While the WNBA Players’ Association and Unrivaled, the new women’s league which began play in January, have many things in common — for instance, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, who serve on the WNBPA Executive Committee, are the co-founders of Unrivaled — the two organizations haven’t formed a more concrete partnership. Until now.
On Thursday, the two organizations are set to announce a new deal with OneTeam Partners to expand the economic cooperation between them, I can report, in ways that will reverberate beyond the current moment for the players. But make no mistake: this matters in the current context, too, with the WNBPA engaged in negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement with the WNBA.
The breakdown of the new agreement looks like this: the WNBPA will give long-term sponsorship and licensing rights to Unrivaled, with the WNBPA receiving financial compensation from Unrivaled in return for it. Most concretely, this concerns trading card and memorabilia rights, which OneTeam will operate, an initial partnership with The Realest to sell game-used, authenticated items the first item of business.
Given the explosion of WNBA collectibles — a Caitlin Clark rookie card sold for $234,850 back in December, or roughly the current max salary a WNBA player can earn under the current CBA — this is some extremely high-value territory.
“Partnering with the WNBPA and OneTeam is a game-changing opportunity that greatly benefits our extraordinary fans and players,” Unrivaled commissioner Mickey Lawler said Thursday. “Working hand-in-hand will allow us to continue to build on the tremendous support we have experienced in Unrivaled’s inaugural season and also on the impressive upward trajectory of women’s basketball. We are always stronger together; and, creating an environment to super-serve our fans is naturally positive for the athletes and for the sport overall.”
While the nature of this new deal will allow for greatly expanded opportunities in the collectibles world — an incredible leap forward from just a few years ago, when Rittenhouse would make just 500 sets, total, of its 2018 cards — it also provides more direct support from the league owned by players to the PA made up of many of the players in that same league.
The WNBA has been generally supportive of Unrivaled, but the very existence of Unrivaled, and its own revenue stream generated by investment and a media rights deal worth nearly $100 million turns the economics of playing pro basketball for women on its head. The stronger Unrivaled is, the more valuable the players who participate in it are to the WNBA. But also undeniably: the stronger Unrivaled is, the less the WNBPA needs the WNBA. As separate entities, this was true for the significant percentage of players in both groups. Now, with this partnership, growth of Unrivaled provides a specific economic benefit to every single WNBA player directly through the union, but not directly through the league.
If the last CBA, signed in 2020, was spearheaded by prioritization — forcing players to report earlier from overseas in exchange for significant increases in compensation — this round may be defined by the ability of players to earn a sufficient amount in Unrivaled that they don’t need to play in the WNBA at all. It’s a fundamentally different dynamic that gives the players significant additional leverage in the current talks.
“This is the type of partnership that reflects what’s possible when players have ownership in the game,” WNBPA Executive Director Terri Jackson said Thursday. “Unrivaled is innovating what a professional women’s basketball league can be, and by working together with OneTeam, we are ensuring that WNBA players’ rights are part of that vision. It’s about equity, opportunity, and long-term success for our players.”
The reality is more complicated of course, in some ways which echo the old status quo forcing players to play overseas back in the 2010s. Players earn more overseas by a combination of talent and name recognition — the latter built principally by playing in the WNBA. Players who participate in the WNBA will also hold more value to Unrivaled, thus accruing more value to the league the players own by playing in the league the players don’t own. And any WNBPA collectibles that are game-used will need to be used in, well, WNBA games.
Moreover, any eventual CBA will be powered by a fundamentally different and massively expanded media rights deal of the WNBA as well, one commissioner Cathy Engelbert was able to negotiate for roughly eight times the current deal, with an expected total annual outlay to over $250 million per year.
“Women’s sports are on an undeniable growth trajectory, and we are proud to help drive that momentum as the largest partner of women athletes’ IP worldwide,” OneTeam president Frank Arthofer said Thursday. “At OneTeam, we have long championed collective rights as a powerful tool to create real value for athletes. We are excited to support Unrivaled in reaching its full potential while ensuring players directly benefit from its success.”
That success not only changes the financial ceiling for the WNBA players in ways that are informing the current CBA talks. It alters the bargaining power of its union as well, and at a critical time.