The International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a proposal to expand the women’s soccer tournament from 12 to 16 teams for the 2028 LA Olympics on Wednesday, solidifying the event’s international importance as the women's game continues to see skyrocketing growth.
"We wanted to do something to reflect that growth, and equally with the United States being the home of the highest level of popularity of women's football," IOC sports director Kit McConnell said on Wednesday.
IOC balloons multiple 2028 LA Olympics women's events
Soccer isn't the only women's event expanding, with additional IOC decisions pushing the total number of women athletes participating in the 2028 LA Games over the 50% line.
The women’s water polo field will grow from 10 to 12 teams to align with the men’s competition, while 3×3 basketball will expand its field from eight teams to 12.
Even more, women’s boxing will gain an additional weight category, and the IOC will incorporate new mixed events across several other Olympic sports.
Ultimately, increased parity will only intensify competition, with the IOC making moves to keep the Olympics in line with the continued demand for and rise of women's sports.
"The message of gender equality is a really important one for us," added McConnell.
Unrivaled basketball returns to action on Friday night, with the 3×3 league's weekend games bolstered by Thursday's huge off-court business breakthrough with the WNBA Players Association (WNBPA).
The offseason league officially secured a licensing deal with the WNBPA, allowing Unrivaled to sell merchandise showcasing player names, images, and likenesses both in-person and online.
Without a brokered licensing deal, Unrivaled faced limitations in its attempts to capitalize on its near-instant popularity, as the league could previously only use non-player-specific team branding.
The WNBPA’s willingness to help Unrivaled push the envelope — despite the lengthy negotiation — sets an important precedence for increased monetization opportunities across women’s sports.
"This is a sign of the Players Association’s responsibility to its players, to its members to monetize the rights fully," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told Front Office Sports on Thursday. "Their group rights don’t need to be limited to WNBA-only associated products."
While the player-specific merchandise isn't available just yet, fans can expect customized jerseys, T-shirts, and even game-used memorabilia to hit shelves soon — especially as the league’s March 10th regular-season finale nears.
Postseason line looms as Unrivaled hits Friday's court
As the 3×3 basketball stars return to work this weekend, Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart’s Mist and her NY Liberty teammate Sabrina Ionescu’s Phantom BC will both be hunting a bit of magic to boost them above the postseason cutoff line.
Trailing the pack with twin 3-7 records, the squads square off against each other on Friday, each aiming to step up into playoff contention with a win.
With all Unrivaled teams taking the weekend's court hoping to create separation from the bottom of the standings, Vinyl BC has arguably the most to lose. Currently sitting in fourth place on the league table, Arike Ogunbowale's squad faces an uphill climb against the third-place Laces on Friday and the league-leading Lunar Owls on Saturday to maintain their precarious postseason positioning.
How to watch Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball games this weekend
The Vinyl will kick off Unrivaled's weekend action against the Laces on Friday at 7:15 PM ET, with the Mist taking on the Phantom one hour later. Both games will air live on TNT.
Saturday's games will air on truTV beginning at 6 PM ET, when the Lunar Owls battle Vinyl BC before the Mist tip off against Angel Reese's Rose BC.
Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball tips off another round of doubleheaders tonight, as the offseason league paves a path toward its first-ever postseason with an Unrivaled playoffs push.
Unrivaled is entering its fifth week of play, with three weeks remaining in the regular season. And as just four of the league’s six teams will advance to the March 16th Unrivaled playoffs, notching late wins could make all the difference for squads shooting for a postseason boost.
After slow starts, the Mist and Phantom BC currently sit one game beneath playoffs contention — but they’ll both have an opportunity to make up ground this weekend.
In the event of any final regular-season ties, Unrivaled will subsequently determine playoff seeding first by head-to-head records, followed by point differentials.
Offseason league announces end-of-season awards
The league also announced plans for its end-of-season awards, which will include MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and both first and second-team honors.
A combination of media, Unrivaled coaches and players, and a fan vote will decide the winners.
Voters can now nominate three Unrivaled MVPs online, ranking them in order of preference. Voting closes on Tuesday, March 11th at 3 PM ET, with the winners announced shortly thereafter.
How to watch Unrivaled 3×3 playoffs push this Weekend
The Mist take on fourth-place Vinyl BC tonight at 8:15 PM ET, live on TNT, before Phantom BC squares off against Vinyl BC on Saturday at 7 PM ET, with live coverage on TruTV.
Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball is at it again, revealing details about its inaugural 1v1 tournament on Tuesday.
