How Unrivaled Scored an Underdog Win at WNBA All-Star Weekend

During a WNBA All-Star Weekend bookended by labor talks and player protest, Unrivaled Basketball emerged a major winner.

Unrivaled finished its inaugural 3-on-3 season earlier this year in Miami, and, over WNBA All-Star Weekend, set up a space at 416 Wabash Street in Indianapolis to bring some of its energy to fans who couldn’t make the trip south for games. Unrivaled made an appearance at WNBA All-Star last year in Phoenix during Fenty Beauty’s “Ladies Night” event, but chief brand officer Kirby Porter said the league had to think bigger this time around.

“Heading into this year, thinking about our off season, one of the key tentpoles was showing up in this moment to reach more fans,” Porter said. “What we do in-season is very intimate in terms of the capacity—a good percentage of our fans travel in for games—but how do we bring the Unrivaled experience to those that maybe were not able to go or want to experience it more?”

The answer was to show fans their league through its players’ perspectives. Presented by Sephora, Unrivaled gave fans a peek at a player’s life inside a replica of their Miami facility. League sponsor State Farm set up a “general manager’s office” at the entrance and had fans determine what team they’d play with. 

Ally set up locker rooms where guides, including Unrivaled founders Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, showed them team-specific uniforms and shoes. After spending a season with its brand on the front of Unrivaled’s team jerseys, Ally was more than willing to follow the league to the biggest event in the WNBA—where Ally is also a sponsor.

Meanwhile, Samsung let fans take media day photos, with Sephora providing glam stations and a full tunnel walk to a replica of Unrivaled’s court, where players made appearances throughout the weekend. And for fans looking to get closer to the action, Under Armour provided a full store of Unrivaled merchandise.

For two days, Unrivaled gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at its operations, introduced them to brands and players, and brought them as close to the game day experience as they could without stepping on WNBA All-Star activities. While recognizing shared interests with the WNBA, Unrivaled and its partners offered options for advancing women’s basketball.

“They built a blueprint that made a lot of sense for what the fans are eager to get,” said Stephanie Marciano, Ally’s head of sports and entertainment marketing. “It’s that access. It’s that player proximity, and we wanted to wrap ourselves around all of that.”

Jason Notte/ADWEEK

Putting up numbers

Fans packed into Unrivaled’s space on a somewhat sultry July 18 opening day to get team patches on Sephora belt bags, join a Samsung shooting competition on the court, meet multiple players, and watch later that night as the WNBA Skills Competition and 3-Point Contest were swept by Unrivaled roster members Natasha Cloud and Sabrina Ionescu. Even without hometown favorite Caitlin Clark, who sat out the 3-Point Contest with an injury, the Unrivaled-led WNBA All-Star Skills Competition and 3-Point Contest drew 1.3 million viewers for ESPN—up 89% from 2024 and the most-watched Skills Competition and 3-Point Contest ever.

The following day, Unrivaled and Samsung Galaxy invited Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo, LSU standout and hip-hop artist Flau’Jae Johnson, and the University of Connecticut’s Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd to announce the signings for 14 collegiate players to name, image, and likeness rights (NIL) deals. Hidalgo, Johnson, Strong, and Fudd will be joined by Lauren and Sienna Betts (UCLA), Madison Booker (Texas), Audi Crooks (Iowa State), MiLaysia Fulwiley (LSU), Ta’Niya Latson (South Carolina), Olivia Miles (TCU), Kiki Rice (UCLA), Syla Swords (Michigan), and JuJu Watkins (USC)—the latter of whom invested in Unrivaled during its first round of funding.

“You want to work with good people, and you want to understand what the other person is looking for,” said Alex Bazzell, co-founder of Unrivaled and NBA and WNBA skills coach. “Being able to do a NIL partnership early and get them to understand what Unrivaled is, what the mission is, what we’re trying to do to help build and elevate their brand—we build more alignment from an earlier age, rather than waiting when it’s time to sign to play in the league.”

Jason Notte/ADWEEK

Aiming for the future

The NIL program builds on the deals Unrivaled extended last year to both Johnson and UConn’s Paige Bueckers—who just played in her first All-Star Game as a rookie with the Dallas Wings. This year’s athletes will take part in a multi-day summit at Unrivaled headquarters in Miami with skill development activities, content and merchandise shoots, group sessions, and more. 

“This first-ever NIL Summit is a bold step forward for women’s sports, and we’re proud to power it with Galaxy mobile technology,” said Olga Suvorova, vp of mobile experience marketing at Samsung Electronics America. “This partnership reflects our commitment to innovation, equity, and shaping the future of women’s sports.”

A few hours after Unrivaled’s “The Future is Unrivaled” NIL announcement, the WNBA All-Star game began at Gainbridge Fieldhouse—about 10 blocks south of the Unrivaled space—with players wearing union-sponsored “Pay Us What You Owe Us” black shirts in reaction to unsatisfying talks with the league that kicked off All-Star Weekend on Thursday. Seeking a higher percentage of revenue and better working conditions, the players were led by their union’s seven-player executive committee—which includes Stewart and Collier as vice presidents.

After Collier scored a WNBA All-Star Game-record 36 points and accepted the MVP trophy in front of a crowd chanting “pay them,” she addressed reporters about the concessions she and her fellow players were fighting for. 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 spent its time in Indianapolis convincing WNBA fans—if not the league itself—that a bit more is possible.

“We want people to understand that basically we get a very tiny percentage of all the money that’s made through the WNBA,” Collier said. “[It’s] made through the entertainment we provide, so we want a fair and reasonable percentage of that.”