Unrivaled reveals ‘door is always open’ for potential league partnership

Unrivaled is getting ready to tip off its second season, but that doesn’t mean the offseason league’s leadership isn’t still on the lookout for new business opportunities that could help it grow. League president Alex Bazzell revealed Monday that the possibility of a partnership with the WNBA is still an idea that Unrivaled is open to exploring.

“We’re not in constant dialogue about that … but as I’ve made very clear, we are open to growing the ecosystem, whichever way that looks like. Nothing is on the table or off the table,” Bazzell said. “I’m not going to speculate what could happen down the road, but everyone knows our door is always open.”

It was previously made public that Unrivaled co-founders Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, who is married to Bazzell, originally offered a small equity share to the WNBA when launching the league to prove the two sides aren’t competing with one another. However, the leadership turned it down because a deal of that nature would’ve violated the W’s rules. But Bazzell believes there are ways to make the partnership work if they were to get a bit creative.

“You even look at the collaboration that is happening in NBA Europe. That was not a formal partnership before,” Bazzell added. “As long as you can look at the space through an innovative lens, anything is doable. Anything is possible.”

Bazzell reiterated that Unrivaled’s ultimate goal isn’t to get in the way of the WNBA’s operations. It aims to complement the league, give its players an offseason domestic playing option, and evolve into a development hub while “growing the ecosystem” of professional women’s basketball as a whole.

“You have to look at the entire space offered as an opportunity,” Bazzell said. “Where women’s basketball is today, and what we have built is so unique, one doesn’t need to exist without the other for either to be successful.”

Unrivaled has been compared to the WNBA more frequently recently as the W goes through its CBA negotiations. Unrivaled has been able to deliver on crucial demands that the WNBA CBA is still fighting to add, such as equity stakes in the league.