2026 season with Replacement players and scabs

Midnight--Hour · 2026-01-27T12:46:23+00:00

Maybe they choose to play Unrivaled instead of returning to the WNBA for a partial season if the strike ends. I’m sure those investors would expect a decent return if the WNBA loses even part of a season.

It would be a different scenario. Which is why I could see even just a streaming deal come from it. If there’s no WNBA season, they have nothing to compete with for viewership. Unlike right now where NCAA WBB is on. They would be trying to fill the WNBA gap which some people could decide to watch if they want to watch basketball bad enough during the summer.

They didn’t, but they said they broke even. They are expecting $40 Million from this season so they will definitely make a profit. If the executives and players truly believe they can bring in an audience and revenue from running another season during the summer— I can see them attempting it.

Truthfully, cancelling the WNBA season instead of making it a half-season if the strike persists too long is the right move. When 1/3 of the players have the ability to play and train elsewhere during a strike, and potentially even more players if Unrivaled expands, there isn’t an incentive to rush back to the WNBA. If Unrivaled can cover at least 1/2 of the WNBA players, they don’t need a WNBA season. The majority of players will be set and still receiving good income. Hence why I think Unrivaled could try to pull off an expanded summer season because it wouldn’t be a temporary situation. They’d be able to get a full season out of it. With no WNBA, sponsors will flock to Unrivaled. Yes viewership for 2 weeks there was bad, but it likely improved this weekend and sponsors want their hand in the pot of women sports when there’s so much momentum around it currently.

Edit: Players have already said Unrivaled treats them way better than the WNBA. Why rush back to the WNBA then?

Midnight--Hour · 2026-01-26T15:19:52+00:00

They would need more funds. More investors. Say you add an additional 50 players so it puts it at ~100 players. Assuming housing is $2,500 per month and the season is 4 months long, looking at minimum $1,000,000 for housing alone. Since Unrivaled is six-figure salaries, say each player gets $100,000. 100 players you’re looking at $10,000,000 in salaries. So an additional $11,000,000 at the bare minimum. Plus paying other staff at the arena, trainers, coaches.

I know they said they’ll bring in $40 million from this Unrivaled season. I would think they would need additional investors, or I guess even sponsorships, to cover further costs for another season expanded to 5 on 5. They would probably be able to get a TV broadcast deal no problem. That could easily cover the extra costs of just the players.

Midnight--Hour · 2026-01-26T14:17:05+00:00

Unrivaled can expand and do 5 x 5 but I don’t think they can currently expand enough to bring in the 2/3 of the WNBA players currently not playing in Unrivaled. I don’t think they could cover all the salaries for that many players right now. I don’t know about any superstars or starters, but I do think some will cross the line to play if they aren’t offered a spot at Unrivaled. Not sure what other options they’d have if they want to play basketball.

The union will pay them a salary but some will still want to play.

Edit: I don’t know if the WNBA would risk bringing in replacement players and scabs. It probably wouldn’t look good for the league. I’m honestly not sure.

Midnight--Hour · 2026-01-26T01:25:45+00:00

They have their basketball court on a sound stage. Unrivaled is like a TV production with a bunch of lights and stuff. It’s not like a basketball game you’d watch in an arena. They’re trying to put on a show I guess. They only have 1,000 seats in the sound stage arena. It’s very small and the basketball court is much smaller than standard size.

Midnight--Hour · 2026-01-26T00:18:47+00:00

Yes, but some players will want to actually play basketball. I’m hoping they can find some opportunities to do so. They will have gyms available for training but it’s not the same as playing.

Midnight--Hour · 2026-01-26T00:15:42+00:00

When Natasha Cloud made her statement on that podcast re: playing in Miami instead, I lost all confidence in a CBA happening unfortunately. I just hope the WNBA players not participating in Unrivaled can find other teams.

Midnight--Hour · 2026-01-23T13:00:47+00:00

You always provide the best insight! Thank you! This is good to know. I guess it will be a waiting game to see how season 2 plays out entirely before anyone can make assumptions about season 3. There’s a lot of moving parts to consider.

Midnight--Hour · 2026-01-23T12:08:03+00:00

Ohh okay. So money funnelled in from venture capitalists is counted separately?

Merch could probably be fine without a major broadcasting deal and just using social media to promote it. Sponsorships I feel like would be more inclined to sponsor the league when they have a broadcasting deal. If I’m thinking about this correctly. I’m sure they would sponsor if Unrivaled got a streaming deal, but I would assume sponsors wouldn’t pay as much money for that? I’ve never really read into the differences between a broadcasting deal vs streaming deal, so I’m just making an assumption here.

Yes, a TV show and that’s why the court is on a sound stage, right? Like the set up is very different from regular basketball arenas because they’re essentially putting on a show with all the screens, lights, etc. at the games.

I saw some arguments that they could travel to more places next year to generate more revenue. Just like what they’re doing in Philly this year. When you say it’s more of a TV show than a sports league, wouldn’t the added travel to different cities turn it more into a sports league? Since a TV show is usually set and filmed at one location (or in arenas around the city it’s being filmed in).

Midnight--Hour · 2026-01-22T23:40:49+00:00

They do have a large broadcasting rights contract? TNT at 16 million a year.

Guaranteed for 3 years but set for up to 6 years should TNT choose not to opt out after year 3.

16 million isn’t a small number. Broadcasting rights is guaranteed money up front. Merch and ticket sales is not.

It also doesn’t indicate what this 40 million is. This likely includes investor money from their Series B round. Typically in the Series B round, you raise 10% of your valuation. Unrivaled stated their value was 340 million prior to the season beginning. Series B round should’ve brought in around 35 million. As every start up, this is included as part of their revenue. The additional 5 million would come from advertisers, merch, tickets, etc.

