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Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're wondering

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Speaker 1: what sort of video hint the Unrivaled social team would

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Speaker 1: post to tease our announcement as a player in the league.

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Speaker 1: Maybe folks high fiving and then a middle finger. You know,

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Speaker 1: good game, Good game for you. It's Monday, January sixth,

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Speaker 1: and today kicks off our new year, New league's series

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Speaker 1: of shows serving up everything you need to know about

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Speaker 1: the new professional women's leagues. Kicking off tipping off, first pitching,

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Speaker 1: and first serving their way into our hearts in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty five. Today's league unrival a new professional three on

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Speaker 1: three women's basketball league founded in twenty twenty three by

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Speaker 1: WNBA stars Nafisa Collier and Brianna Stewart in part to

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Speaker 1: allow WNBA players to play domestically in the offseason. President

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Speaker 1: of Unrivaled Alex Bazell joins the show to give us

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Speaker 1: the stakes, stars, stories and stats we need to be

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Speaker 1: ready for tip off. It's all coming up right after this,

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Speaker 1: All right, slices, Welcome to new Year, New leagues today,

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Speaker 1: Unrivaled joining us to tell us everything we need to

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Speaker 1: know about the league. He's the president of Unrivaled, basketball

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Speaker 1: at WNBA and NBA skills coach and co founder of

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Speaker 1: Through the Lens, a subscription based video product and education

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Speaker 1: platform featuring WNBA and NBA stars. He's one half of

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Speaker 1: a power couple with WNBA superstar wife Defisa Collier and

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Speaker 1: dad Slash bee Keeper.

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Speaker 2: To daughter Mila, it's Alex Bizell. What's up, Alex?

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Speaker 3: How you doing?

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Speaker 4: That was a great introduction, and it's very kind to

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Speaker 4: say I'm half of a power couple. I'm probably like

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Speaker 4: a tenth of the of the full, but I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: When you put all the transformers together, it really doesn't

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Speaker 1: matter which part is caring most of the load, right,

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Speaker 1: It's what's the end poduct?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 1: Like, before we get into Unrivaled, let's talk about what

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Speaker 1: the pro women's basketball spaces look like during the WNBA

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Speaker 1: off season for.

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Speaker 2: The past couple DECs.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of tell us what the options were and

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Speaker 1: what it looked like beyond the WNBA for players.

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Speaker 4: Traditionally, these players have had to go overseas to maximize

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Speaker 4: earnings because of just the reality of the economics in

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Speaker 4: the space, and while you're playing you have basically hopefully

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Speaker 4: a ten year window If you're a great player to

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Speaker 4: maximize those earnings. So the off season, most these players

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Speaker 4: on the women's side have had to play notoriously for

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Speaker 4: you know, full twelve months out of the year. Now

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Speaker 4: we're getting to a point where you're seeing less players

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Speaker 4: go overseas really in the last probably like five years

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Speaker 4: or so, where you're making enough off the court to

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Speaker 4: subsidize that earning. But you still are getting a majority

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Speaker 4: of people who are playing in the off season, whether

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Speaker 4: it's with you know, athletes unlimited when they came around,

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Speaker 4: overseas still being a thing, but there was really no

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Speaker 4: solution in totality for the top players because even if

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Speaker 4: you were staying home, you had the luxury to stay

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Speaker 4: home because you were making enough, you weren't able to

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Speaker 4: sharpen your skills or work on your game, and you

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Speaker 4: could see a lot of that Russ come out in

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Speaker 4: real time when the season started, you know, for the

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Speaker 4: FISA specifically, she's played overseas. I think half of her

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Speaker 4: off seasons, other half she stayed home, whether she was

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Speaker 4: pregnant or chose to stay home. And she's always said,

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Speaker 4: you know, it's it's tough being away from family when

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Speaker 4: you go overseas, but also she's more in a groove

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Speaker 4: when the season starts and she's more in rhythm, and

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Speaker 4: so there's a fine balance of that. So that's why

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Speaker 4: she's always preferred to play sometime in the off season,

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Speaker 4: not the full year round. But that's what's always been

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Speaker 4: imperfect about that. You have to choose being away from family,

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Speaker 4: giving up brand opportunities, resting your body, or you know,

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Speaker 4: vice versa.

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Speaker 3: Maximizing that off season making more money.

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Speaker 4: So that it was always just like you have to

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Speaker 4: you have to choose which side of the fence you

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Speaker 4: want to be on.

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Speaker 1: And then, of course in recent years it got even

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Speaker 1: more serious with Britney Griner, where there were certains about

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Speaker 1: the places people were playing and the potential outcomes of

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Speaker 1: playing in places where the country doesn't operate the same

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Speaker 1: way that we do, so safety issues abound. You've been

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Speaker 1: working as a skills coach with both NBA and WNBA

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Speaker 1: players for years. I love the thinking behind through the Lens,

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Speaker 1: which is about not just creating content, but data capture,

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Speaker 1: which is what businesses due with the content created by athletes,

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Speaker 1: while the athletes are left without all that data when

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Speaker 1: they retire.

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Speaker 2: To be able to use to create further business.

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Speaker 1: But because of all that time that you've spent both

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Speaker 1: with men and women players, and then additionally your relationship

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Speaker 1: with NAFISA, I imagine that made it pretty evident to

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Speaker 1: you just how different off seasons are for both sides,

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Speaker 1: and just how different it is to expect the highest

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Speaker 1: skill level when you don't have time off to work

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Speaker 1: on things specifically outside of games, or when you aren't

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Speaker 1: playing year round. Was that part of the growth and

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Speaker 1: birth of Unrivaled conversations with NAFISA about that kind of thing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean one hundred percent.

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Speaker 4: And I've been spending most my in LA up until

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Speaker 4: this last offseason because I was working with athletes and

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Speaker 4: seeing what it takes for them to be prepared, both

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Speaker 4: through skilled workouts and also pickup games, you know, like

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Speaker 4: through the lens. We've been kind of the spot that

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Speaker 4: been showcasing these pickup games with KD and Kyrie and

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Speaker 4: players like that and Trey Young. It's just such a

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Speaker 4: vast difference, right, So, even thinking about the players who

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Speaker 4: stay home the college teams are in season, you can't

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Speaker 4: really play against them. Their peers in the WNBA are

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Speaker 4: spread out throughout the country.

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Speaker 3: Or overseas, so.

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Speaker 4: They don't really get to come together and play pickup

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Speaker 4: games to say what the NBA players do. So it's

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Speaker 4: just such a disadvantage. And even looking at the recovery

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Speaker 4: and the PT and the strength and conditioning, you know, granted,

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Speaker 4: there's now there's organizations that are keeping these players in

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Speaker 4: market and working with them, but it's not the same

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Speaker 4: as a player development person. You can't just work out

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Speaker 4: all season or offseason like you have to go against

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Speaker 4: live competition, real live competition. You have to play the game.

