Coco Gauff is the latest athlete to invest in Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 professional women’s basketball league co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. Gauff, a 20-year-old U.S. tennis star, was the highest-paid female athlete in the world in 2024, earning just under $10 million through on-court performances and another $25 million through endorsements and sponsorships.
Unrivaled’s list of world-renowned athlete investors is stunning
US tennis star Coco Gauff is the latest athlete to invest in the new 3-on-3 women’s basketball league.
Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images
Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Unrivaled as an investor,” Gauff said. “Basketball is one of my favorite sports, and the chance to support a league that’s redefining the game is exciting. I look forward to being part of this movement and continuing to help elevate women’s sports to new heights.”
On December 16th, the league announced it had secured more than a $28 million investment in its Series A investment round, on top of a $7 million seed round previously raised.
Unrivaled’s list of well-known athlete investors has now grown to include stars across a variety of sports, including:
- Richard ‘Rip’ Hamilton, former NBA All-Star and champion
- Joe Ingles, 11-year NBA veteran and 5-time Olympian
- Alex Morgan, former soccer player and Olympic gold medalist
- Carmelo Anthony, former NBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist
- Geno Auriemma, University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach
- Tyus & Tre Jones, NBA players
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks star
- Dawn Staley, South Carolina women’s basketball head coach
- JuJu Watkins, USC women’s basketball guard
- Michael Phelps, former swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
Outside of athletes, Unrivaled has several other high-profile investors, including:
- Linda Henry, CEO of Boston Globe Media and partner at Fenway Sports Group
- Marc Lasr, CEO of Avenue Sports Fund
- Nicole Phelps, president of the Michael Phelps Foundation and mental health advocate
- Warner Bros Discovery
- Amy Banse, venture partner, mosaic, board member and investor, and retired Comcast Corp Executive
- Black Economic Alliance Venture Fund
- Threadneedle Ventures
- Off-Court Ventures
- Dan Benton, prolific technology investor
- Moira Forbes, executive vice president of Forbes
- Ashton Kutcher, actor
- Dan Rosensweig, business executive and former president of Chegg
- John Skipper, former president of ESPN
- Richard Sarnoff, a global business leader in the media world
- Gary Vaynerchuk, co-founder of Resy and Empathy wines
Unrivaled is set to tip off next Friday, Jan. 17th in Miami, with 36 WNBA stars from across the league participating, a list that includes high-profile players like Sabrina Ionescu, Angel Reese, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Brittney Griner, and dozens of others. TNT Sports and Unrivaled reached a multi-year media rights partnership to exclusively present live game coverage on TNT and truTV – with all games also being streamed on Max.
The total salary pool for players is $8 million, with the average salary coming in at $222,222. All inaugural players will also have own equity in the league.
“We are really changing the outlook of the ecosystem holistically,” Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell told SB Nation. “You’re seeing more leagues bumping up their pay because that’s where the space is now. We’re proud to play a part in that growth of just the economics of these players being paid a lot of money to play basketball. That’s where we want to get to. It’s great to have brand deals, it’s great to have all this off-court stuff, but at the end of the day, we want to be able to pay them high salaries on the court.”
