MIAMI – A new women’s basketball league hoping to redefine the sport for professional female athletes is currently calling South Florida home.

Unrivaled landed in Medley with a ton of hype. Some of the league’s stars weighed in mid-season on how it’s going so far. 

“It’s about an hour and 15 minutes total, and so a lot of fast pace, but I’d say even in these first weeks you’ve been able to just see how competitive it’s been. How everyone wants to win,” Sabrina Ionescu, one of the sport’s biggest stars, said.

The 3-on-3 format appears to be a slam dunk among players. Thirty-six women from the WNBA are in the league’s six clubs, shooting hoops on a major cable television channel several nights a week.

Beyond the hardwood, Unrivaled appears to be unmatched.  

“Like everyone a part of this league right now owns a part of the league, and that hasn’t been done before in women’s basketball and so understanding that,” Ionescu said. 

Unrivaled keeps WNBA players stateside in off season

Unrivaled tipped off in mid-January. The league said along with the equity stake, it offers the highest average salary for players of any professional women’s sports league, at $220,000 it is close to the maximum base salary in the WNBA.

“This paycheck alone for the two and half months, or whatever, is more than my rookie contract,” 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston said.

Boston said the money is good and so is being in elite company. 

“So for me that’s a blessing, you know, having this opportunity because it allows me to keep playing basketball, it allows me to keep growing in my game,” said Boston.

 WNBA players have notoriously played overseas during the off season to make money and stay in shape. It was an issue that came under heavy scrutiny when star Britney Griner was wrongfully detained in Russia while playing for a foreign league. 

Unrivaled keeps athletes in the states. Everything happens at a commercial building at industrial-heavy Medley.  The space was retrofitted to include the court and the long list of amenities.

“You have the top equipment, top recovery equipment, cold tub, hot tub, sauna, you name it, Unrivaled has it,” said Boston.

The league is the brainchild of Olympic gold medalists Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.  Major brands and investors have thrown their support behind the league and now fans are buying in too. The inaugural season is sold out and three million viewers tuned in to watch the first week of games according to the league.   

Unrivaled arrived amid a meteoric rise in women’s sports. 

“Obviously we’re at this tipping point now where we’re getting what we deserve,” Ionescu said.

The one-of-a-kind league, giving players hope this is just the beginning.

 “I think it’s that there is no ceiling, so whatever they want to do, honestly,” said Boston.