UNRIVALED STAGE: HOW NEW LEAGUE'S ARENA DIFFERS FROM WNBA DIGS

When players for Unrivaled, the new three-on-three women’s basketball league, walked into Wayfair Arena for the first time, it was immediately obvious that this was unlike the WNBA’s traditional venues. Built inside a production studio in Miami, it has massive LED boards decorating the walls instead of a center-hung jumbotron. The court is about 75% as big as typical five-on-five layouts and houses only 850 seats surrounding the floor.

For TV purposes, a rail cam has prime position in the front row, allowing TNT Sports to shoot the action from closer range than most other sports broadcasts. More cameras have been set up around the baselines and backboards. The league also took inspiration from Madison Square Garden when determining how it would light its playing area.

It is, quite literally, a content factory.

“It’s like a stage,” Vinyl BC’s Rae Burrell said during a recent press conference. “It’s not very big, but I kind of like that, because then it’s just kind of more intimate for the fans.”

That’s likely music to the ears of Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell, a self-described theater lover. “I refer to our league as like a Broadway show on steroids,” he said in a video interview.



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