Unrivaled is getting an alley-oop from Ally Financial, which will be the first (and founding) brand partner for the new women’s basketball league that tips off in January 2025.
The league is currently seeking to drum up brand and viewer interest at a time when women’s sports are bigger than ever.
“I’ve been in this business now 38 years,” David Levy, who is the co-founder and co-CEO of Horizon Sports & Experiences, which has invested in Unrivaled. “This product is coming at the right time.”
Unrivaled, which was announced earlier this year and co-founded by two WNBA players, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, signed several players recently, including Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray. The league promises to pay the highest average salary in women’s sports and is giving equity in the league to its players. Several figures in the sports world, like Megan Rapinoe and Steve Nash, have already signed on as investors.
Eye on the ball
Many of the women's basketball players recruited to the league so far, like Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, have their own personal brands, which Unrivaled plans to leverage in its marketing to drive viewer interest, Kirby Porter, Unrivaled’s chief brand officer, told us. Digital content showcasing players’ stories, along with paid and organic creator content, will be central to the league’s marketing, as well as plain old word-of-mouth.
The league is betting on the recent heightened interest in women’s sports to bring in more brand partners. Brands like Google, Buick, and Nissan have invested big money advertising in women’s sports, and betting on women’s sports has increased, too, according to Levy, who is working on media rights for Unrivaled.
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While basketball has largely been leading the hype, interest in other women’s sports like soccer and volleyball is also growing, he told Marketing Brew. Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife are becoming controlling owners of LA's Angel City Football Club, making it the highest-valued women’s sports team. The Paris Olympics this year has more female athletes than male in the US, making it the fourth iteration of the Olympic Games with that breakdown.
Levy sees an opportunity to capitalize on that women’s sports hype for Unrivaled.
“We’re looking for all sorts of brands,” he said. “We’re looking for the official car [and] the official telco.”
As a founding and brand partner to Unrivaled, Ally Financial will receive several placements across the league, including on its jersey patches, on in-arena signage, and in other hospitality and fan engagement spaces, according to Unrivaled’s announcement.
“Unrivaled is addressing a marketplace challenge,” Andrea Brimmer, Ally’s CMO said in a statement. “And we’re here to help them build a pathway to success and sustainability. All with the intention to make women's sports unmissable.”
Levy’s also betting on streaming and other media companies being interested in Unrivaled. Amid an increasingly fragmented sports streaming landscape, having rights to sports leagues like Unrivaled can help companies reduce churn and attract new subscribers, said Levy, who has been taking meetings with related companies for potential sponsorships.
Sports is “the last destination programming on television, whether it’s streaming or whether it’s linear,” Levy said. “It’s appointment viewing. No one records a sports property and watches it the next day, and if they do, it's [a] very, very small group.”