As a longtime women’s sports fan, I had been hearing about a new league recently: Athletes Unlimited.
Founded in 2022, Athletes Unlimited aimed to change the economic model of sports, tipping the power structures in favor of the athletes themselves (rather than say, billionaire team owners and bazillion-dollar leagues).
While I’d seen Athletes Unlimited online (they have a YouTube channel), I had yet to see them in-person. Luckily, I happened to be in Dallas for opening night of Season Three.
Athletes Unlimited hires female athletes in basketball, softball, volleyball, and lacrosse, for short, 6- week season bursts of activity. And because there are no team owners, athletes have FAR more say in the structure of the league, and the way they play the games.
Reportedly, Athletes Unlimited athletes make about $10,000 for the 6-week season they participate in, and have $25,000 additional up for grabs if they have individual performance feats. Now, this might not sound like much to you men’s sports fans— but given that the league minimum salary in the NWSL (a much longer season of three months) can be only $25,000, it’s a good amount of money for a short commitment.
The lack of centralization means Athletes Unlimited has a more progressive approach to the games they play. It’s an entirely different structure than typical team sports.
- Firstly, teams are organized under a specific athlete rather than a ‘coach’ or an owner— this means athletes are in charge of setting the pace and plays (see above: roster says “Team Gray” for instance, as the player in charge has the last name of “Gray.”)
- Secondly, games are scored a bit differently— there are INDIVIDUAL points as well as TEAM points. For instance, in basketball, the scoring team nets 3 team points when a player makes a ‘3,’ but so does the individual who hit it— moving them up an individual ‘leader board’ that is right alongside the overall team score.
Here’s more on the Points System (conveniently, they gave out a flyer to all fans):
You can see, there’s not just offensive points for individual efforts (+20 for a made 3-pointer), but also defensive points (+10 for a block), too. Interestingly, there’s also negative points— such as committing an offensive foul like a charge (-16 points), and turnovers (-10). This further disincentivizes dangerous play, which is just smart business.
The games were incredibly dynamic.
See below for what the ‘leader board’ looks like— you can see the Orange vs. Blue team points by quarter at the bottom, but then up the left side is the individual stats— in this case, Allisha Gray was stomping the nearest competition with 409 points (the second-place person had just 247).
You’ll also note that each QUARTER has a score, but also a quarterly WINNER— a quarter win is worth (+60) points, and an overall game win is worth +180. This keeps games tight, as teams are interested in winning each quarter, not just the overall game.
And without actually increasing the pace (the clock still counts down the same ol’ way), it definitely increases engagement from fans— instead of waiting until the end of the game for the outcome, there’s outcomes happening ALL the time.
A block is an outcome.
A three is an outcome.
A turnover is an outcome.
A quarter-ending is an outcome.
You get the idea.
If you’re a WNBA fan, you’ll recognize some of the names on the scoreboard— Natasha Cloud, Allisha Gray, Sydney Colson, and Sylvia Fowles all played in this series of games. Some retired after illustrious careers as WNBA ballers, and others could not make squads after a few years. Given the WNBA only has 144 players within it, there’s a lot of very talented women who don’t get to suit up for one of the 12 teams in that league. Thus, Athletes Unlimited is there to give more great female athletes a chance to ‘play pro ball’ for money— just in a different format.
This game I got to see felt so action-packed— so nail-biting, with so much back-and-forth, it was well (well) worth the modest entry fee.
And yet, somewhat unfortunately— there was a couple hundred fans in attendance, in an arena that could have held so many more. A song that female athletes unfortunately know all too well, though notably, those present were super-engaged. How could you NOT be?!
The “video gameification” of basketball was happening right in front of us!
I loved the evening I spent watching the brilliantly-talented women of Athletes Unlimited basketball. And now that you know this league exists— no excuses, get out and see a game: you can find total ballers in their sport for a fraction of the price of the bigger leagues.
Also, the athletes were super-accessible to the fans, signing flyers and merchandise right after their games. They were so gracious, and signed stuff for every person who waited to meet them.
Athlete’s Unlimited is a really cool concept. And in buying a ticket, you get to support an athlete-run, athlete-centric sports league that pays women well and most importantly– takes care of its athletes. Not to mention, you are giving MOST of your money right into the pockets of the athletes themselves: can the NFL say that?
Um. I think not.
Posted by Sun
