Unrivaled charts a new path for women’s basketball

When the New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart takes the court Friday night, she won’t have a thunderous crowd of 19,000 fans behind her, as she often does when she briefs at the Barclays Center.

Instead, she will perform in front of just 850 fans on a soundstage near Miami.

But organizers of Unrivaled, a new 3-on-3 women’s basketball league, expect thousands more to tune in from home, attracted by a condensed format, some of the world’s best players and a designed approach. for television that aims to bring viewers closer to the action.

“The content and the television part is huge for us,” said Napheesa Collier, a Minnesota Lynx forward who founded the league with Stewart. “We want to make it the most interactive, fun and exciting experience possible for people.”

In addition to presenting the game in a digestible format, the league is also firmly focused on its athletes, offering equity stakes, child care, on-site therapeutic services and, for many players, a higher salary. high for the eight weeks of competition than what they were. will do during the five-month Women’s National Basketball Association season.

“Success can be a bunch of different things, but the most important thing is making sure the player experience is the best it can be,” Stewart said. She added: “The red carpet is rolled out. »