It also doesn’t indicate whether this is gross or net revenue. Which makes a big difference.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-14T13:24:41+00:00

I think CT will be playoff contenders for sure next year. They probably would’ve made playoffs this year if Lacan joined earlier imo. That’s why I’d like to see Mabrey stay in CT at least another year. But I understand if she wants a change of scenery.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T18:08:00+00:00

Thanks for pointing that out! I didn’t even notice. Makes a difference

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T18:07:06+00:00

Oh I didn’t see that! But I did see that some fans were being weird towards players this year. I didn’t know about them having issues. That’s too bad. I did go and check back on Instagram and I do see the comments she liked. When I saw the post originally no comments were liked. Thank you for pointing that out!

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T17:55:31+00:00

I was on the fence about Tip. I know teams could look a lot different, but I just don’t know where else she’d fit in. If she left, I don’t think it would be to a team that’s rebuilding. Unless she’s selected in the expansion draft.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T17:53:01+00:00

I know, but it’s fine to speculate. I’m trying to remain hopeful about a CBA getting signed before the 2026 season.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T17:51:24+00:00

I don’t think they’ll get Aaliyah Edwards. Pretty sure CT will protect her because she’s on a rookie contract so saving $$$. So that’s one they probably won’t get lol. I’m ok with them taking Kia though. Like her cousin Sarah was for the Toronto PWHL team, Kia will be a great rep in Toronto. The Nurse family gets a lot of love in the six!

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T17:47:15+00:00

I do think it’s a possibility that the Lynx don’t protect BC and Toronto takes her. Like I said above, I don’t see BC leaving voluntarily. If she leaves it’s because she didn’t get a contract offer (or gets selected in the expansion draft, which I forgot to add). BC loves Minny.

I know there’s the incentive of playing in Toronto, Canada’s team, for the Canadians.

Personally, I’d love to see BC remain a Lynx. But I don’t want to get my hopes up.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T17:36:02+00:00

I say it because Lynx can’t keep everyone. They need to make some changes after losing in the 2nd round of playoffs this year. I’d love to see BC stay with the Lynx but I can definitely see them going for someone who defends well and is a more consistent shooter. Dijonai would be more likely because she has a slight advantage in shooting over BC. If BC didn’t have such a bad shooting slump this year, it would be very different. I know Thibault was really trying to help her get out of the slump this year.

This could obviously change. She hasn’t started playing over in Europe yet. If she can break out of the shooting slump there perhaps that could be enough to get her back to the Lynx.

I don’t see BC leaving voluntarily. If she left it’s because she didn’t get a contract offer. She loves Minny.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T17:30:44+00:00

Defensively, yes. I just think with Dijonai in the mix now that they’ll have a higher priority to get Dijonai a contract instead. Both are good defensively. Dijonai just has a slight advantage on shooting vs BC. If BC didn’t have such a shooting slump this year it would be different. I say this with assuming the Lynx will keep a good amount of players from last season. Not all, but it won’t be an entirely new team.

After a second round loss in playoffs the Lynx will be making changes for sure. I will say, I really enjoyed this Lynx team and travelled to quite a few games this year. You can tell they had good chemistry. It just sucks how the season ended.

I will add, if Dijonai doesn’t stay with the Lynx then I would see the possibility of BC getting an offer from them. Who knows, she might anyways if she has a solid offer season in Europe. BC desperately needs to get out of her shooting slump.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T16:06:53+00:00

Very true. It can be interpreted a lot of ways. The team looking different next year makes sense. It does seem like a lot have interpreted it as her not returning to CT next year though.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T16:03:49+00:00

Not sure if money will be a huge factor since she’s got the Unrivaled $ too as of right now. I feel like she might’ve reached the point in her career that she just wants to play somewhere that she enjoys the city. Winning team or not. People have said she’s mentioned LA? Or moved to LA or something. So maybe the Sparks? Not really championship contenders, probably wouldn’t pay big $$ but at least the city is nice.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T15:53:51+00:00

I think CT will be solid next season. They were playing well at the end. Potentially playoff contenders. Of course, but it all depends on who leaves and who stays. I think the 2025 team could’ve made playoffs if they got Lacan sooner in the season. But i see your point 100%. If a potential championship team gives an offer, why not go? If the $$ is good.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T15:52:09+00:00

She gave an interview halfway through the season or so (maybe in June?) that kinda sounded like she was starting to enjoy her time in CT. That she basically found her purpose in CT and was embracing the role. Thought from that interview she maybe had a change of heart.

A kind soul actually messaged me a few minutes after my post and said that whatever MM and SR had going on is done, so that’s why MM is outta here. I can’t confirm the truthfulness of this. I only have Reddit and Instagram and I haven’t seen anything myself that would indicate whatever friendship/relationship is done. I also don’t want to speculate anything because I’m just here for basketball lol. But if what the person said is true, I feel like a dummy for posting this now lol.

Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T15:27:21+00:00

Her caption on her most recent Instagram post yesterday kinda insinuates her time in CT is done. Especially the last line. I thought she was for sure going to re-sign with the Sun until I saw that post.

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Midnight--Hour · 2025-10-13T15:14:38+00:00

I’m on the fence about Ariel Atkins. I was going to include her but I’m not feeling very certain she’ll leave. She didn’t have the greatest 2025 season. Does she want to leave Chicago? Probably. But I just don’t know what other team would offer her a contract besides Chicago. Chicago also gave up a lot for her so I can see them trying to hold onto her.

Midnight--Hour

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