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Speaker 4: You can still certainly improve, but that's been what has

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Speaker 4: been most adamant against some of the most skilled players

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Speaker 4: I've ever worked with, whether it's Kyrie or Carmelo or

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Speaker 4: Trey Young. You have to play a few times a

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Speaker 4: week to make sure you're now working or trying to

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Speaker 4: implement things that you're training on throughout the off season,

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Speaker 4: which the women, once again really don't have.

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Speaker 1: So take us back to the first time you heard

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Speaker 1: about the idea of unrivaled first iteration and your first reaction.

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Speaker 4: It was really it was really just about solving something

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Speaker 4: in the marketplace and understanding what candidly our family would

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Speaker 4: want to sign up for It's why we chose to

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Speaker 4: start the league in early January, where players could be

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Speaker 4: home for the holidays and be around their families. And

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Speaker 4: even when you look at the off seasons of the

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Speaker 4: length of off season, you know, if you play in

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Speaker 4: the WNBA finals and play in our season, you still

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Speaker 4: have four months of full off season, which is longer

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Speaker 4: than NBA players have, right, So, I think there's this

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Speaker 4: misconception that if you play in the off season, you're

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Speaker 4: not getting the ample rest, which is one hundred percent

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Speaker 4: not true. And you know, even hiring some of the

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Speaker 4: key strength and conditioning and recovery people that we have,

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Speaker 4: they've said it's almost a disadvantage to be resting that long.

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Speaker 4: So that's where I think we've always looked at, what

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Speaker 4: is the solution here for just the athlete. Take away

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Speaker 4: the business side of it, take away the exposure, what

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Speaker 4: is just the optimal thing for an athlete schedule, and

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Speaker 4: then start there and grow from there. And then we

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Speaker 4: started bringing on, you know, people who had worked at

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Speaker 4: different leagues, whether it's overtime, you know, being at ESPN

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Speaker 4: or being on the media side, and just understanding what

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Speaker 4: then the opportunity is from a business component. So it

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Speaker 4: slowly started progressing. And when you think about the league,

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Speaker 4: it's like, Okay, you're going to hire some reps, hire

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Speaker 4: some coaches, play some games, go home, and there's so

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Speaker 4: many complexities that go along with it, you know, whether

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Speaker 4: it's insurance and liability and making sure that the recovery

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Speaker 4: is in place and the schedules in place for six

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Speaker 4: teams to be under one roof. So there's just so

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Speaker 4: much that goes into it and just takes time naturally,

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Speaker 4: But it really just started with conversations and evolved with

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Speaker 4: more conversations over time, and now here we are.

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Speaker 1: Well and you've certainly made more than just a pickup

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Speaker 1: league that athletes can come get some games in. This

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Speaker 1: has become truly a business, an exciting business that might

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Speaker 1: be changing the way other women's leagues operate and look

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Speaker 1: at things. It's been really innovative and very cool to watch.

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Speaker 1: So let's get everyone ready for this inaugural season, a

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Speaker 1: little unrivaled one oh one. Let's start with the teams,

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Speaker 1: which are actually called basketball clubs, got clubs dot teams?

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Speaker 2: How many are there? And who are they?

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Speaker 3: You're putting me on the spot with who are they?

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Speaker 3: But we have six.

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Speaker 4: We have six clubs which are teams, and we have

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Speaker 4: essentially six roster spots per team. You know, when we

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Speaker 4: originally started, we wanted to go with five per team.

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Speaker 4: That was kind of the optimal number, and then the

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Speaker 4: business kept progressing, like, well, let's add, you know, a

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Speaker 4: few more opportunities for players that we want and that

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Speaker 4: we know we want to progress too. So you know,

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Speaker 4: I know we have the Vinyl Basketball Club, we have

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Speaker 4: the Laces Basketball Club, we have the Phantom Basketball Club.

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Speaker 4: Those are three of them. We have the Lunar Owls

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Speaker 4: Basketball Club.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna throw you one.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw you the mist which I only remember

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Speaker 1: because of my team's not gonna be one letter off voice,

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Speaker 1: so that's not gonna be my squad.

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Speaker 3: And the Rose Basketball Club.

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Speaker 2: There we go.

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Speaker 4: Those are the six, right, So obviously I'm not exactly

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Speaker 4: the creative within our team, but it was fun seeing

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Speaker 4: that process unfold, and I think what the reason we

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Speaker 4: went with the namings that we did in basketball club

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Speaker 4: specifically is because we don't have city affiliations, right These

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Speaker 4: aren't New York, LA Chicago based for right now, we

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Speaker 4: do leave open the opportunity to sell these these franchises

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Speaker 4: in the next year two three years, But we wanted

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Speaker 4: to build a sense of community still where you could

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Speaker 4: identify with this club and be a part of something

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Speaker 4: that's still a community without it being city affiliated.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 4: And we know ultimately that people are coming because of

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Speaker 4: the names on the back, not necessarily the names on

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Speaker 4: the front. So it's knowing that and leaning into that

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Speaker 4: and trying to morph these teams personalities with the players

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Speaker 4: that are coming in.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned six players per team.

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Speaker 1: For those listening that aren't aware of the format, they

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Speaker 1: might think, wow, that's not a lot of subs, but

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Speaker 1: this is a three x three league. Tell folks what

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Speaker 1: to expect when it comes to rules and format because

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Speaker 1: it's not quite the same as the three x three

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Speaker 1: that they might have watched at the Olympics.

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Speaker 4: I think one thing we've always talked about for the product,

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Speaker 4: and this is where I really had to dive deeper,

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Speaker 4: was what would be a great product for the fans,

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Speaker 4: And three on three half court for me is just

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Speaker 4: it's tougher to watch just for me, right, And that's

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Speaker 4: just my that's my feedback.

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Speaker 3: It could be different for other people.

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Speaker 4: But I think basketball is meant to have flow in

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Speaker 4: terms of a little bit of up and down. You

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Speaker 4: should be able to walk the ball, should be was

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Speaker 4: run the ball. You should be able to choose opportunities

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Speaker 4: based on the game and how it flows. Whereas half

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Speaker 4: court is more hectic, right, it's get the ball out,

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Speaker 4: come right back. And I think for us it was

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Speaker 4: about that number one to Our court is seventy feet

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Speaker 4: not ninety four feet, so it's about two thirds the

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Speaker 4: size of a regulation court, and it's more spacing.

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Speaker 3: Right, So think about the WNBA.

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Speaker 4: The WNBA is a great game, but I hear all

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Speaker 4: the time, you know, from Stewey Fee, from these stars,

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Speaker 4: it's like I wish I had more space, Right, I'm

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Speaker 4: always I'm always double teamed. Every time I try to dribble,

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Speaker 4: There's three people around me, and we would just wanted

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Speaker 4: to open the court up to showcase just how talented

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Speaker 4: these players are. So it's it's still basketball. It's still competitive.

