It was supposed to be a revolution. It’s looking more like a retreat.
On January 6, 2025, while the sports world was consumed by the chaos of NFL “Black Monday” and the massive WWE launch on Netflix, another league quietly tipped off its season. There was no fanfare. There was no takeover of the cultural conversation. There were just empty seats in a small Miami venue and a deafening silence where the hype used to be.
The Unrivaled basketball league, the 3-on-3 venture co-founded by superstars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, has hit a wall. Despite a staggering $340 million valuation and a flashy list of investors, the league is currently fighting for its life against a perfect storm of player rejection, fan apathy, and a shadowy competitor known only as “Project B.”
The “Invisible” Launch
You cannot hide failure in a 1,000-seat arena. When Unrivaled launched its second season, the optics were brutal. The venue, designed to be intimate and exclusive, instead felt hollow. Rows of empty chairs greeted the broadcast cameras—a visual disaster for a league that claims to be the “premier” offseason destination for women’s basketball.
“How does a league launch into invisibility?” analysts are asking. The answer lies in the hubris of scheduling. By going head-to-head with the NFL and major entertainment events, Unrivaled buried itself. But the lack of buzz points to a deeper issue: The novelty is gone. The “new car smell” of Season 1 has evaporated, leaving behind a product that fans simply aren’t buying in droves.
The Caitlin Clark Problem
The most glaring issue for Unrivaled is the absence of the names that actually move the needle. Caitlin Clark, the undisputed face of the sport, didn’t just pass on the league; she tacitly rejected its entire premise.
Clark understood early on that 3-on-3 basketball fundamentally “neutralizes” what makes her special. Her game is built on full-court vision, transition spacing, and elite playmaking—none of which translates to a compressed half-court game. She chose to protect her brand rather than force herself into a format that diminishes her brilliance.
And she wasn’t alone. A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese, and Sabrina Ionescu—the Mount Rushmore of current popularity—all stayed home. A league built on “star power” is currently operating without its five biggest stars. No amount of marketing spend can fix a product that the market leaders refuse to endorse.
The “Project B” Betrayal
If the empty seats are a flesh wound, “Project B” is the knife in the back.
Lurking in the shadows is a rumored rival league, “Project B,” which plans to launch a traditional 5-on-5 touring circuit next year. It has no website, no broadcast deal, and no schedule. Yet, it is already killing Unrivaled.
Reports confirm that current Unrivaled players—athletes who are actively cashing checks from the league right now—have already committed to join Project B. Stars like Alyssa Thomas and Jewell Loyd are effectively signaling that they believe in a non-existent league more than the one they are currently playing in.
This is an exodus in real-time. Players prefer 5-on-5. It’s the game they know, the game they love, and the game that defines their legacy. 3-on-3, no matter how lucrative, feels like an exhibition. When given a choice between a gimmick and the real thing, the players are choosing the real thing before it even exists.
The Desperation Signal
Perhaps the most damning evidence of the league’s panic comes from the top. In a recent interview, Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell used language that should send shivers down the spines of his investors.
“Nothing is off the table,” Bazzell said, referring to potential partnerships or restructuring. He spoke of being open to the “ecosystem.”
In the world of high-stakes business, this is a surrender flag. You don’t talk about “integration” and “ecosystems” when you are dominating; you talk about them when you need a lifeboat. Bazzell’s comments suggest that Unrivaled is no longer trying to conquer the market—it is trying to be absorbed by it. They are likely hoping the WNBA will step in and turn them into a sanctioned developmental league (G-League equivalent) rather than let them go bankrupt.
The Valuation Trap
Here is the math that doesn’t add up: Unrivaled raised money at a $340 million valuation but reportedly generated only $27 million in revenue in its first season. In the venture capital world, you need exponential growth to justify that multiplier. Instead, Unrivaled is seeing stagnation.
“Flatlines are fatal,” as the experts say. Investors expected a rocket ship fueled by the Caitlin Clark boom. Instead, they got a flat tire in Miami. With the WNBA likely to introduce “exclusivity clauses” in the next few years—effectively banning players from outside leagues—Unrivaled is running out of runway.
Fighting for Oxygen
Unrivaled isn’t fighting for dominance anymore; it’s fighting for oxygen. The empty seats are a symptom; the player exodus is the disease.
The next few months will determine if this ambitious project becomes a permanent fixture of the sport or a cautionary tale about misreading the market. But right now, with the stars at home and the “Project B” wolves circling, the $340 million dream is looking like a very expensive nightmare.
