The first half of the inaugural Unrivaled League season is in the books, and while things got off to a hot start for the 3v3 league, things haven’t gone as everyone anticipated since then.
Founded by stars like Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, the league gives WNBA players a chance to play during the offseason as they await for the new campaign to begin.
The first day of action got off to hot start when Stewart lost to rookie Aliyah Edwards. However, after that the league has been hit with several headaches.
One involved Rachel Annamarie DeMita, who on her YouTube channel, noted that even part owners were speaking out against the league.
She noted that Rhyne Howard was retweeting posts on X which claimed the league was rigged after she lost to Courtney Williams.
Then she also how noted how Angel Reese was openly criticizing the league as well.
“So Angel Reese was ejected in one of the games by getting two technical fouls in a row and then after the game, someone said ejection and unrivaled the refs are out of their mind and Angel Reese retweeted and she said I can’t wait to get back to Chicago man,” DeMita stated.
“This is a stark difference from the beginning of the season where Angel Reese basically said if she never had to leave Unrivaled, she wouldn’t.”
Other issues Unrivaled is facing
Another big issue the league is facing is TV ratings. While it remains popular on social media, they haven’t been able to translate that into people watching the games.
“So the opening weekend the numbers were pretty strong, there were 313k average viewers.” DeMita noted. “Now the viewership dipped significantly next Saturday, and then Monday it also dipped but as the weeks continue to go ratings have gone pretty significantly.
“All the viewership has now been in the 100ks.”
Along with ratings, injuries have played a big part in hurting the product. Several players were forced to miss the 1v1 tournament due to injuries, while a Laces BC game against Vinyl BC was cancelled because Laces didn’t have enough players.
All of this has led to challenging first season for Unrivaled League, meaning they have plenty to work on as they head into the final stretch of action.
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