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Speaker 4: There's still defensive orientation, but imagine Brandon Stewart with a

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Speaker 4: little bit more freedom, Imagine Rique with a little bit

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Speaker 4: more freedom. Like there's still that element of teamwork, but

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Speaker 4: it's going to be exciting to watch where we're really

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Speaker 4: leaning into the.

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Speaker 3: Talent of the of the best.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you get to see the handles, you get to

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Speaker 1: see working in space, you get to see some of

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Speaker 1: the pickup elements that aren't as prevalent in a regular

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Speaker 1: W game. I'm also I was always the center who

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Speaker 1: could run, so I would hate a half court because

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Speaker 1: then I couldn't be beating the other bigs on the

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Speaker 1: breakwads exactly, So I love that aspect. So the court size,

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Speaker 1: is there any other league that uses that size quarter?

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Speaker 2: How did you come up with those dimensions?

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Speaker 1: No?

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Speaker 4: What's funny is you know my home gym that I

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Speaker 4: used to run my academies out of in Saint Louis,

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Speaker 4: it was about that to mention. So we had played

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Speaker 4: three on three, four on four, five on five. So

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Speaker 4: I've spent a lot of time on that size gym,

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Speaker 4: and even the WNB and mbpa's gym in New York

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Speaker 4: is a little bit shorter, but it's it's you see

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Speaker 4: it all the time. You see it at parks. You

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Speaker 4: know they're not full ninety four feet courts, and you

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Speaker 4: can see how the game flows and works. So it

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Speaker 4: was just over time and then testing it with NBA players,

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Speaker 4: college players, WNBA players, seeing what the what it looked like,

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Speaker 4: testing out shot clock length and quarter length and things

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Speaker 4: like that. So people are going to be surprised where

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Speaker 4: most three on three games are anywhere from you know,

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Speaker 4: twenty one points to the winner, sixteen points depending if

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Speaker 4: the clock runs out. You know, our games are going

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Speaker 4: to be in the sixties, seventies, eighties, which will surprise

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Speaker 4: a lot of people, but it'll still be basketball. You know,

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Speaker 4: we didn't want to make it a gimmick. We didn't

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Speaker 4: want to turn it into like this, you.

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Speaker 3: Know, allsto rocking.

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Speaker 4: No one's trying. Yeah, so it'll be fun for people.

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Speaker 4: I think they'll be really shocked once they see the

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Speaker 4: product in a good way.

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Speaker 1: Was there any reticence to having to adjust to shots

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Speaker 1: and spaces that will change when they get back.

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Speaker 4: To the W No, Because basketball is played in actions

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Speaker 4: of three, right, So you always have three people within

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Speaker 4: an action, whether it's a ball screen, ball handler, screener,

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Speaker 4: and then the first person off the ball that's going

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Speaker 4: to rotate like that's generally how basketball actions work. Or

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Speaker 4: off the ball, you have a pin down, you have

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Speaker 4: the person with the ball, and you have someone coming

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Speaker 4: off the curl or screen or whatever it might be,

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Speaker 4: and that's where the other two players are usually spacing.

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Speaker 4: You very rarely have four or five all in an

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Speaker 4: action at one time. So what we think this will

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Speaker 4: do to prepare players for five on five is open

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Speaker 4: up that decision making in freedom right where the reads

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Speaker 4: are a little bit more simple. But it builds confidence

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Speaker 4: over time to where you get into this habit to

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Speaker 4: when you put two extra players on the court. Now

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Speaker 4: it's more of a seamless transition. So quite honestly, if

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Speaker 4: you ask most player development people, three on three is

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Speaker 4: the best form of development because the balls.

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Speaker 3: In your hand more right, you're a part of these

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Speaker 3: actions more consistently. As opposed to a five on five.

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Speaker 4: Game, you may get one fourth of those opportunities where

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Speaker 4: you still have to just get reps in all players

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Speaker 4: just need reps to keep growing their game.

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Speaker 2: We got to take a break.

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Speaker 1: When we come back with Alex, we're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about who the players are, who the coaches are, and

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Speaker 1: those crazy rollouts given us hints about which player was

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Speaker 1: going to be named next.

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Speaker 2: It's coming up.

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Speaker 1: We're back with Alex talking about Unrivaled. Let's talk about

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Speaker 1: these creative rollouts for players. We've got the full list

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Speaker 1: of participants at our fingertips, so we don't have to

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Speaker 1: name all of them, but I want to hear how

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Speaker 1: those players were selected. Who's the brain trust that thought

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Speaker 1: these are the few players from the w that we

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Speaker 1: really want to go after.

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Speaker 4: Initially I was heavily involved in that process where I

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Speaker 4: spent a lot of time on the women's side watching it,

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Speaker 4: being around the feast, so working with a number of

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Speaker 4: these players on the court, because our game's a little

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Speaker 4: bit different than five on five, right, you have to

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Speaker 4: be a little bit more skill oriented, probably more.

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Speaker 3: Mobile in our game.

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Speaker 4: But it was really just identifying it's pretty obvious, right,

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Speaker 4: who are the top ten twelve players in the world.

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Speaker 4: You can just look at the pool of Team USA

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Speaker 4: who made the team, a few players who didn't make

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Speaker 4: the team, and it's like, okay, let's start there, and

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Speaker 4: then from there then you start identifying who's in, who's out,

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Speaker 4: and then morphing these teams.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 4: So the way we looked at it is we wanted

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Speaker 4: at least two bigs or hybrid bigs on each on

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Speaker 4: each team, right, So once you fill those spots out,

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Speaker 4: then you can identify who would be perfect in these spots, right,

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Speaker 4: and you look at you know, Vee and Stewie and

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Speaker 4: Satu more hybrid post and then you go into the

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Speaker 4: Beg's of the world, who are obviously more traditional posts

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Speaker 4: and trying to find that mixture and balance. So, you know,

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Speaker 4: we really looked at in three buckets. Number one is

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Speaker 4: if you had to rank who the top players in

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Speaker 4: the world on traditionally, what.

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Speaker 3: Does that look like?

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Speaker 4: Then if you had to put that into our format,

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Speaker 4: how did the name start shifting on the board? And

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Speaker 4: then third is there's a business side of this, right

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Speaker 4: who is driving fan interest? You look at jersey sales,

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Speaker 4: you look at shoe sales, you look at attendance and

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Speaker 4: viewership of those team specific games, and then you look

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Speaker 4: at their social media following how active they are, what

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Speaker 4: their engagement is. All these play a factor into what

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Speaker 4: this ranking looks like and spits out, okay, who are

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Speaker 4: the top you know, thirty thirty six targets that we

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Speaker 4: would want to identifying after and then over time, thankfully

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Speaker 4: I got to get out of that realm and step

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Speaker 4: back where we hired Claire Deuilius from the links, you know,

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Speaker 4: Luke Cooper, who's our president of basketball Operations, who came

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Speaker 4: over from Overtime, the lead who was a heavy part

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Speaker 4: of the formation of this league. And then it's just

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Speaker 4: about filling who we think, not necessarily who is the

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Speaker 4: best best player we can get, but who fits into

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Speaker 4: these openings and these teams, right, because you need a balance.

