Inside Unrivaled’s Explosive Opening Night

MEDLEY, Fla. — On a rainy night in South Florida, women’s basketball took a mesmerizing step forward.

The new 3-on-3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled tipped off its eight-week inaugural season Friday night with two games airing on TNT. For all the talk from players about how fast-paced the games would be, it was almost unbelievable how quickly the ball moved from one end of the shortened court to the other. The players—who all have equity in the league—took the game as seriously as any WNBA championship.

“ I think the fact that it’s player-owned is really important for this moment in terms of labor,” fan Tiffany Dockery tells Front Office Sports. “They can create more of their own destiny. I think that’s so exciting.”

The fan experience began outside with an outdoor entry tunnel spotted with activations, photo-ops, a carnival-style basketball shooting game, and dining areas. On a wall where fans could fill in the blank for the phrases “____ is Unrivaled,” fans wrote in: “queer,” “investment,” “equity,” “growth,” “iconic,” and “gettin’ that bag $$.” Fans then continued inside to a merchandise area, a concessions stand (in Miami fashion, coconut water is available for $10), and the entrance to the show court.

The tiny, 850-capacity arena had all the pomp and circumstance of a professional game. Each player received a personal introduction and walk-out moment before the game touting their career accolades (which interestingly mostly avoided the term “WNBA”). The All-Star lineups one after another after another felt something akin to a greatest hits record. 

During the game, the big screens aired players’ tunnel walks from earlier in the evening, and the in-game entertainment leaned into the league’s signature social media hints by bringing a fan onto the court to guess the player from a photo of mountains and trees.

Unrivaled’s cofounders faced off in the first matchup, with Breanna Stewart and her Mist Basketball Club against Napheesa Collier and her Lunar Owls Basketball Club. The league doesn’t run a clock in the fourth quarter, but instead adds 11 points to the leading team’s (Mist’s) score at the end of the third, making 84 the score to win. The Lunar Owls clawed back, and Skylar Diggins-Smith hit a three-pointer to win the league’s first game. 

The intensity of the physical game was palpable through arguments with the refs, hard hits to the floor, and an athletic leap over a row of courtside chairs by the Mist’s DiJonai Carrington. (It was reminiscent of the WNBA’s notably competitive All-Star game this season, as opposed to other leagues that take superstar matchups less seriously.)

“We want to compete,” Jewell Loyd of the Mist said after the game. “We want to make sure that we always have the best product on the court at all times, and that’s the standard that we have.”

The second game between Vinyl and Rose Basketball Clubs included stars Angel Reese, Arike Ogunbowale, Chelsea Gray, and Aliyah Boston. Coach Teresa Weatherspoon’s Vinyl came up with the victory with the game-winning score of 79 points. Rose and Lunar Owls return to play each other Saturday after the Laces and Phantom make their debuts at 2 p.m. ET on truTV.

“ Having back-to-backs that we’re going to have, you have to take care of your body, and that’s why we wanted the best of the best for recovery and everything that we need in that area,” Collier said after the game. “I think the training room is going to be a hot place to be for this season.”

The first night of a brand new league was unsurprisingly not without its logistical kinks. The entrance to the parking lot was blocked off for rideshare, meaning fans had to walk some distance through the rain to get to the venue. Once they were inside, the merchandise only had one check-out station, and the show court only had one entrance, leading to long lines for both. And the only public restrooms for fans were located in outdoor trailers that weren’t covered from the elements, producing an unfortunate combination of wet floors and no purse hooks.

But if long lines and wet bathrooms are Unrivaled’s biggest logistical problems, the league is doing well for itself. FOS spoke with fans who traveled from Los Angeles, Minnesota, and New York, who said they paid $240, around $65, and about $400 for tickets, respectively.

“You have to support the things you want in the world,” says Dockery, the fan. “And I feel like if we want more women in power, we have to support women taking the risks and investing in themselves.”

A contingent of women’s soccer stars was in the building, including investor Alex Morgan, Kelley O’Hara, and Tobin Heath as well as WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson and president Nneka Ogwumike. NBA legend Steve Nash, also an investor, sat courtside along the baseline.

The league’s abundance of cash was tangible throughout the evening. Logos of sponsoring companies Samsung, Miller Lite, Sprite, State Farm, Wayfair, and Sephora covered the court and basket. The makeup company was the most visible of the partners, with its signature black-and-white stripes covering the arms of the officials, chairs in its sponsored baseline suite, and “Sephora Sounds” DJ booth in the corner of the arena (though those stripes were Unrivaled’s signature purple).

“It’s nicer than the Target Center where the Lynx play,” Minnesota native Samantha Gilitiuk tells FOS. “I’m really impressed with how much they’ve invested into this league. This is what we need for women’s sports.”