Napheesa Collier, #24 of the Minnesota Lynx, scores the game-winning basket during the game against the New York Liberty in Game 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on October 10, 2024.
Nathaniel S. Butler | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
The invention of Warner Bros is to ensure pro basketball will remain on TNT Sports.
Unrivaled, the new and upcoming professional women’s basketball league, signed an exclusive multiyear media rights agreement to broadcast games on TNT and truTV, as well as the Max streaming platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The three-on-three league was founded earlier this year by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty and Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx as the popularity of women’s sports – basketball in particular – increases.
The WNBA got a lift this season from rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese — with big increases in regular season and viewership. That has been done in the postseason and most recently in the Finals, which featured Collier and Stewart. That has even translated into changes in the WNBA season next year, which will expand from 40 games to 44 games, and the Final series from five games to seven games.
Unrivaled will operate in a new format and in the months leading up to the WNBA season, allowing athletes another option to play basketball in the US during the offseason, instead of having to play overseas. It would also give players equity in the new league, and offer contract opportunities that would give them the highest average salary in the history of women’s sports leagues.
Reese and other top WNBA players have been confirmed to play in the new league, along with Stewart and Collier.
Starting January 17, there will be more than 45 primetime regular season games aired on the TNT Sports platform during the season. Games will be shown on the TNT Sports platform three nights a week, including two games per week on TNT on Mondays and Fridays, and additional broadcasts on truTV on Saturdays, according to the release.
Highlights and other unparalleled content will also be available on other TNT platforms such as Bleacher Report and House of Highlights.
Unlike other sports leagues, Unrivaled games will be broadcast only on TNT Sports instead of having multiple partners.
“I think consistency is key for us. If you build a consistent house, the fans know where to go,” said Alex Bazzell, president of Unrivaled. “The second part of this is you want to partner with people who want to tell the story outside of the game and help push it forward. So they have Bleacher Report and House of Highlights … it’s pretty valuable to us.”
Increased interest in the WNBA led to the league’s latest media rights deal worth $2.2 billion for 11 seasons, CNBC previously reported. The WNBA media rights deal was negotiated as part of the NBA agreement.
The NBA’s last 11-year, $77 billion media rights – which begin in the 2025-2026 season – with Amazon, ESPN Disney and NBCUniversal Comcast saw the end of a nearly 40-year relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner Sports. Warner Bros. Discovery has sued the NBA in a bid to keep its rights.
The media rights deal with Unrivaled gives Turner Sports the chance to keep basketball on the air if it is not successful in the lawsuit.
Unrivaled and TNT Sports will partner with Mediapro North America for audio and TV production.
Star broadcaster and NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley recently said that he will not be leaving TNT Sports even though the company does not have NBA media rights in the future. Barkley is part of TNT Sports’ popular “Inside the NBA” program.
TNT Sports will develop pregame, postgame and other studio content, but specific talent has not been decided, spokespeople for Turner and Unrivaled said.
TNT Sports recently expanded its roster — which already includes Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League — with several College Football Playoff games and The French Open, among other sports.
Star investors lineup
The new league has a hot lineup of investors, which now includes TNT Sports.
In Wednesday’s announcement, Unrivaled said it will “maintain financial stability and security for all players and stakeholders until at least 2028.”
When Unrivaled was announced earlier this year, it closed only in a round of seed funding and investors included media executives such as former ESPN President John Skipper, former Turner President David Levy, and former Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff. Investors also include athletes like former NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony and others who have invested through a venture capital firm led by Alex Morgan, the recently retired star and captain of the US women’s national soccer team.
Levy, who invested through Horizon Sports & Experiences, and Skipper led the media rights discussion.
TNT Sports has also agreed to invest an undisclosed amount in the unrivaled latest funding round, which is expected to close in the coming weeks.
The investment aligns with Discovery Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav’s interest in doing sports deals that include ownership of intellectual property, as previously reported by CNBC.