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Speaker 1: When you were making those picks, you sort of were

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Speaker 1: assigning people to clubs as you went.

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Speaker 4: We did mocks right, so we don't assign the players

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Speaker 4: that went through the coaches, but we wanted to mock

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Speaker 4: out making sure you know, who are the primary ball

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Speaker 4: handlers the posts, and then doing our own layout and

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Speaker 4: then from there then the.

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Speaker 3: Pool gets set.

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Speaker 1: Got it, okay, So we'll get to the coaches selecting players.

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Speaker 1: There was a lot of rumors and my former boss,

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Speaker 1: John Skipper, who's one of the investors in Unrivaled, was

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Speaker 1: on his show talking about the push for Caitlin Clark.

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Speaker 1: How disappointing was it that she didn't end up deciding

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Speaker 1: to play at least this season.

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Speaker 4: I don't you know, like listen, disappointment would be a

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Speaker 4: bit of a stretch. I think we wanted Caitlin, right,

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Speaker 4: I think that's very clear. I think anyone who is

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Speaker 4: in our shoes would one hundred percent one. Caitlyn gets

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Speaker 4: clear the data, the numbers she brings. It's an outlier situation.

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Speaker 4: She's incredible, and she's a great talent too, like and

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Speaker 4: I think that's somewhat was lost in translation sometimes of like,

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Speaker 4: of course Caitlyn moves the needle, but Caitlyn's also one

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Speaker 4: of the best players in the world. She was first

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Speaker 4: team All WNBA as a rookie, and you want those

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Speaker 4: players one hundred percent.

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Speaker 2: And her passing in the three x three would be

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Speaker 2: fun as hell.

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Speaker 3: She would be.

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Speaker 4: She's really built for this style. Like she's she's the

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Speaker 4: perfect hybrid of speed. She's much faster than people think.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 4: She can shoot it from deep, which stretches out the

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Speaker 4: court even more in this system. So yeah, like listen,

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Speaker 4: she was she was a heavy, heavy priority for us.

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Speaker 4: We had to find a balance, candidly to give her time.

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Speaker 4: Right she was rushed from college to draft to pros

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Speaker 4: to then you know, she was in conversations every day.

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Speaker 4: Some of these conversations were very unfortunate conversations that were

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Speaker 4: going out throughout social media right then, then it was

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Speaker 4: about Team USA and then you went through all that

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Speaker 4: like there was really never a downtime unfortunately, and for her,

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Speaker 4: she ultimately just wanted this off season to take a break,

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Speaker 4: which we get, you know for sure. I think for us,

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Speaker 4: if you ask us, like, Okay, what's the plan moving forward,

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Speaker 4: I've said this multiple times, like we're going to be

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Speaker 4: a league that always has a spot for Caitlin.

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Speaker 3: Now, at the same time, we have to we have

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Speaker 3: to build out rosters.

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Speaker 4: We got to be fair to our collective roster space,

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Speaker 4: and we want to we want to work with players

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Speaker 4: who also want to be in the league. And I

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Speaker 4: think we're very hopeful she wants to play in the

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Speaker 4: league after seeing this season and resting, but for now,

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Speaker 4: you know, unfortunately.

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Speaker 3: She's not in the league.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, I think we're really pumped about the rosters

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Speaker 4: we've built.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe hard to be disappointed when you're outperforming expectations

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Speaker 1: in terms of investors, outperforming expectations in terms of the

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Speaker 1: number of players you can have on rosters, because you're

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Speaker 1: already performing better than you thought you would in this

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Speaker 1: first iteration. So it's been really cool to watch and

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Speaker 1: to see y'all be very transparent about that stuff via

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Speaker 1: social so that people can see that this league is

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Speaker 1: really building in a way that maybe was unexpected.

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Speaker 2: Right off the top, what.

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Speaker 1: Is the scale of pay based on who's deciding how

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Speaker 1: much each player is getting paid? Is it basketball folks,

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Speaker 1: is it marketing folks? And then what's the sliding scale

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Speaker 1: sort of based.

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Speaker 4: On So I think essentially we number one, are really

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Speaker 4: proud of how much we're able to invest into the

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00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,359
Speaker 4: players in it being a really sound decision, you know,

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Speaker 4: like if you think about we have thirty six roster spots, right,

439
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,720
Speaker 4: our advantages we have low overhead, We don't have twelve

440
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:49,280
Speaker 4: teams soon to be what sixteen fifteen sixteen in the

441
00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,200
Speaker 4: WNBA in twelve different markets with travel and all those things.

442
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,080
Speaker 3: That really lead to a lot of cost.

443
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,600
Speaker 4: And then too we have a shortened season, you know,

444
00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:02,119
Speaker 4: so the cost of staffing and simple stuff security referees,

445
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,800
Speaker 4: game day operations like those start shrinking to where now

446
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,600
Speaker 4: you can invest more aggressively for the athletes. So in

447
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:11,840
Speaker 4: terms of how those decisions were made, what we try

448
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,200
Speaker 4: to always be is like our keyword here is being

449
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,000
Speaker 4: fair to each player, you know, like what is their

450
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:21,120
Speaker 4: market value? What are they commanding overseas, are they playing overseas?

451
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:22,959
Speaker 4: And then what are their accomplishments?

452
00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:24,840
Speaker 3: Right? What have they done today? You know?

453
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:26,919
Speaker 4: So what we try to do a structure it based on,

454
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,320
Speaker 4: you know, w accomplishments. Where are they at in their career,

455
00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:33,879
Speaker 4: what are they averaging in real time? Like what do

456
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,679
Speaker 4: their stats look like today with the accomplishments last season?

