Avenue Sports Invests in Unrivaled, the Professional Women's 3-on-3 Basketball League
NEW YORK, Nov. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Avenue Sports Fund today announced it is investing in Unrivaled, the new professional women's 3-on-3 basketball league co-founded by WNBA superstars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.
Featuring the top women's basketball players across six teams for a 3-on-3, compressed full court style of play, Unrivaled intends to deliver the most entertaining and competitive form of the sport for fans. As a player-led league, Unrivaled athletes will have equity and a vested interest in its success. The league also will feature historic contract opportunities, offering the highest average salary in women's professional sports league history.
Unrivaled will officially tip off its inaugural season on January 17, 2025 at Mediapro North America, a state-of-the-art production facility hosting all Unrivaled games, highlighted by a compressed full court stage built in collaboration with Wide Angle Group. In October, Unrivaled signed a multi-year media rights partnership with TNT Sports to exclusively present live game coverage on TNT and truTV – along with all games being streamed on Max – beginning with the league's inaugural season. Ally Financial is the league's founding partner, and State Farm also recently joined the league's growing partnership portfolio.
"We are excited to back Unrivaled as the new league's thrilling 3-on-3 competition moves to launch in the next two months," said Marc Lasry, Avenue Capital's Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder. "We have a deep understanding of basketball globally and believe Unrivaled is well positioned to benefit from several drivers, including the growing popularity of women's basketball at multiple levels. We look forward to partnering with Unrivaled as it becomes an established player in women's sports."
"Marc Lasry and Avenue Sports' investment is instantly elevating Unrivaled to the next level and we're incredibly grateful for their commitment to what we're building," said Alex Bazzell, Unrivaled President. "This investment doesn't just demonstrate a desire to support the league, it demonstrates an understanding of how Unrivaled is uniquely positioned in the women's sports landscape to be a game-changer for investors, partners and players alike."
About Unrivaled
Unrivaled is a professional women's basketball league innovating the women's professional sports landscape with a groundbreaking model centered on investing in its athletes. Co-Founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, Unrivaled is player-owned, providing participating players equity opportunities for a vested interest in the league's success. Launching in January 2025, Unrivaled will feature 36 of the current top women's basketball stars in the world across six teams for a 3-on-3, compressed full court style of play. To learn more, visit unrivaled.basketball or contact info@unrivaled.com.
About Avenue Sports Fund
Launched in 2023, Avenue Sports Fund's core areas of investment focus include debt and preferred equity, minority stakes in established leagues, women's sports, emerging leagues to capitalize on areas of exponential growth, and other sports businesses and properties. Avenue Sports Fund, led by Marc Lasry, is one of many funds of Avenue Capital Group, a global investment firm focused on specialty lending, opportunistic credit and other special situation investments with longstanding global reach in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Avenue, founded in 1995 by Mr. Lasry and Sonia Gardner, draws on the skills and experience of over 65 investment professionals and more than 180 employees operating from its headquarters in New York and 10 offices worldwide. Avenue has over $12 billion in assets under management.
Media Contacts:
For Avenue: Todd Fogarty todd.fogarty@kekstcnc.com
For Unrivaled: Tish Carmona, Unrivaled Communications, pr@unrivaledleague.com
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SOURCE Avenue Sports Fund; Avenue Capital Group
