Congratulations to the ladies of Unrivaled, co-founders Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, who have been named “Innovators of the Year” by Sports Illustrated. The publication stated on their social media post, “Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier changed the landscape of women’s basketball by co-founding the player-owned league Unrivaled. Congrats to Stewart and Collier on being named Innovators of the Year…”
In our recent chat, Breanna Stewart expressed excitement about the prospects for year two and beyond. She stated, “…just to see our jump from year one to year two…we’re adding two new clubs, we’re adding more players, we’re adding, like, relief, like player [and] development pool.”
She continued, “We care about this game, and we care about really growing it and valuing our players. And you see that with what we’re doing. And I think that I’m just really proud of and excited [about] the fact that…everybody who’s kind of behind the scenes at Unrivaled, [is] seeing this vision, but also the players.
Regarding players of Unrivaled signing multi-year deals, Stewart explained, “You know, you talked about them having multi-year deals and wanting to be here. And, you know, when you have that, it’s like the desire is even greater to make sure everything is top-notch and the best of the best. So I can’t wait for you guys to see the arena and everything like that.
But really excited [about] what’s to come and the fan engagement that we had last year. I know it’s going to be even better this year,” she promised.