Business Model Design for Athletes, Driven by Athletes
How Unrivaled Fits Into the Broader Movement of Ownership and Equity in Sports
As a passionate WNBA fan, watching this year’s championship final was thrilling—not just because two of my favorite teams made it, but because the stars of each team, Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, are also making waves off the court.
As business partners, they are co-founding a new women's basketball league, Unrivaled, that embraces the concept of Equitable Economies. Their performance on the court is inspiring, but their leadership and business acumen are equally impressive. Today, I want to explore how their model, part of a larger trend toward athlete empowerment and equity ownership, might redefine women's sports and how it could be further accelerated through Web3 technology.
The Rise of Unrivaled: More Than Just Basketball
Unrivaled, set to launch in 2025, represents more than a new opportunity for women athletes—it’s a business revolution. Co-founded by some of the most prominent athletes in women’s sports, including Collier and Stewart, the league promises to go beyond traditional salary structures by offering players equity stakes. While full details haven’t been disclosed, what’s clear is the league’s mission: to transform athletes from mere employees into stakeholders who share in the success of the league over time.
A 15% equity distribution plan is part of a larger shift happening in the sports industry. More and more athletes, especially women, are advocating for ownership models that give them a real stake in the success of their leagues. It’s an exciting development, but it’s not without challenges. How will Unrivaled ensure fair compensation for all players? How will the league grow sustainably in a fiercely competitive market?
A Broader Movement Toward Equity
Historically, athletes have been employees of their teams or leagues, earning a salary but having little say or stake in the financial success of the organization. This creates a power imbalance: while the league profits from media rights, sponsorships, and merchandise sales, the players are left out of that equation. But recently, this dynamic has begun to shift. Across various sports, athletes are advocating for ownership stakes, ensuring that their contributions on the court or field translate to long-term financial benefits off of it.
One notable example of this shift is the NBA’s revenue-sharing model. In the NBA, players receive 50% of the league’s Basketball Related Income (BRI), aligning their financial interests with the league’s success. However, this doesn’t include direct equity ownership—meaning players don’t directly benefit from the rising valuation of the league itself. Despite the limitations, the NBA has been experimenting with ways to further engage players and fans, notably through projects like NBA Top Shot, where digital highlights are sold as NFTs. These blockchain-based assets provide a new form of engagement and revenue, even though they don’t directly involve player equity.
Lessons from Other Leagues
Unrivaled is not alone in its pursuit of athlete ownership. The BIG3 Basketball League, co-founded by Ice Cube, has pushed the boundaries of ownership even further by allowing both players and fans to purchase NFTs representing fractional ownership of teams. This bold move gives fans a direct stake in the league’s financial outcomes, allowing them to enjoy VIP experience, influence decisions while sharing in the financial upside. This approach to decentralized ownership could serve as an inspiration for Unrivaled, which might consider expanding its ownership model to include fan participation.
Another groundbreaking example is Overtime Elite (OTE), a league that gives high school basketball players both salaries and equity stakes. This dual compensation model ensures that young athletes not only earn during their careers but also invest in the future success of the league. OTE’s mix of salary and ownership offers a forward-thinking model that could easily translate into Unrivaled’s ethos of empowering its players.
Similarly, Athletes Unlimited (AU) has pioneered a model where players are deeply involved in the governance of the league. In AU, athletes have a say in major decisions, ensuring they are not just participants, but co-owners of the league. AU’s focus on player empowerment and profit-sharing highlights how ownership models can fundamentally change the relationship between athletes and their leagues.
The Road Ahead: Risks and Challenges for Unrivaled
Women’s sports are experiencing a significant boom in viewership, investments, and sponsorship deals. Interest in women’s basketball, in particular, is at an all-time high, with a report highlighting a 16% increase in viewership for the WNBA Finals in recent years and a rise in corporate sponsorships and media partnerships
This surge in attention has made women’s sports more attractive to investors, with platforms like Unrivaled benefiting from this momentum. Fortunately, Unrivaled has secured powerful partners such as John Skipper and David Levy, influential figures who have a proven track record in securing media rights and bringing in top-tier sponsorships .
However, for Unrivaled to truly succeed, it will need more than just enthusiasm and strong investors. The business model is built on a forecast of continuous growth in both audience engagement and revenue generation. One of the primary concerns for the league is ownership dilution. As more players join, the original equity stakes could shrink, potentially making the ownership less attractive for new players if the league's growth doesn’t meet expectations. To address this, Unrivaled may need to implement anti-dilution clauses or similar protective measures to ensure that early players retain a meaningful stake while still providing incentives for new talent.
The XFL's struggle offers a cautionary tale of how even ambitious, player-first models can falter when revenue falls short. Despite unique media strategies aimed at revolutionizing football, the XFL faced major financial losses, ending its 2023 season with a $60M loss. The league’s poor media rights deals, declining viewership, and inability to sustain sponsorship growth contributed to its downfall. In contrast, Unrivaled has secured powerful investors and media partners, giving it a stronger foundation, but it still faces the challenge of maintaining long-term growth.
Enhancing Unrivaled with Web3: The Missing Piece of Fan Engagement
Unrivaled could innovate further by embracing Web3 fan engagement models, similar to Chiliz and Socios, where sports teams issue fan tokens that allow supporters to vote on decisions and access exclusive rewards. This model has proven successful, with FC Barcelona raising over $1.3 million from fan tokens in just a few hours. Similarly, NBA Top Shot has generated over $500 million in sales from digital collectibles
Additionally, platforms like Crowdmuse could offer transparent merchandise sales, further boosting fan participation. With Coinbase already a sponsor of the WNBA, Unrivaled is well-positioned to leverage these technologies and create a decentralized ecosystem that benefits both players and fans. This approach could help drive new revenue streams and strengthen fan loyalty.
Conclusion: A New Era of Athlete Empowerment
I believe that Unrivaled is part of a larger movement toward equitable economies in sports, where the line between employee and shareholder is blurring. The league’s ambitious equity-sharing model is a bold step toward giving athletes more control over their financial future, but it’s not without challenges. By ensuring that the league can sustain long-term growth and by integrating Web3 technology to engage fans, Unrivaled has the potential to lead the way in creating a more inclusive and decentralized future for sports leagues.
This isn’t just a new business model—it’s a new era of athlete-driven sports, where players have a voice, a stake, and a future in the game they love. How exciting!
Read more:
The New Players in the Sports Industry: NFTs, Fan Tokens, and Blockchain
What Are NBA Top Shot NFTs? A Guide to Owning Sports Legends, 2023
Forbes: The Inside Story Of The Football Fan Token Community, 2024
Hi, It’s Yuann
Hi, I'm Yuann, an independent innovation strategist working at the intersection of business, design, and technology. As a future optimist, I believe in harnessing collective intelligence to build a better world.
My passion lies in exploring emerging technologies and their potential to reshape our society. Through my work and writing, I aim to share insights and reflections on the complex systems and networks that shape our world today, always with an eye towards a more promising tomorrow.
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