Building a Game-Changing League for Women's Sports

Women’s basketball is booming. It’s already a top-four sport in the US, the world's biggest sports media market. But now it seems like it’s reaching completely new levels. Unrivaled is redefining what modern sports properties can look like. Backed by some of the biggest stars in women's basketball, the league went from zero to a $340 million valuation in just one season. All while setting salary records, selling out arenas and introducing player equity. Matt Drew, Chief Revenue Officer of Unrivaled, talked about the foundational steps that they took and explained the decisions and rules they went by as they try to build a women's sports powerhouse fit for the modern era. These are his best GMPLN-Quotes.

For Matt Drew, a lot of the success of Unrivaled started by focusing on the fundamentals. For him, "it's all about building the right foundations. Make the key decisions in the right way early. Figure out what your rules for success are going to be and then build a system that helps to convert it. If you don't do that, it stays as just a hype.” One of the first things Drew and his team noticed early was that the market was kind of misunderstood: severely underfunded, underinvested and much more popular than people realized.

That insight would later turn into rule number one: build a business around a sport people genuinely care about. But what truly drives that care? As it turns out, in the case of women’s basketball, it’s not the teams, but the players. Unlike traditional leagues, where teams dominate fan attention, women’s basketball flips the model. Fans follow individuals and there is not a single team with more followers than its particular star player. Players are the marketable force that is driving the growth behind the game. Therefore Unrivaled built its entire product around them. The league shines a light on the players, on and off the court. And personality, storytelling, and accessibility became core features. 

The second foundational decision was structural. Drew and his team didn’t just want to build a new league. They wanted players to have ownership. By providing equity in the league alongside high base salaries that are in line with WNBA average salaries under the new CBA - for just two months of play - it incentivizes players to act as owners, directly boosting the league's value, promoting the brand, and encouraging retention. The results are engagement levels and player compensation that most leagues can’t replicate.

The third decision Unrivaled made was about the identity of the league. Drew said that they “wanted something that could live beyond the game and could exist off the court. In culture, in lifestyle.” So Unrivaled became a content engine. Constantly activating audiences through player-driven storytelling and off-court relevance.

Finally, the league thought about its commercial model. They were not interested in playing 60 games a season. Instead, Drew explained, the goal was to build something premium. So they decided to establish a condensed format with a concentrated talent pool of only the best players.

What’s crucial here is that the league does not aim to compete with established structures like the WNBA. Instead, it differentiates itself by featuring alternative formats such as 3x3 and even 1-on-1 competitions. But what’s even more important is the fact that Unrivaled builds their schedule to complement the WNBA calendar, with the seasons running during the WNBA offseason, typically between January and March. This turned out to be a wise business decision that also helped to reduce public skepticism. 

For now, Unrivaled is making big waves. Revenue has surged, ticketing is up over 230%, and fan engagement continues to grow organically. But looking ahead, the ambition is even bigger.