457
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:39,320
Speaker 4: And then you put that into trying to just be

458
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,400
Speaker 4: as fair as possible and knowing what would it take

459
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,560
Speaker 4: to get these players. What's great about this you could

460
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,639
Speaker 4: look at this as a positive or negative, is the

461
00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,000
Speaker 4: market is changing in real time. Right Like when we

462
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,840
Speaker 4: started this, if we would have when we first came

463
00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:58,960
Speaker 4: up with this concept, what two years ago, our pool

464
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,320
Speaker 4: probably would have been half of that. I think that's

465
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,280
Speaker 4: what we had planned initially. But the space is just

466
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:06,520
Speaker 4: progressed so much, which is great. I think the other

467
00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:11,399
Speaker 4: thing that people don't realize is we are one hundred

468
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:16,040
Speaker 4: percent transforming this industry in terms of what is expected

469
00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,480
Speaker 4: from a pay perspective, right and it's not just here

470
00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:23,360
Speaker 4: domestically like you're seeing overseas raise you know a lot

471
00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:27,080
Speaker 4: the money's coming up. China's adding more roster spots like

472
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 4: you know, and we've candidly been on the inside of

473
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,199
Speaker 4: a lot of conversation, is what would it take to

474
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,920
Speaker 4: get this player and they're making a ton overseas or

475
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:37,679
Speaker 4: you're like, you should one hundred percent do that, right,

476
00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:39,439
Speaker 4: you should one hundred percent Like So, we've been in

477
00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:42,600
Speaker 4: a lot of conversations where even we've come to mutual

478
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,520
Speaker 4: agreements with a few players that someone came over the

479
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:47,679
Speaker 4: top and threw them a ton of money overseas, and

480
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,040
Speaker 4: we're like, you should one hundred percent do that, right.

481
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 4: So I think that's what's like really cool is we

482
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,560
Speaker 4: are moving that needle forward for not just these players

483
00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:58,320
Speaker 4: in our league, but even players not playing in our

484
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:00,600
Speaker 4: league during the off Season's fantastic.

485
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:02,080
Speaker 2: It's also very cool.

486
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,560
Speaker 1: I love beyond the graphics and the teases about who

487
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,040
Speaker 1: the players will be, the social also has some very

488
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,080
Speaker 1: cool sort of infographics about how the players are involved.

489
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 1: Each inaugural athlete getting an equity stake. There's some really

490
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,399
Speaker 1: cool business side things to this for the athletes. As

491
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:19,480
Speaker 1: far as any other wrap rounds other benefits we don't

492
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:21,800
Speaker 1: know about, whether that's healthcare, other things in addition to

493
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,120
Speaker 1: that equity stake we've heard about.

494
00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,119
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, we have insurance policies in place for

495
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:31,120
Speaker 4: if the players get hurt, you know, we protect them

496
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,040
Speaker 4: in that way. The other side of this is, yeah,

497
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 4: we have for the mothers in our league, which I

498
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:41,359
Speaker 4: believe we have five or six now, we have childcare

499
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,639
Speaker 4: on site for them to make sure that they're comfortable,

500
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:46,920
Speaker 4: and you know during game nights of full staff, which

501
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:50,720
Speaker 4: most w NBA teams have. Now, you know, so we've

502
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 4: also thought about the revenue share specifically. You know most well,

503
00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,080
Speaker 4: most people don't realize when it comes to even like

504
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:02,320
Speaker 4: any major league traditionally goes through the players union, they

505
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,560
Speaker 4: pay their cost and then they figure out what is

506
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,400
Speaker 4: left to now distribute when it comes to jersey sales

507
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:10,439
Speaker 4: or you know, if you do a deal with trading

508
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 4: card companies and utilize players' names and images, what is

509
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:16,520
Speaker 4: that split? Right, So what we try to do is

510
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,000
Speaker 4: upfront saying this isn't a split on profit, it's a

511
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 4: split on revenue. So like we don't get paid first

512
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 4: and say what's left to give to the athletes. If

513
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 4: we're selling an angel reach jersey, she should one hundred

514
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 4: percent see the benefits of that and right now, they're

515
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,479
Speaker 4: really not right. You see all these Caitlin Clark jerseys

516
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:39,439
Speaker 4: walking around, and it's a bit of a model that

517
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:44,280
Speaker 4: needs to be fixed because they're not buying these jerseys

518
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,040
Speaker 4: because they want to wear the Fever. They're buying it

519
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,879
Speaker 4: because they want to wear Caitlyn Clark or Angel Reese

520
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 4: or Brienna Stewart. And that was something like from day one,

521
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 4: we were saying, it's great to pay him, it's great

522
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,840
Speaker 4: to give him equity, but they're not buying those jerseys.

523
00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,680
Speaker 4: Those players are in those jerseys. So there's certain things

524
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 4: like that that we've tried to be really aggressive with

525
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 4: so that the players know that we're not trying to

526
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 4: take advantage of them being here. And ultimately, this ship

527
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 4: is going to go, you know, as north as it

528
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 4: can go if the players are all in on it,

529
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,160
Speaker 4: and as long as we're taking care of them being

530
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,280
Speaker 4: fair every step along the way, we're going to be

531
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:22,119
Speaker 4: in a really good spot.

532
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:23,200
Speaker 2: I love that.

533
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:25,680
Speaker 1: Okay, let's do a little speed roun on logistics. Where

534
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 1: are the games being played in Miami? In Miami and

535
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 1: the same kind of court and arena for every game

536
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:32,120
Speaker 1: every game?

537
00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:34,520
Speaker 4: In year one, year two, we will do a tour model,

538
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 4: will go to four different cities, but will still be

539
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:38,760
Speaker 4: predominantly focused in Miami.

540
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:40,399
Speaker 2: And what are the league dates?

541
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,160
Speaker 4: We begin January seventeenth, opening night.

542
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,080
Speaker 3: Players arrive January second.

543
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:47,720
Speaker 4: So we have a two week build up, media day,

544
00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:51,399
Speaker 4: training camp, and then the finals is on I believe

545
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 4: March seventeenth.

546
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: And how does that season format work in terms of

547
00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 1: how many teams make a playoff and then a championship.

548
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,280
Speaker 4: Yeah, so of the six teams that play throughout the

549
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 4: course of the year, it's basically a round robin's schedule

550
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:06,360
Speaker 4: where you're going to see them playing different teams each week.

551
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:09,119
Speaker 4: Top four seeds make the playoffs into a single elimination

552
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 4: final four, with the ultimate prize going to the last

553
00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:14,439
Speaker 4: person the last team standing.

554
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:16,640
Speaker 1: And it sounds like there's a coach for each team

555
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,159
Speaker 1: and then sort of a basketball director who oversees the

556
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:22,440
Speaker 1: single entity larger unrivaled.

557
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,679
Speaker 4: Yes, so we own all six teams right now. You know,

558
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:31,199
Speaker 4: Claire Dewillias is our GM and really runs all ops

559
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,119
Speaker 4: for us there on the basketball.

560
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,119
Speaker 3: Side, alongside Luke Cooper and Lou Layman.

561
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 4: And you know, from there, each team has a head

562
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 4: coach and assistant coach and a club coordinator, right, so

563
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,880
Speaker 4: they all have their own many organizations they're working through,

564
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 4: so the players know who to communicate with, and then

565
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 4: it funnels up the line on things that we need

566
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:49,359
Speaker 4: to take care of.

567
00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:51,760
Speaker 1: And once you hired those coaches, you had a draft

568
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,000
Speaker 1: of sorts from the pool of existing players.

