Unrivaled's second season provides key gathering place for WNBA players during CBA negotiations

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MEDLEY, Fla. (AP) — Napheesa Collier sat on the bench at Sephora Arena laughing with Unrivaled teammate Skylar Diggins moments before tipoff between the Lunar Owls and Rose BC.

It was a tiny glimpse of what Unrivaled provided star WNBA players in Year 1: high-level competition and camaraderie while offering an arena for players to sharpen their skills ahead of the WNBA season.

Now, at a pivotal moment in the WNBA when players are negotiating what could be the most consequential collective bargaining agreement in league history, Unrivaled is serving a much bigger purpose. The league, which began its second season on Monday, is providing a central gathering place for players to strategize and build solidarity as CBA talks unfold.

“The offseason is always a harder time to try and connect with people,” Collier said in a Zoom last month, before being ruled out for the season because of ankle surgery, “and so to have our CBA happening in the offseason is usually a disadvantage in that way.

“To have players congregated where you can have those in-person conversations and updates and things like that, I think that does help things move more quickly.”

The league and WNBA Player's Association have been negotiating a new agreement for the past few months, extending the deadline a couple of times with the latest one set to expire on Friday. Last month, the WNBPA announced players have authorized their union’s executive council to call a strike if necessary, which could delay the WNBA expansion draft and the beginning of free agency that usually starts in late January. The season itself isn’t expected to begin until late April or early May.

“You heard a lot of chatter that what we're asking for is not sustainable for the business,” Collier said in a television interview during an Unrivaled game Monday night.

“Being on this side with Unrivaled, I know what it takes to run a sustainable business," added Collier, who co-founded the league with fellow WNBA star Breanna Stewart. "I think if they can't find a model that makes that happen, they need to put people in place who can ... I do think a deal is going to get done, but we're standing firm in what we believe, and were not going to back down.”

Ahead of its second season, Unrivaled announced that it is now valued at $340 million after closing its oversubscribed Series B investment round led by Bessemer Venture Partners — a massive figure for the young league and a reflection of the increasing momentum and interest in women’s sports.

“What we want to build this into is Champions League women’s basketball,” said Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell. “And that’s not a competition towards the WNBA, it’s just where we feel like we can kind of position ourselves in the market.”

Bazzell has repeated his belief in the league's potential longevity in part because of its ability to draw some of the game's biggest names — from Collier to the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers — and their long term commitment. Around 75% of the league's players are signed through 2028.

"My strong belief is once people remove the women’s sports blinders and start looking at it relative to what’s going on in the ecosystem in terms of the data," Bazzell said, "it points to that right now. So we are very bullish on not just where we are today but where we’re going tomorrow."

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball