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Former WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike announced she is joining Project B, a women’s basketball startup league founded by former Facebook executive Grady Burnett and Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice. The 10-time WNBA All-Star is the first player to announce signing with league, which is expected to begin in Europe, Asia and the Americas in November 2026.
Project B players, in addition to salary, will get an equity stake in the league. The league will have six teams with 11 players each and promises to have salaries larger than in the WNBA ($102,249 per season) or Unrivaled ($220,000 per season). Front Office Sports reported that player deals will reach seven-figures and start at $2 million annually.
Project B plans to stream games and have them played on a traveling circuit like auto racing, golf and tennis.
“We want premiere cities and our goal is to create an F1-style TV event,” Alana Beard, Project B’s chief basketball officer, told the Associated Press. “There’s a tournament in each city and at the end of each tournament there is going to be a champion and that all leads up to us potentially crowning the champion of the world.”
Other investors in Project B include former WNBA MVP Candace Parker, tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Sloane Stephens and NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young. Sela, owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is one of the league’s future partners.
WOMEN’S SPORTS: The latest news and insider insights from USA TODAY Studio IX.
Ogwumike, the president of the WNBPA, is helping the players’ union negotiate a new CBA with the WNBA. The players have said they would like a safer game and better facilities, but the major sticking point has been compensation and revenue sharing. The CBA was set to expire on Oct. 31, but both sides agreed to a 30-day extension last week.
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