Fueled by a $350,000 prize pool, the high-stakes competition will tip off with 30 players on February 10th. Athletes are currently in four equal pods, and fans will determine the tournament's seeding via ballot.
The three-day tournament will feature a series of single-elimination games, culminating in a best-of-three final.
Contests will be played to either a winning score of 11 points or a 10-minute game clock, whichever comes first. Each matchup will follow the traditional two- and three-point scoring format, but with a shortened seven-second shot clock.
The biggest difference from both traditional 5x5 play and Unrivaled's 3x3 format is in the 1v1 contest's make-it, take-it rule, which rewards scoring with both points on the board as well as continued ball possession.
Tournament rewards both 1v1 winner and Unrivaled team
Unrivaled's 1v1 tournament champion will ultimately take home $200,000 — more than what some WNBA players' salaries. The runner-up will claim $50,000, with each semifinalist earning $25,000.
Interestingly, individual players aren't just competing for themselves. Each of the champion's Unrivaled 3×3 teammates will also snag a check for $10,000.
"There’s still a team camaraderie perspective," noted Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell earlier this month. "You may be eliminated, but your teammate keeps advancing. Inevitably, you want to root them on — not just for personal reasons, but also there’s an incentive for you if your teammate wins the ultimate cash prize."
Unrivaled reveals participating 1v1 roster
Of the 3×3 league's 36 players, only Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, Angel Reese, Stefanie Dolson, and Courtney Vandersloot will sit out the 1v1 tournament alongside relief contract players Natisha Hiedeman and NaLyssa Smith.
Consequently, one potential matchup could pit Unrivaled co-founders and 2024 WNBA Finals foes Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier against each other. Dozens of other potential pairings involving All-Stars like Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper, Arike Ogunbowale, and Satou Sabally are also on the table.
Fan voting for the player seedings that will determine those matchups will start on Thursday, with the tournament's full bracket dropping in early February.
Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball is back, as a second slate of weekend games shines a spotlight on the new league's three winless teams as they rally for redemption.
Phantom BC, Mist BC, and Rose BC are all 0-2 out of the gate, with the six-team league evenly divided between the undefeated and the winless after last week's debut.
At least one of the three will end up in the win column on Friday night, with the Mist and Phantom squaring off in the first game of the doubleheader.
Both lineups contain serious firepower, with Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart leading the Mist alongside sharpshooter Jewell Loyd, whose 20 points per game have her currently in fourth-place on the league's stat sheet. The Phantom boasts the talents of Sabrina Ionescu and Brittney Griner.
While both have fallen victim to more cohesive game-plans, the Phantom in particular have struggled, posting a league-low average of 58.5 points per game to ultimately drop their first two outings by an average of 29 points.
Saturday's action sees Chelsea Gray and Angel Reese's Rose BC step into the spotlight, going up against a Mist team facing back-to-back matchups.
The Rose roster features two of the offseason league's top scorers in Gray and Kahleah Copper, who each averaged 14.5 points per game through Unrivaled's opening weekend. However, they'll need to lock in on defense to quiet Mist standout DiJonai Carrington's shooting in transition.
Friday's Unrivaled doubleheader tests undefeated teams
The second game of Friday's doubleheader flips the script as two teams put their undefeated starts on the line.
The Laces, led by Kayla McBride's 24.5 points per game, will take on a Vinyl side that rosters three of the league's Top 10 scorers — more than any other Unrivaled team. The trio of Rhyne Howard, Dearica Hamby, and Arike Ogunbowale are poised to cool the Laces' hot start.
How to watch Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball games
Unrivaled's second weekend slate tips off on Friday with the Phantom vs. the Mist at 7:15 PM ET, before the Laces play the Vinyl at 8:15 PM ET. Live coverage of both games will air on TNT.
Friday's Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball debut was an unequivocal success for TV partner TNT Sports, as the new offseason 3x3 league's opening lineup became the most-watched women's basketball games in the broadcast network's history.
The doubleheader logged viewership averages of 313,000 and 311,000, respectively, with the first game peaking at 364,000.
Notably, these numbers do not include viewers on Max, where every Unrivaled game is available to stream live under the league's six-year, $100 million media deal with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
In 2022, WNBA games averaged 372,000 viewers across Disney networks, with the league later surpassing 500,000 across ABC, ESPN, and CBS in 2023 before reaching a 1.19 million average on ESPN in 2024.
Unlike the well-established WNBA, which is on the cusp of entering its 29th year, Unrivaled is a new-look product in its first-ever season. With that in mind, Unrivaled's initial numbers are promising, particularly for a league that's prioritizing long-term wins over instant gratification.
