Why Unrivaled Couldn’t Sell Player Merch—Until Now

Unrivaled took a major business step forward Thursday.

The new 3-on-3 women’s basketball league announced a licensing deal with the WNBA players’ union and the licensing arm that handles group deals with most major pro sports leagues. The deal sells the new league player licensing rights that previously were solely held by the WNBPA. The new rights gives the league the lucrative option of marketing the NIL (name, image, and likeness) of its players. 

Unrivaled doesn’t have city-specific teams, which means fans gravitate toward their favorite players to find their basketball club of choice. But without group licensing rights, Unrivaled hasn’t been able to profit from its greatest marketing tool—its own individual players. Until this deal, the league was not able to manufacture Angel Reese Rose jerseys or Breanna Stewart Mist jerseys, for example. But online and in person, Unrivaled’s apparel store doesn’t feature any jerseys from league partner Under Armour. The only player-specific item for sale is a T-shirt celebrating Collier’s win in the one-on-one tournament. (The shirt was listed after the group licensing deal was signed but before Thursday’s announcement.)

Now that Unrivaled has the new deal, the new league can start selling player products. Jerseys with names on the back is one example. Another is the league’s new partnership with The Realest, a sports collectibles authenticator that will help Unrivaled sell game-used memorabilia, which the league also announced Thursday.

“We wouldn’t be able to do those things without it,” Bazzell says of the new group licensing agreement.

Terri Jackson of the WNBPA tells FOS that when she was first hired by the union in 2016, retiring players like Tamika Catchings and Swin Cash asked her to prioritize and do more with the group licensing rights. She sees the Unrivaled deal as an extension of that ask, she says.

“This is a sign of the players’ association’s responsibility to its players, to its members to monetize the rights fully,” Jackson says. “ Their group rights don’t need to be limited to WNBA-only associated products.”

Stewart and Collier, who founded Unrivaled together, are both vice presidents of the WNBPA. The players’ association is currently busy negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the WNBA, one that’s highly anticipated given the new $2.2 billion media-rights agreement. 

Unrivaled has also put pressure on the WNBA to establish league-wide standards for facilities, because players have raved from Miami about everything from facials and massages to childcare. “I think Unrivaled shows us another layer of innovation,” Jackson told FOS last month. The current CBA expires at the end of the 2025 season.