569
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,240
Speaker 4: We did, yeah, we brought the six coaches in. We

570
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 4: placed the players in pods, so a lot of the

571
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,760
Speaker 4: players that are similar, you know, Fisa to Stewie, they

572
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 4: go in a pod and then they start. Basically what

573
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,560
Speaker 4: we did was all the coaches started placing these players

574
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,080
Speaker 4: on different clubs without knowing who they were going to coach.

575
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,879
Speaker 4: All right, So for the sake of being as fair

576
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 4: as possible for the teams and splitting them up, we

577
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,160
Speaker 4: didn't want coaches knowing who they were going to coach

578
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 4: or who they were picking. Otherwise you could get people

579
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,120
Speaker 4: who aren't very good drafters see any time in sports,

580
00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,160
Speaker 4: and then you have people who are just biased who

581
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,240
Speaker 4: want to pull the player to their team. So it

582
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:33,919
Speaker 4: was an interesting thing having them split it. And then

583
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 4: after the fact, we assigned who the head coaches would

584
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 4: be very.

585
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,160
Speaker 1: Cool, very sneaky, who are some of the coaches whose

586
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 1: names you might recognize.

587
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,440
Speaker 4: Teresa Witherspoon, who was the head coach of this guy

588
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,800
Speaker 4: last year. We're really excited to bring her in. Phil Handy,

589
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:50,760
Speaker 4: who's been assistant coach for years and the NBA won

590
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:55,920
Speaker 4: three different championships in three different cities. Adam Harrington who's

591
00:27:55,960 --> 00:28:00,480
Speaker 4: been on staff for the Brooklyn Nets and been in

592
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:04,760
Speaker 4: the NBA for years, player development driven as well. Nola

593
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,320
Speaker 4: Henry who's been an assistant previously last year and actually

594
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 4: took over for the game that Kurt Miller missed to

595
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 4: coach the Sparks. Andrew Wade at the Mystics, and then

596
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 4: DJ Sackman, who's one of the best trainers I've ever

597
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:17,040
Speaker 4: been around.

598
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 3: Though, that's our group that we're really excited about.

599
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 4: And we missed out on a few which is like,

600
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,920
Speaker 4: we had a few coaches that we wanted that ended

601
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,399
Speaker 4: up in different spots and organizations, which we're happy for

602
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:31,920
Speaker 4: this year in the WNBA, But I think we're really

603
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,240
Speaker 4: thrilled about the staff that we put together.

604
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:36,879
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if folks want to watch those coaches making

605
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 1: those selections and figuring out the player movement, there was

606
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,040
Speaker 1: actually a video of that released on YouTube, so we'll

607
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: link to it in our show notes for folks listening

608
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:46,920
Speaker 1: if they want to watch. Okay, if we want to

609
00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:48,960
Speaker 1: be an educated viewer of the three x three game,

610
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,080
Speaker 1: can we watch the Olympics to get a general idea

611
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 1: or is there some other place that had a more

612
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 1: similar to your style?

613
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,200
Speaker 3: You can't. Our style is the only style.

614
00:28:58,040 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 2: Right, proprietary information.

615
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,240
Speaker 3: You got to watch this January seventeenth on T and T.

616
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's talk about that.

617
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 1: Folks can watch on TNT streaming across those platforms related channels.

618
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 1: Who's calling the games, doing sidelines, that kind of thing.

619
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,080
Speaker 4: That's information I can't disclose yet. We have a formal

620
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 4: release coming out with TNT. People are going to be

621
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,640
Speaker 4: really excited about our talent calling the games, even in

622
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,640
Speaker 4: studio through T and T because we'll have a studio show.

623
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 4: But you know, before and after, I believe every game night.

624
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 4: What's so unique about this is we are the only

625
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,040
Speaker 4: league in the world that has every single game on

626
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:40,960
Speaker 4: national broadcast television. Right so for any league, including the NFL.

627
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,160
Speaker 4: You know, because we have such a limited amount of games,

628
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 4: we're able to bring this to the fans where they

629
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:47,680
Speaker 4: don't have to go search right, they don't find what network,

630
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 4: they don't have to go to the league pass, they

631
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:50,680
Speaker 4: don't have to go anywhere. But so that was like

632
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:53,320
Speaker 4: priority number one for us where we feel like we're

633
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 4: now growing the game and helping people find it pretty easily.

634
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 4: So these so these stars continue to be seen and

635
00:29:58,800 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 4: keep growing their brands too.

636
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 2: Where can folks get tickets to watch in person?

637
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 4: You can go to our website, Unrivaled dot Basketball. It'll

638
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,080
Speaker 4: take you through the ticket master. But I believe we

639
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:12,800
Speaker 4: have still a few tickets left. I think we're about

640
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,880
Speaker 4: ninety nine point nine percent sold out. We have not

641
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:18,960
Speaker 4: sold our one on one tickets yet, which is the

642
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 4: week of February tenth, and we haven't sold for playoffs yet.

643
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:24,720
Speaker 4: So there's going to be more releases coming shortly, and.

644
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 2: The viewing experience will be different from a normal basketball game.

645
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 3: Huh, it will be, you know.

646
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,560
Speaker 4: That's where you know, John Skipper played a huge part initially.

647
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 4: He was one of our first big investors, and I've

648
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 4: spent a lot of time with John on going through

649
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 4: what does this need to look like? You know, how

650
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,800
Speaker 4: why would media be excited about hosting something like this,

651
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 4: So I think the way I always like to refer

652
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,200
Speaker 4: to it, there's two sides. There's an in person experience

653
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,480
Speaker 4: and then there's the viewer at home. In person, you

654
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 4: can kind of expect like a Broadway show on steroids.

655
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:55,959
Speaker 4: I'm a big Broadway show person in New York. I've

656
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 4: spent a lot of time there with the FISA. And

657
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:00,400
Speaker 4: then you know, when you're watching at home, it's going

658
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,200
Speaker 4: to feel faster, it's going to feel a little bit

659
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:05,200
Speaker 4: more intimate because you know, we have a rail cam

660
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 4: that follows on the court. We're shooting from much closer

661
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 4: as opposed to section two fifty like most big arena

662
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 4: shoot from. So you're going to feel a little bit

663
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 4: closer to the to the action. And you know, we

664
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 4: have a great partner and turner where you're going to

665
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:20,840
Speaker 4: have so many different views of cameras, whether it's on

666
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 4: top of the backboard or on the baseline. So I

667
00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 4: think people are going to be really excited about the

668
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:26,960
Speaker 4: experience they get at home.

669
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:29,160
Speaker 2: I'm pumped for that.

670
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 1: I'm very excited about everything you guys have rolled out,

671
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:34,320
Speaker 1: have just been super impressed by, including some of the

672
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 1: young stars investing before they're even eligible to play. What

673
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 1: was the impetus for getting folks like Flaw and pagebackers

674
00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 1: to kind of commit already.

