Unrivaled’s success may come down to sequel season’s viewership

MIAMI — Making a successful sequel is hard. Many fail to live up to the hype.

“Jaws 2,” “Cars 2” and “Mockingjay” in the Hunger Games series were all flops when compared to the first. Those follow-ups failed to capture the same magic — that excitement, storyline and energy — that mesmerized a fan base and left them wanting more.

On the heels of what was considered a wildly successful inaugural season, Unrivaled faces that ever-so-hard task of delivering an exciting second year.

When it launched a year ago, the curiosity of a 3-on-3 basketball league, featuring 36 of the WNBA’s biggest stars, resulted in fans showing up in droves. The fan fest outside of Sephora Arena ahead of the league’s Jan. 20, 2025, debut looked like a mosh pit.

A sold-out crowd of 870 attended the historic opening night.

Players described the experience as “electric” and enjoyed the “very intimate setting” of the smaller venue. Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, the league’s co-founders, beamed with pride in how their idea blossomed into a reality.

The novelty of Unrivaled helped fuel it in Year 1. But the theme this time around is becoming solvent. The stakes are becoming bigger, too, especially with Project B — an ambitious 5-on-5 international league expected to launch toward the end of this year — lurking.

Unrivaled is bigger than a year ago.

It created two more teams and signed 54 WNBA players for the second season. It expanded its Miami campus, too, adding an additional court and weight room to its facility.

The league also decided to take the show on the road this season, playing two games in Philadelphia on Jan. 30.

All are promising signs of the league’s growth.

But the TV ratings from Monday’s season tipoff were disappointing.

The pair of prime-time games averaged 175,000 viewers, according to The Athletic. The four-game slate overall averaged 107,000 viewers.

In comparison, Unrivaled 2025 opening night averaged 313,000 viewers; the average viewership during regular-season games was 208,000.

It’s early, but Stewart acknowledged Saturday night just how important TV ratings can be when measuring a league’s success.

“Obviously, we want them to be consistently high no matter if we play on Friday or Saturday, Sunday or Monday, and know that we have a space of our own here and in the league of sports,” Stewart said. “People aren’t typically used to seeing women’s professional basketball at this time unless you’re watching Euroleague or something like that, so ratings is a huge one.”

Unrivaled, billed as a league founded by players for players, is singular in the way it operates. Players are the largest shareholder group and they receive 50 percent of the league’s gross revenue, according to Unrivaled officials.

The league claimed a year ago to pay the highest salaries in American women’s team sports.

The average salary of the inaugural eight-week season was $220,000 — a figure that’s estimated to be 83 percent more than the WNBA’s average salary last year.

Unrivaled said the number has increased this year, but declined to share specifics because of “confidentiality” in players’ contracts.

Ask any of the players there and they’ll gush about Unrivaled and the way it supports the players.

The league has put an emphasis on player development — a part of the women’s game that’s often overlooked because of the year-round nature of the game.

It provides players with a place to train and play during the WNBA offseason and also allows windows of time off.

But Unrivaled is also a business, and fostering an engaged audience will be vital to keeping it going.