The Unrivaled league recorded a massive $18m revenue jump after the Barclays sellout, and the model became a huge success for the WNBA players, too. Co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, the league was originally an opportunity for the athletes to play in the USA during the offseason, but it is now spreading its wings as a full-fledged league
While the WNBA is crying over the losses, given the fact that they have been in the business for three decades now and face huge losses in earlier seasons, the Unrivaled’s rise is certainly a challenge for the league.
The Lynx forward even mentioned that the 3-on-3 league is providing leverage to WNBA players in the CBA negotiations.
Napheesa Collier Gives Unrivaled’s Example For CBA Discussions
The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and players is for the betterment of the league’s working and playing conditions. The league faced huge criticism when it removed a housing facility in one of its proposals. But after the backlash, the WNBA now added the housing facility and even bettered the terms in recent offer.
As for Collier, this is what Unrivaled gave players: leverage and understanding of professional life. In the recent interview, she said, “Everything we are fighting for (in the WNBA) — salary, benefits, equity in the league — at Unrivaled, we have all these things without needing to ask. We want for nothing here. Not only do we meet the minimum standards that we’re begging for in the WNBA, but we exceed them.”
Marina Mabrey on favorite part of Unrivaled
— Moreau Sports Media Prod Co. (@MoreauSportsCo) February 24, 2026
"The way that we’re treated as professionals. They have this amazing facility for us. They have all the resources possible, all the developing coaches are amazing, weight room, weight trainers, nutrition, everything that you could… pic.twitter.com/fGSroQCd1H
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“Players see here what professional life should look like, so it’s really hard, once you’ve been given that, to accept less. It gives us leverage. We don’t have to just accept anything you give us, because if you don’t give us what we’re owed, we have other places we can go,” Collier added.
The former UConn star criticized the league on multiple occasions and is not happy with the leadership in particular. At Unrivaled, though, the player is finding huge success and opened up about it.
Napheesa Collier Reacts To Unrivaled’s Success
The 29-year-old star had been the face of the WNBA franchise and one of the most followed athletes, which brought in a massive fan following to the league. Now, it seems that she is more involved with her Unrivaled venture and proudly spoke about its success.
“It just shows the appetite for women’s basketball,” she said. “In both situations, we had over a year to plan out Philly, but Brooklyn was like two weeks’ notice. And still the fans showed out. It just shows you how much people want to watch this. The product is great, the players are amazing, and the appetite for it is growing at such an exponential rate. There’s room for growth and potential,” the co-owner told the media.
"[Season 2's success] just shows the appetite for women's basketball." – @PHEEsespieces 👏
— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) March 5, 2026
With sold-out arenas in Philly & Brooklyn this season, the co-founder of @Unrivaledwbb expands on why the league is just scratching the surface 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/UXlRx3APdr
Collier and Stewart received special honours for their innovative league and player is happy being associated with the Unrivalled more than the WNBA at the moment.