675
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,600
Speaker 4: I think we always have an emphas to usher in

676
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 4: the new star, you know, the stars of tomorrow, like

677
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:55,120
Speaker 4: the future in our case, really focusing on Page and

678
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,360
Speaker 4: flage A and obviously Juju. You know, Juju's a little

679
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 4: further out. But you know, we want to be a

680
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,880
Speaker 4: spot where any star in college they have aspirations to

681
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,480
Speaker 4: eventually try to make it into the WNBA, and we

682
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:09,480
Speaker 4: want to have that same mindset with us. So it

683
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 4: was important for us to have a touch point early

684
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 4: to work on marketing deals andil deals, even bring them

685
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 4: into the player ownership group. So it's not a secret

686
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 4: we want these players in our league and we want

687
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 4: to make sure that we let them feel like they're

688
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 4: a part of this from day one, not when they're

689
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 4: eligible to play in the league, when that time comes.

690
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 2: Okay, last couple here.

691
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 1: You've got the players, you've got the units, you've got

692
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:35,240
Speaker 1: the court, you've got the TV deal. What about behind

693
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:39,400
Speaker 1: the scenes in terms of support staff, doctors, HR, physical therapist's,

694
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:42,360
Speaker 1: ability for players to report if there's issues with coaches

695
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 1: or not a safe environment. How did that all get

696
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:45,120
Speaker 1: laid out?

697
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, we so very early.

698
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 4: We hired Susan Borchard, who's head of performance and recovery

699
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,840
Speaker 4: for Team USA Women's basketball, work with a number of

700
00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 4: WNBA players for years, so she helped us build out

701
00:32:59,000 --> 00:32:59,600
Speaker 4: the staff and.

702
00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:01,280
Speaker 3: What was the what the standard should be.

703
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 4: And then honestly, you know, we've built a million and

704
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,280
Speaker 4: a half dollar extension of the building we're at right

705
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:08,320
Speaker 4: now to make sure we have more room for the

706
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:12,160
Speaker 4: players to recover and strength train and have the space

707
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,440
Speaker 4: they needed to really maximize their off season. And then

708
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 4: we've been able to partner with a lot of great

709
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,680
Speaker 4: recovery brands that will be announced shortly, and even one

710
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 4: of the prominent hospitals here in Miami to make sure

711
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 4: we have all the things that we need to on

712
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,400
Speaker 4: game days on off days. So, you know, we're really

713
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 4: proud of that side. And again, like we we can't

714
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,240
Speaker 4: cut corners when it comes to the player experience because

715
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 4: we want them to leave here and become now part

716
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:39,600
Speaker 4: of that routine where they're like, oh my god, I

717
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:42,360
Speaker 4: can't every off season I have to be here. Yeah,

718
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 4: you know, because I was just so prepared for what

719
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 4: I'm trying to do and you know, be out throughout

720
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:47,480
Speaker 4: the WNBA season.

721
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,960
Speaker 1: Like an effective and well paying summer camp that you're like,

722
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:50,640
Speaker 1: I can't wait to.

723
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,200
Speaker 3: Get back, can't wait do That's what we say.

724
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 1: Okay, my not yet trademarked, but should be trademarked approach

725
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 1: to telling folks about a new league, or taking someone

726
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: to a game they've iver benge you before, or even

727
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 1: sometimes just thinking about how I want to tell stories

728
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,080
Speaker 1: on the show is summed up by the four US's stars,

729
00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:08,279
Speaker 1: stake stats, and stories. I think if you give people

730
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,320
Speaker 1: those four things, they're much more interested and invested.

731
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:12,560
Speaker 2: In whatever you're going to try to get them to watch.

732
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:14,759
Speaker 1: So let's close with the speed round of those for

733
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:19,440
Speaker 1: Unrivaled Stars, we could start with Fee and Brianna Stewart.

734
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,759
Speaker 1: Couldn't have been a better way to tee up Unrivaled

735
00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 1: first season than to have those two battling it out

736
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:25,720
Speaker 1: in the WNBA finals.

737
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:26,640
Speaker 2: I imagine we.

738
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 1: Expect some fireworks from that to start off this inaugural season.

739
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:33,279
Speaker 4: I think, so there's still a bit of a I

740
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,719
Speaker 4: think good tension between that or if I've had to

741
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:39,840
Speaker 4: kind of like manage both sides of it, but I

742
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:42,080
Speaker 4: think inevitably, like they're really excited for it. But yeah,

743
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,360
Speaker 4: we wanted to start off the season and kind of

744
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,560
Speaker 4: address the elephant in the room, which is a finals rematch.

745
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:49,319
Speaker 2: Will you have the same officials for their first match?

746
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:51,320
Speaker 3: We won't.

747
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:52,520
Speaker 2: We won't.

748
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:55,399
Speaker 1: Let's not do that any other stars or any other

749
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:57,960
Speaker 1: names because a couple folks unfortunately due to injury or

750
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,680
Speaker 1: otherwise had to drop out, leaving a couple open spots.

751
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,480
Speaker 1: We saw cam Brink get announced, but you know, with

752
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 1: a futures contract, she won't be playing till twenty six.

753
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:08,400
Speaker 2: Who else should we keep it out for?

754
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:13,240
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, you know, I think part of our initial group.

755
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,040
Speaker 4: You look at you know, Khalia Copper, you look at

756
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 4: Jackie Young, Satu, Sabli Angel Reese, Chelsea Gray. You know,

757
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,400
Speaker 4: we're really excited about kind of the core we built

758
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 4: on each club. Jewel Lloyd anytime you like Jewel Lloyd's

759
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 4: are throwing after the fact that it's.

760
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,200
Speaker 2: Such a marigue a gunbawallee in this format is going.

761
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,720
Speaker 4: To go off, right Like yeah, yeah, So that's where

762
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,040
Speaker 4: like you look at just the teams, like we have

763
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:38,520
Speaker 4: all stars coming off the bench in our league, right

764
00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:42,880
Speaker 4: players who are top two three on their WNBA teams

765
00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:46,479
Speaker 4: are kind of they're part of this ecosystem, but they're

766
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,360
Speaker 4: not the same go to player, which is going to

767
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,360
Speaker 4: be somewhat interesting to see. And I think, uh, you know,

768
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:54,719
Speaker 4: the big announcement that's that's coming out that'll be out

769
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 4: by the time this airs, is Sabrina and Escu joining

770
00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 4: the league, so that will be our final player and

771
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,279
Speaker 4: is our final player announced and having a sab come

772
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,399
Speaker 4: in I think just puts kind of a stamp on this.

773
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:08,680
Speaker 3: To roll this out in year one.

774
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:12,479
Speaker 4: So we're really excited about the team and the club

775
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:16,279
Speaker 4: that she's joining, which is the phantom in playing for

776
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,719
Speaker 4: Adam Harrington, who she's close with, but playing for with

777
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:22,000
Speaker 4: a former college teammate in Satu Sabai.

