Unrivaled wants to change women's basketball. Its commissioner explains how

"I've spent a lifetime working in professional sports, and in particular in tennis, most of it in women's tennis, and so I could see the momentum. And sometimes the world has a way of working in mysterious ways, because the timing was also perfect for me, having just retired from the WTA."

"The format, the players, the model of playing in one location in Miami, adopting what the WNBA did during the pandemic bubble, it's fun. You felt what I felt when I first heard about it. I loved it from the start. I could see it, I could feel it."

"The question is no longer whether women's sports can compete. It's how fast they can grow."

Women's sports are experiencing unprecedented growth, evidenced by record-breaking WNBA viewership and increased brand investment. Unrivaled, a new 3-on-3 women's basketball league built by players for players, represents this expansion. The league operates from a single Miami location, adopting the bubble model used by the WNBA during the pandemic. Commissioner Micky Lawler, formerly of the WTA, discusses launching this high-stakes sports startup amid intense public scrutiny. The timing proved advantageous, coinciding with the Caitlin Clark phenomenon and broader acceleration across women's sports leagues including the WNBA and NWSL. The central question has shifted from whether women's sports can compete to how rapidly they can grow.

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