, Mobile eXperience Marketing at Samsung Electronics America. “This first-ever NIL Summit is a bold step forward for women’s sports.”
This league could not have come at a better time. The landscape of women’s sports is changing. With its rise in popularity, the players are starting to fight for recognition by their leagues. For example, currently in the WNBA, players are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement that would give them a higher salary and more revenue share. Both Collier and Stewart are part of the players’ association that is fighting for rights in the WNBA.
“Women’s sports is on such a rise, and it feels like everyone is benefiting from that except the women in the sport, and obviously that’s something we’re trying to change and then also create generational wealth for these women,” Collier said.
Unrivaled is taking the women’s sports space by storm by creating a league for the players. Women’s sports as a whole are becoming more popular and recognized, and Unrivaled is a great example of what can happen when investors and players work together to create a space for female athletes to thrive.