During a rainy Saturday on All-Star Weekend, Aflac and media and commerce company Togethxr hosted a panel at Indianapolis venue The Cabaret featuring WNBA players Sydney Colson, Rickea Jackson, and Kate Martin, as well as University of South Carolina coach and Aflac endorser Dawn Staley. Nearly an hour before the show, with fans lined up down the block, Knutson went outside and handed out plush Aflac ducks wearing Togethxr “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” shirts.
That weekend, he also accompanied Staley to a panel hosted by Deloitte that included rapper and actor Common. Amid both panels in rooms filled to capacity, Knutson saw Aflac’s relationship with Staley clearly defined: Not making a statement, but amplifying hers. He sees a similar relationship with the WNBPA, where Aflac is amplifying its point about supplementing income while not dismissing the idea of one day working with both the union and the WNBA—as has long been the case for sponsors in other leagues.
“This idea of doing sponsorships with the players’ union, I would be surprised that that isn’t something that continues to grow. The entry point is lower. It also gives you a special kind of influence on the influencers,” Knutson said. “What I would love to be able to do is, if we’re speaking 18 months or 36 months from now, tell you about how we’re coming on as a new, official partner of the W.”
An Unrivaled opportunity
Ally Financial became the WNBA’s official banking sponsor and Changemaker investor this year after sponsoring the league’s Las Vegas Aces in 2024. At this year’s WNBA All-Star, it set up an arcade at WNBA Live with game debit cards featuring its athlete ambassadors (Breanna Stewart, Sydney Colson, and Paige Bueckers), gave 1,500 fans complimentary League Pass subscriptions, and put its logo on the Gainbridge Fieldhouse court and beneath the rims, among other activations.
However, the company’s support for the athletes is going beyond the league.
The financial company also served as a founding sponsor of the Unrivaled 3-on-3 women’s basketball league in Miami and had its logo on portions of that league’s activation at WNBA All-Star. While the average $220,000 salary paid to Unrivaled’s 36 players by sponsors, broadcasters, and investors is more than double the WNBA average ($102,000)—and Unrivaled founders Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart also serve as members of the WNBPA executive committee—Unrivaled plays a winter schedule that doesn’t conflict with the WNBA’s and has been viewed as generally additive for the sport.
