MEDLEY, Fla. (AP) — Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 women's basketball league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, is eyeing a sustained future in women's sports after concluding its inaugural season in Miami.
The league debuted in January at a point of huge growth and momentum in women's sports and wrapped up its eight-week season with Rose winning the first championship on Monday. While WNBA players have historically competed overseas to supplement their income during the offseason, Unrivaled set out to give them a domestic alternative while pushing athlete development, fast-paced and physical play and substantial player salaries.
While platforming some of the game's biggest stars like Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese, Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner and others, Unrivaled averaged 221,000 viewers on TNT and truTV during its regular season and two-day postseason, the league announced Thursday. The league said it sold out every game held at the new Wayfair Arena — which seats 850 people — with ticket sales surpassing seven figures.
Unrivaled coverage reached more than 11.9 million viewers across TNT and truTV and delivered the 10 most-watched women’s basketball games ever on TNT Sports’ networks, the league said. Games were also available for livestreaming on Max, resulting in the 10 most-streamed women’s basketball games on the service.
Monday's final between Rose and Vinyl averaged 364,000 viewers with a peak of 385,000 — a 99% increase from the regular season. And 398,000 people watched Collier take home $200,000 after winning Unrivaled's midseason 1 on 1 tournament last month.
“We’ve built an incredible foundation,” Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell said in an end-of-season news conference. "Based on what the viewership is, now it’s our job to — how do we grow that a bit? We’re very proud about where we stand in the women’s sports ecosystem of viewership. And what I’ve said all along is we’re not going to go out there and do WNBA numbers in Year 1.
“But if you look at our viewership, the fact that we’re holding is a real sign the product is sticking.”
Collier's six-figure payday was the largest one-day prize in women’s basketball history, Unrivaled commissioner Micky Lawler said. That was part of the league's goal in setting a new standard for pay in women's sports.
Players had an average salary of more than $220,000 — the highest average salary for players of any professional women’s sports league and close to the maximum base salary in the WNBA. The league reached more than $8.65 million in total compensation earned by players between their salary pool, 1 on 1 tournament, and championship, on top of the equity they receive in the league. Each player on the championship-winning Rose squad took home $50,000.
Leading up to its launch, Unrivaled raised more than $35 million from various sources and dozens of individual investors, including Stephen Curry, Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma and Coco Gauff.
Fan interest was high all season. The league’s main social media accounts reached almost 400,000 total followers, and the 36 Unrivaled players collectively gained nearly 1 million followers since the season began in January.
Players praised the experience, from the training facility and weight room at WayFair Arena to all of the child care options like nursing rooms on-site.
Unrivaled will continue with six teams in Year 2 and will remain based in Miami but could potentially explore other markets. There are plans for possible expansion in the future, Bazzell said, but the league wants to find a way to do it without cutting into player salaries.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Former basketball player Dwayne Wade borrows a photographer's camera to take pictures, during halftime in the Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal between the Lunar Owls and Vinyl, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rose guard Chelsea Gray powers past Laces guard Ariel Atkins in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
FILE - Mist forward Breanna Stewart (30) drives tot the basket as Phantom center Brittney Griner (42) defends during the first half of an Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball game Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
Lunar Owls forward Napheesa Collier holds her trophy after being named Unrivaled's Most Valuable Player, ahead of the Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinals, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
WASHINGTON (AP) — As part of a push to roll back dozens of environmental regulations, the Trump administration is offering coal-fired power plants and other industrial polluters a chance for exemptions from requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene.
The Environmental Protection Agency has set up an electronic mailbox to allow regulated companies to request a presidential exemption under the Clean Air Act to a host of Biden-era rules.
Companies were asked to send an email by Monday seeking permission from President Donald Trump to bypass the new restrictions. The Clean Air Act enables the president to temporarily exempt industrial sites from new rules if the technology required to meet them is not widely available and if the continued activity is in the interest of national security.
Environmental groups denounced the administration's offer, calling the email address a “polluters' portal” that could allow hundreds of companies to evade laws meant to protect the environment and public health. Exemptions would be allowed for nine EPA rules issued by the Biden administration, including limits on mercury, ethylene oxide and other hazardous air pollutants. Mercury exposure can cause brain damage, especially in children. Fetuses are vulnerable to birth defects via exposure in a mother’s womb.
Margie Alt, campaign director of the Climate Action Campaign, said the request for exemption applications “is a gift to the fossil fuel industry" and further indication of a “polluters-first agenda" under Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
“Companies can now apply for a gold-plated, 'get-out-of-permitting free' card,'' she said, adding that the latest action marked at least the third time Zeldin has moved to weaken enforcement of environmental laws since he took office less than two months ago. On March 12, he announced a series of actions to roll back landmark environmental regulations, including rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants, climate change and electric vehicles.
Last month, Zeldin said he would push for a 65% spending cut at the agency, saying, “We don’t need to be spending all that money that went through the EPA last year.”
Trump and Zeldin, aided by billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, have also pushed to drastically reduce EPA staffing, and the agency is considering a plan to eliminate its scientific research office. About 1,000 scientists and other employees who help provide the scientific foundation for EPA rules safeguarding human health and the environment could be fired.
The EPA's offer for companies to request exemptions was first reported by The New York Times.
“Submitting a request via this email box does not entitle the submitter to an exemption,'' the EPA said in a statement. ”The President will make a decision on the merits.”
Authority for exemptions “solely rests with the president, not EPA,'' added EPA spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou.
Former President Joe Biden offered similar exemptions after issuing a rule last year tightening emission standards for ethylene oxide from commercial facilities that sterilize medical equipment, she noted.
Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, called EPA's action “an invitation to pollute” and an abuse of power by Zeldin. Coal-fired power plants have long used scrubbers and other devices to limit mercury and other toxic pollution and can continue to do so, she said, adding that hundreds of companies nationwide could potentially apply for exemptions that are neither needed nor legal.
"We will go to court. We will get their records and we will make that list (of exemptions) public,'' she said.
Jason Rylander, a lawyer for another environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, called the EPA's actions ridiculous and one more demonstration that the Trump administration wants to help polluters, not protect the environment.
“It is an enormous stretch to suggest that there’s some national interest in giving industry the right to pollute. That doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.
Trump declared an energy emergency early in his term and has embraced policies to boost and oil and gas production, which he sums up as “ drill, baby drill."
“In my view, we're in the middle of a climate emergency,'' Rylander said. “But in the Trump administration’s view, we have this fictitious national energy emergency that may provide a basis for (Trump) to claim this is somehow in the national security interests of the United States.”
Exemptions offered this week also could apply to more than 200 chemical plants nationwide that are being required to reduce toxic emissions likely to cause cancer. The rule, issued last year, advanced the former president’s commitment to environmental justice by delivering critical health protections for communities burdened by industrial pollution from ethylene oxide, chloroprene and other dangerous chemicals, the Biden administration said.
Associated Press writer Michael Phillis in St. Louis contributed to this report.
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign town hall, Oct. 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin speaks, Feb 3, 2025, in East Palestine, Ohio. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