"I think we put ourselves in a great position to be successful right away, but it’s a marathon," league president Alex Bazzell told The Athletic before Unrivaled’s launch. "We’re not running out there from Day 1 trying to get millions of viewers out of the gate."
One piece of the Unrivaled fan engagement puzzle
Viewership is just one way the league is measuring fan engagement, with Unrivaled also turning an eye toward social media metrics.
"[Viewership is] not fully indicative of what is the overall fan interest because there’s so many ways to consume leagues and teams and highlights," noted Bazzell.
It's one reason that partnering with WBD was so appealing to the new league. The media giant's already robust sports social media channels are elevating Unrivaled content across platforms to an established, sports-hungry audience.
To that end, Unrivaled’s opening weekend content garnered 31 million views across WBD’s social channels and fueled a 59% viewership boost of the media giant's women's sports-specific TikTok account.
Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball tips off its inaugural season on Friday night, when four of the league's six clubs will take the court for the first time.
The Miami-based league's debut doubleheader begins with a co-founder face-off, as Breanna Stewart's Mist will first square off against 2024 WNBA Finals foe and fellow Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier's Lunar Owls.
Shortly after that inaugural game, Rose BC, whose roster includes top-rated 2024 rookie Angel Reese plus WNBA Finals MVPs Kahleah Copper (2021) and Chelsea Gray (2022), will take the Unrivaled court. Facing them in Friday's nightcap will be Vinyl BC, a team headlined by WNBA Rookies of the Year Aliyah Boston (2023) and Rhyne Howard (2022).
The two remaining Unrivaled teams will debut on Saturday afternoon, when Phantom BC takes on Laces BC in another 3×3 doubleheader.
Led by All-Stars like Brittney Griner and reigning WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu, the Phantom will start the season without guard Marina Mabrey due to a calf strain. Her recovery is expected to take two to four weeks, with an injury re-evaluation set for late January. In the meantime, the Phantom have added relief player Natisha Hiedeman to their short-handed roster.
IT'S GAME DAYYYYYYY! 🗣️ Make sure you tune in tonight at 7pm ET! pic.twitter.com/vAZ2IkemoF
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) January 17, 2025
Unrivaled stars prepare for their close-up
The innovative new league is launching with 36 of the WNBA's biggest stars, a brand new 3x3 format, and a product finely tuned for national TV broadcast. The goal is to bring fans even closer to their favorite athletes.
Subsequently, Unrivaled has teamed up with six US bars "dedicated to elevating women's sports" in an effort to promote official watch parties nationwide.
"The content piece and the TV piece of this is huge for us," Collier told The Athletic ahead of Friday's launch. "We want to make it the most interactive, fun, and exciting experience we can for people."
With a smaller court and cameras positioned closer to the action than in WNBA games, Unrivaled is aiming to bring a small-venue experience to a national audience.
"It’s definitely intimate, and you’re definitely going to hear a lot of stuff," Mist athlete Jewell Loyd told The Athletic. "But at the same time, that’s what you want, and it’s definitely going to make us play a little harder."
How to watch Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball this weekend
The new 3x3 league will tip off with the Mist and Lunar Owls at 7 PM ET on Friday, with Rose BC and Vinyl BC following at 8 PM ET.
All Unrivaled games will air across TNT, truTV, and Max throughout the season, with Friday's tip off broadcast live on TNT.
Unrivaled basketball hits the court for the first time on Friday and, according to ESPN, the debut league's style of play will look a little different from the 3×3 Olympic game's rules.
Unlike the half-court version currently played in major international 3x3 basketball competitions, Unrivaled's full-court edition uses slightly smaller court dimensions from a traditional 5×5 setup.
Similarly, the inaugural league's format follows a four-quarter setup, but opts for seven-minute periods rather than the WNBA's 10-minute quarters. The shot clock will also be a speedier 18 seconds versus the professional 5×5 game's 24 seconds.
Unrivaled victories, however, rest solely in fourth-quarter play. This "winning score" quarter denotes that the win goes to the first team to score 11 more points than the highest final third-quarter score. For example, if a game's third quarter ends with a 45-43 scoreline, the first team to post the target score of 56 points in the final period walks away with the victory.
This system essentially eliminates the possibility of overtime. League organizers also hope it deters the late-game fouls used strategically and prolifically in 5×5 contests.
