Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart co-founded Unrivaled in 2023. Photo courtesy of ESPN.
CALEB BALL | STAFF REPORTER | cdball@butler.edu
Overtime, or “OT,” is an opinion column series where the Collegian takes national sports headlines or polarizing topics and gives them a Butler-centric angle.
A new player has entered the chat. Project B is a new women’s basketball league set to begin next fall. It features 5-on-5 competition and takes place across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
While it occurs during the WNBA offseason, it does not mean it will not affect how the league conducts business or the potential stability of the WNBA. The president of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), Nneka Ogwumike, has already committed to the new league with other big names to follow. Project B has also done something that WNBA players have been fighting for in recent years: provide higher salaries.
With Unrivaled carving a path for the first time last year, it proved that there was potential for viewership outside of the WNBA. Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart founded the league in 2023, and in its first season, it averaged higher TV ratings than WNBA regular-season games. Unrivaled is also backed by major U.S. brands, such as Under Armour, and athlete-driven investment groups. The season is shorter than playing overseas in the offseason, yet the athletes still receive much more money in that span. Most of the players in the league will make more than their WNBA contract.
Odds are beginning to stack up against the W, but stars in the league are giving it life. 2023 was the first time another league was founded to counter the WNBA, so it may still be too early to tell, but the WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires Nov. 30, 2025. This could create issues with new leagues surrounding players looking for more money.
Grace Rommel, a sophomore international studies and French double major and a member of the women’s club basketball team, believes that the league is here to stay.
“I do think the W is sustainable, even just the name brand, the WNBA,” Rommel said. “You have so many NBA fans, and when they think of the women’s league, they automatically think of the WNBA. A lot of people don’t know what Unrivaled is, except the basketball super fans. So I do think the W is sustainable if it’s marketed correctly and if its players are appreciated.”
The end of the month is scary for front offices across the league. The CBA expiring means there needs to be a new deal for players and the league to agree upon. Rumors of a strike have been whispered from the nosebleeds all season long, but the telephone game from the top row down to the court could mean there is nothing to be concerned about.
Sophomore kinesiology major Ellis Chamberlin has heard of such rumors. If there is a time for a strike, then there may be no better time than the present.
“They were already protesting at the All-Star game,” Chamberlin said. “I don’t think a strike is going to happen, but I feel like it’s more likely to happen than it has been in past years because of the discrepancy that they’re facing with men’s players getting paid so much more than players in the WNBA are.”
Not all players are hurting for money. Stars like A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese and Sabrina Ionescu all have signature shoes. Stewart, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers all have endorsement deals with Nike. The stars in this league are not the ones taking the burden. Still, they are fighting for more pay, as they mostly live off the money that comes in from their endorsement deals. This also affects players across the league who may not have endorsements.
Every team in the NBA has a star. Some teams have two, and there are teams blessed with three. We can thank LeBron James for that. There are 30 teams across the NBA, and they still manage to prop up so many different players. There are currently 13 WNBA teams, with five new teams being added by 2030. At this stage, not every team has a star. The league is spread thin on stardom — not to be confused with talent — and the WNBA needs to do better with that.
First-year business management major Benjamin Jean Justin claims the talent is there. He emphasized that more women need to be promoted to spread the brand image, not just the same people.
“We need more women and more entertainment,” Jean Justin said. “People like Angel Reese. She’s known around the world. She has her [own] brand and her own shoes. They need people like that, people who are famous. Everybody knows Sha’carri Richardson, but she’s not the fastest woman. Everybody thinks she’s the fastest, but she’s not. She’s the most famous.”
The top tier list of stars in the WNBA consists of Clark, Bueckers, Wilson and Collier. Collier has already created a 3-on-3 league that provides a higher salary during the offseason, and the opportunity for more is there. If any of the other big stars decide to join Ogwumike in Project B, they might find that the WNBA is their side job and put it all behind them.
If a strike is the result of the CBA expiring, players will have no option but to find another source of revenue. This could mean full support of Project B and the possible expansion of Unrivaled. The president of the WNBPA has already bought into the new league. How long will it take other players to do the same?