778
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:23,840
Speaker 3: So it's going to be really interesting to see.

779
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:24,440
Speaker 2: Love that.

780
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,799
Speaker 1: Okay, quickly stakes, How important is one regular season game

781
00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:29,919
Speaker 1: when you've got a short season like this in terms

782
00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 1: of setting teams up to make the playoffs win it all?

783
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 3: It's huge.

784
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,520
Speaker 4: You know, each team plays fourteen regular season games, so

785
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 4: there's not a lot of room for air.

786
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 3: Which I think for us.

787
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:42,800
Speaker 4: You look at like the NFL schedule right where they play,

788
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,560
Speaker 4: what eighteen regular season games you get to really focus

789
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,120
Speaker 4: in on locking in on one game where you're going

790
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:51,240
Speaker 4: to get the highest competition possible as opposed to players

791
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:54,080
Speaker 4: trying to pace themselves over the course of a fifty

792
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,080
Speaker 4: or eighty game season like the NBA does.

793
00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:58,960
Speaker 1: Okay, stats, what's a great stat line in a single

794
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,640
Speaker 1: game for a player in three on three?

795
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,920
Speaker 3: Great question that I don't know yet. Okay, you know,

796
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:05,719
Speaker 3: we know what.

797
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,239
Speaker 4: The score totals will be, somewhere sixties and seventies and

798
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 4: outlier situation eighties. I think where you're still going to

799
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:16,720
Speaker 4: see similar you know, high teams of leading scores, maybe

800
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:20,960
Speaker 4: low twenties. But what I'm most curious about is what

801
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 4: does the assist and rebound totals look like? Because you

802
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,399
Speaker 4: still have technically the same amount of possessions, but two

803
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:28,600
Speaker 4: less people on each court to take those stats up.

804
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:31,359
Speaker 1: You keep saying, you know the score totals, is that

805
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:33,480
Speaker 1: based on practice games that you've run?

806
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:35,280
Speaker 3: Yep, exactly.

807
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:37,200
Speaker 4: We've been testing this for the last couple of years,

808
00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 4: and we even in our facility this week we had

809
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,920
Speaker 4: three days of game testing for broadcast referees and our

810
00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:44,960
Speaker 4: practice players that we're bringing in cool?

811
00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:46,239
Speaker 2: Is there a shot clock?

812
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:46,759
Speaker 3: There is?

813
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,399
Speaker 1: Okay, stories, give us a story or two to follow

814
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,840
Speaker 1: besides fee versus three in the in the rematch, how

815
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,319
Speaker 1: about a player coming back from injury, maybe representing an

816
00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:58,319
Speaker 1: underrepresented group.

817
00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,279
Speaker 4: Britney Sykes was out mostly ye, people are going to

818
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,280
Speaker 4: be really excited to see her back, especially in this format,

819
00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:07,840
Speaker 4: with how athletics she is. I think seeing that, seeing

820
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 4: the dynamics of just players, how they mix together, because

821
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:14,160
Speaker 4: what we try to emphasize what the coaches was, can

822
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 4: we have different players playing together that aren't WNBA teammates

823
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:20,560
Speaker 4: as much as possible and then trying to figure out

824
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,520
Speaker 4: whose games compliment who? And it's like it's a roll

825
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:25,239
Speaker 4: the dice, right you look at even what happened with

826
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 4: the Links last year. They didn't grab the biggest names

827
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:30,520
Speaker 4: on the free agency market, but they grab players that

828
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,919
Speaker 4: mix perfectly for each other and really compliment in each other.

829
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,160
Speaker 4: So that's where I'm most interested to see how to's

830
00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:37,840
Speaker 4: all unfolds.

831
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,120
Speaker 2: Me too, I'm super pumped.

832
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:43,320
Speaker 1: I also love that the teams are not city based,

833
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:47,280
Speaker 1: because that's allowing our show to have a fake draft

834
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:49,560
Speaker 1: where we're going to use a variety of qualities to

835
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:51,719
Speaker 1: help us whittle down who our teams are.

836
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:52,560
Speaker 2: And then that.

837
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:54,400
Speaker 1: Wants to talk some shit to each other. So I

838
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 1: love I love that, Alex, Thanks so much for the time.

839
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 1: Congratulations on all the success already before the league is

840
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:00,600
Speaker 1: even started.

841
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:02,080
Speaker 2: Appreciate you giving us a couple of minutes.

842
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:13,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course, thanks, Sarah.

843
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:14,240
Speaker 2: Welcome back, slices.

844
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 1: We love that you're listening, but we want you to

845
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 1: get in the game every day too, So here's our

846
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:21,160
Speaker 1: good game play of the day. Follow Unrivaled on social

847
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:23,719
Speaker 1: and follow some of the players Alex mentioned, like co

848
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:27,080
Speaker 1: founders Nafisa Collier, who happens to be Alex's wife in

849
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:30,440
Speaker 1: case you didn't catch that connection, Brianna Stewart and Sabrina

850
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,760
Speaker 1: and Escu. Plus follow a reporter and content creator Aleah Funschell,

851
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,719
Speaker 1: who'll be cranking out content for this inaugural season. One

852
00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:38,439
Speaker 1: of the best ways to learn about a new league,

853
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 1: get to know the players and the storylines, and keep

854
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:43,160
Speaker 1: up with games is to have them show up right

855
00:39:43,239 --> 00:39:44,320
Speaker 1: in your social timeline.

856
00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:45,440
Speaker 2: So hit that follow button.

857
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:47,720
Speaker 1: Links to all those accounts are in our show notes,

858
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,960
Speaker 1: and don't forget to subscribe or rate and review like this.

859
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 1: The Unrivaled player rollouts rating five out of five clever

860
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,400
Speaker 1: hints review. Take a moment to scroll back through the

861
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:02,880
Speaker 1: Unrivaled social feeds and watch all the hints, teasing player announcements,

862
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:06,439
Speaker 1: so much good content. The Unrivaled team has absolutely killed

863
00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:08,320
Speaker 1: it from the jump with all the clever teases and

864
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:10,840
Speaker 1: the cool infographics. So go take a look before the

865
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 1: season starts. Now it's your turn, subscribe, rate and review.

866
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:17,919
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Good Game, Alex, Good Game,

867
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:22,399
Speaker 1: Unrivaled you this super badass league arriving twenty years too

868
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:28,200
Speaker 1: late for yours truly to dream of being unrivaled. Good

869
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:30,680
Speaker 1: Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production

870
00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,520
Speaker 1: in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can

871
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,360
Speaker 1: find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

872
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:39,680
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our

873
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:43,000
Speaker 1: producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers

874
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,320
Speaker 1: are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.

875
00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:49,799
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and

876
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 1: Lindsay Cradowell. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your

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Speaker 1: Host Sarah Spain.