Unrivaled 3×3 format revamps fouls
Speaking of fouls, Unrivaled is also condensing the free throw system to keep the game moving. Each player has six fouls to give, but each shooting foul will earn a single free throw at the line.
Those awarded free throws, however, will contain different point opportunities depending on the foul incurred. Fouled two-point shots grant a single free throw worth two points, while a free throw awarded from a three-point attempt will be worth three. All and-ones are worth one point.
With six players rostered on each of Unrivaled's six teams, the league also tweaked the traditional rule of fouling out to ensure games can be completed should they become especially chippy. If an athlete fouls out with only three available players left on their team, that player can continue competing. She will instead incur a technical foul — resulting in one opponent free throw — for each additional foul.
The new league's rules all point to Unrivaled's efforts to put an engaging, fast product on the court.
"This game is rooted in how you would play basketball as a kid on a black top," Unrivaled president of basketball operations Luke Cooper told ESPN's Kendra Andrews on Tuesday. "There's flow, there's pace. When you are watching, it feels like you are watching basketball... it's not a gimmick."
The fourth-annual FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup tips off Thursday in Puerto Rico, with 2022 winners Canada and three-time silver medalists Brazil aiming to dethrone defending three-time champs Team USA.
The US is led by three WNBA standouts. Veteran Mystics guard Brittney Sykes's 12.2 points per game was second on Washington's 2024 roster, while Sparks forward Azurá Stevens is strong on both ends of the court as LA's best three-point shooter also boasts the team's second-best rebound rate.
Meanwhile, Dallas Wings forward Maddy Siegrist is coming off a shooting hot streak, sinking over 50% from the field in her second WNBA season.
Former record-breaking Ivy League sharpshooter Abbey Hsu rounds out Team USA's roster, with the Belgian league rookie earning the spot over nine WNBA players.
The road to the 3×3 podium
Fifteen teams traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but only 12 will compete in the tournament's main draw. Thursday's court is reserved for the four teams vying to qualify, with either Guatemala, Cuba, Costa Rica, or the Cayman Islands surviving.
With the 12 tournament teams split into four groups of three, pool play takes over on Friday and Saturday. Pools B (Canada, Mexico, and Jamaica) and D (Puerto Rico, Argentina, and the final qualifying team) will play their round-robin round on Friday. Then, Pools A (USA, Uruguay, and the Dominican Republic) and C (Chile, Brazil, and Colombia) will do the same on Saturday.
The top two teams from each pool will advance to Sunday's knockout rounds. All elimination games will feature on Sunday's court, including the quarterfinals, semifinals, third-place game, and championship showdown.
How to watch Team USA in the 2024 FIBA 3×3AmeriCup
The tournament tips off at 12:30 PM ET on Thursday, but Team USA doesn't feature until Saturday, when they face the Dominican Republic at 3:30 PM ET before taking on Uruguay at 6:35 PM ET.
All FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup games — including Sunday's 8 PM ET championship — will stream live on YouTube.
USA Basketball's Olympic 5×5 team cruised into the quarterfinals over the weekend, racking up three big pool play wins to enter the knockout rounds in first place. With players like Breanna Stewart and A'ja Wilson leading the way, the US earned wins over Japan, Belgium, and Germany.
Further cementing their dominance over the field, the US finished pool play up 58 points after three games — a massive stat in a tournament where point differential is a key tiebreaker.
Path to eighth-straight Olympic gold takes shape
With their 58-game Olympic winning streak comfortably intact, Team USA moves on to the win-or-go-home quarterfinals. The seven-time gold medalists will take on Nigeria — the first African country to ever make it to the knockout rounds of an Olympic basketball tournament — on Wednesday at 3:30 PM ET, with live coverage across NBC networks.
Should the US advance, they'll face the winner of Serbia vs. Australia, whose Opals saved their Olympic campaign with Sunday's win over host nation France.
The other quarterfinal matchups are also set, with Spain playing Belgium and France taking on Germany.
Team USA's 3×3 squad rallies to capture Olympic bronze
After kicking things off 0-3, the US 3×3 team's five game winning streak carried them all the way the medal rounds.
The quartet fell 18-16 in overtime to eventual silver medalists Spain in Monday's semifinal, ending their chances of defending their Tokyo gold medal. Hours later, the US regrouped to win their bronze medal match over Canada behind Hailey Van Lith’s team-leading six points, with Germany later taking gold.
"We could have just laid down and not even been competing this far, but we stayed together, we stayed the course, and we made [a medal] happen from very little," said Team USA's Rhyne Howard on Monday.