Inside an old television studio, on an industrial park a few miles from Miami's international airport, an enthralling new show will premiere on Friday. It is opening night for the Unrivaled women's professional basketball league, a production almost two years in the making that is poised to revolutionize the sport.
Unrivaled brings together 36 of the best players from the WNBA for a two-month season inside the newly converted building. Six clubs will play each other three-on-three in a round-robin format on a two-thirds sized court over the next nine weeks, until playoffs and a championship game on 17 March. A three-day, one-on-one "Queen of the Court" tournament takes place next month.
Related: Breanna Stewart has won everything. What does she do next?
As well as an unprecedented concept on the court, it is the energy and enthusiasm of Unrivaled's wider operation that have appealed to the superstar names . They include Brittney Griner , Angel Reese , Alyssa Thomas , Jewell Loyd and Sabrina Ionescu , who are all eager to spend their winter balling in south Florida rather than outposts in Europe, Asia or Australia.
For starters, everybody is in the same place, playing and learning from each other, instead of dispersing for offseason, individual overseas assignments. The league has rented exclusive accommodation in Miami that allows players' families to live with them, removing the isolation many of the athletes say they experience abroad.
Then there is the investment that Unrivaled's founders, WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier , and other executives, have been able to attract. Michael Phelps, Coco Gauff , Carmelo Anthony and Alex Morgan are among athlete investors, along with businesses and other organizations, who have ponied up a combined $35m to fund the league's debut season.
Concurrently, an impressive array of corporate sponsors are on board, from Samsung and Wayfair in signature roles; to equipment suppliers such as Wilson and Under Armour; TNT Sports, which will broadcast games live; official "beer partner" Miller Lite; and Sephora, whose cosmetics adorn the fashion-conscious players' "glam room".
As a result, the cavernous, once nondescript television studio has transformed since November into a state-of-the-art, all-encompassing facility, with everything the players may need in-house. There is a fully equipped weights room, a spa and sauna, luxurious club rooms themed for each of the six "clubs", and a chef preparing meals to order. For mothers, there is a nursery and nursing room.
And, aware of the importance of branding to the players individually, and the league as a whole, there are three technology-rich media studios. They will host postgame press conferences and other events, and their facilities will be available at all times for players looking to enhance their social media presence.
Of most consequence, however, is the groundbreaking arrangement by which players receive part-ownership of the league, through equity in revenue, in return for their commitment. That's in addition to salaries averaging $240,000, significantly higher than the average WNBA contract.
"It's everything," said Griner, the Phoenix Mercury center who will play for the Phantom Basketball Club during the Unrivaled season, alongside fellow Olympic gold medalist Ionescu of the New York Liberty .
"They're bringing something new to women's basketball. They're making it exciting. They're doing something different. They're trying to give us a different look and a different feel on how we can bring everybody together in one spot, and have it run in a way where it's beneficial for us, on the court and off the court," Griner said. "They're really pouring in a lot, and that's what kind of excited me the most, to be honest. I just had to be a part of this."
The league's commissioner is Micky Lawler, president of the Women's Tennis Association from 2015 to 2023, who said she joined Unrivaled because of its commitment to improving compensation for female players while they stay "home" in the US for the off-season, and benefit from the greater exposure for themselves and the sport they play.
"It's transferring ownership to those who create the value," Lawler said. "This is a clean, blank slate for women's basketball, and for the players to make their dreams come true."
Lawler's extensive experience meshes with that of renowned basketball skills coach Alex Bazzell, Unrivaled's president (and Collier's husband); and Luke Cooper, the president of basketball operations. The pair bring significant business acumen, but Cooper credits Collier and Stewart, whom he said took "a massive risk" on Unrivaled, as the engine of the operation.
"You can have all the ideas in the world, but having that buy-in from Phee and Stewie makes it what it is," he said. "Our north star every day has been, 'How can we make it better for the players?' It's always, 'How do we do more? What's next?'"
Longer-term plans include expanding the number of clubs and players, and possibly playing games in different cities, although Cooper says no decisions will be made until the league's inaugural season has been assessed after the final game.
Even so, Unrivaled can already consider itself a success. Tickets in the 850-seat arena, where the most distant seat is 32ft from the court, are sold out for almost every game until the round-robin season ends on 10 March. There will be two games per night on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, and a championship double-header on 16 and 17 March, for which tickets are not yet on sale.
More immediately, Collier said, Unrivaled's existence will have an impact on the WNBA, known to the players as the W, even though she insists it was set up to complement that league, not to challenge it.
"We're in a negotiating year," she said. "[Unrivaled] wasn't intentional for the collective bargaining agreement but I do think it's going to be really beneficial for the CBA. Making this the best player experience we possibly can, we want to bring those things to the W as well. A high tide floats all boats."
Griner said she saw similar potential.
"Unrivaled is showing that you don't need a lot of time to pull resources together to be able to put a good product out there," she said. "Being happy with what we just already have is not gonna fly here. I think that's what's gonna help the W. Hopefully it helps the W push forward, bringing in more viewership, bringing in more partners. There's definitely different partners here that's not a part of the W so hopefully they can reach into that. Because now the door is open, it's definitely going to put pressure on the league to do better, in my opinion."
