How TNT Sports and Unrivaled plan to continue new league’s momentum

As part of the agreement, select games will be streamed exclusively on TNT Sports and truTV, and every game will be available to watch as a replay on Max. There will be 45 primetime games with three per week featured on TNT Sports networks and two primetime games on TNT Sports itself, scheduled for Mondays and Fridays. Saturday games will be broadcast on truTV.

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The Unrivaled 3×3 league, founded by WNBA All-Stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, will tip-off in Miami this upcoming January. The league will feature 30 of the sport’s best athletes, competing in six teams for a compressed, full-court style of play.

Stewart and Collier are facing one another in the WNBA Finals, and while Stewart laughed at the idea that the two would have discussed the nascent league while facing off in the WNBA’s best-of-five, she is eager to return to it once the festivities are over.

“We’ll talk about it after, but I think that it’s great for us to continue to make sure that we build momentum,” Stewart said at shootaround in Minneapolis ahead of Wednesday night’s Game 3. “You know, the league is finishing this week, which is crazy to say, but know that we have another league starting in January, where people will be able to continue to follow W players.”

TNT Sports also gains equity partnership in the Unrivaled league as part of the deal, and has agreed to invest an undisclosed amount of money into the league.

Along with broadcast rights, Unrivaled highlights and content will be featured on TNT networks such as Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, HighlightHER and more.

“Our TNT Sports portfolio centers on premium live sports and our media and equity partnership with Unrivaled deepens our commitment to further expanding the depth of top-tier women’s sports programming we offer our fans and presents an opportunity for us to shape and amplify the continued growth of women’s basketball,” said Luis Silberwasser, Chairman & CEO, TNT Sports.

Another unique feature Unrivaled added to player contracts is inaugural season equity opportunities, giving players continued investment into the league’s success. The league also boasts the highest salaries in women’s professional sports history. Even Paige Beuckers, who is still in college, has signed on as a founding equity member, with the opportunity to play in the league after college.

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Unrivaled also provides an opportunity for players to stay in the United States during the offseason, a growing trend within the sport. While the norm in past years was for most players to go overseas to Europe, Asia, and Australia for the offseason, many players are taking advantage of opportunities to stay in the USA for this time. With leagues like Athletes Unlimited and Unrivaled around, more players are getting the chance to have more freedom in their offseason plans.

The league continues its rollout of player announcements, but this media rights deal is a big step in the accessibility of the league for fans. With the WNBA finals currently breaking viewership records with 1 million+ viewers, making sure this new league is available for fans to watch at home is crucial to its success and growth.

Howard Megdal contributed reporting to this story.