Happy Hoopin’ Days: WNBA CBA, Unrivaled Basketball, and NIL with Dan Rosensweig

In the final Her Game Her Voice episode of the year, Kaari opens with a strange dream about Coach Tara Vanderveer. Then she shares a quick but critical update on the WNBA’s ongoing collective bargaining negotiations, including the latest sticking points around housing, scheduling, and revenue sharing as the January 9 deadline looms.

Next, a listener question about how the Unrivaled League actually makes money. From media rights and sponsorships to ticket sales and merchandise, this segment explains why Unrivaled’s player-first model is working.

Next it’s part two of Kaari’s conversation with Dan Rosensweig, investor in the Unrivaled women's professional basketball league and former (and now current) CEO of Chegg. Dan shares how NIL deals can give women athletes real financial leverage, why paying women athletes intentionally matters, and what changes when athletes are seen not just as players—but as entrepreneurs.

And the episode wraps with the awards:

• Buzzer Beater Award: A’ja Wilson, continuing a historic run with yet another major honor
• Airball Award: A very awkward post-game moment involving Tennessee and UCLA
• Flagrant Foul: Stanford Women’s Basketball—for surviving everything except 30 turnovers

“Big stories, little episodes—amplifying the voices shaping the game on and off the court." - Her Game Her Voice Podcast by Kaari Peterson

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction

Transcript

Kaari: 0:04

Howdy hoop heads and welcome to another edition of Her Game Her Voice, the podcast with big stories and little episodes all about women's basketball. I'm your host, Kaari Peterson.

Kaari: 0:16

In this last episode of the year, I've got a WNBA CBA update for you, a list ener question about Unrivaled and revenue, and part two of my conversation with my friend and former colleague Dan Rosensweig. Dan talks about the value of women athletes and how NIL deals can give them financial leverage.

Kaari: 0:35

Let's tip it off.

Kaari: 0:39

Before I update you on the current CBA situation, I want to tell you about a dream I had last week. I dreamt about Hall of Fame coach Tara Vanderveer.

Kaari: 0:51

Why was Tara on my mind?

Kaari: 0:53

Well, my wife would tell you that it's because I'm obsessed with basketball and probably always dreaming about something related to it.

Kaari: 1:00

But I think it was because Tara is teaching another basketball masterclass. This is part two. And yours truly is in role. Class begins in January. And yes, I will be sharing that incredible Tara wisdom on this podcast.

Kaari: 1:16

But Kaari, what about your dream?

Kaari: 1:19

Believe it or not, my dream actually had nothing to do with basketball, and everything to do with gulp women's fashion. You see, I was shopping with Tara at the Stanford Mall. Tara told me that she'd been invited to a wedding and needed something new to wear to the event. I'm immediately picturing Tara in a smart-looking, well-tailored women's suit. But rather than make assumptions, I asked, okay, so what do you have in mind?

Kaari: 1:49

And Tara replied, I'd like to look for a cute sundress. How does that sound to you?

Kaari: 1:55

And then Dreamer Kaari nervously says, Uh, well, uh, with all due respect, Tara, I'm not sure you're the sundress type.

Kaari: 2:05

And that was it. A good dream, right?

Kaari: 2:11

Quick CBA check-in. The WNBA is still stuck in collective bargaining purgatory.

Kaari: 2:17

The League and the Players Union blew past the November 30th deadline and agreed to yet another extension. The new deadline is January 9th. And suddenly now housing is the hill the league wants to die on. The league wants to eliminate team-provided housing, which players have had since 1999, as in longer than most current rookies have been alive. Right now, players either get housing or a monthly stipend, about $1,100 in Vegas or $2,600 in New York. This especially matters for international players and athletes flying back from overseas seasons, and players on short-term or lower salary contracts. Players want housing protected as a benefit, but the league wants it gone.

Kaari: 3:06

So now what?

Kaari: 3:08

And then there's a proposal to start the season earlier, with training camps potentially beginning in mid-March, right in the middle of March madness. Which means rookies might show up late to their own first WNBA camps.

Kaari: 3:24

What could possibly go wrong?

Kaari: 3:27

When it comes to salary, the league is currently dangling some big numbers, a $1 million maximum salary for players, and a projected 500k average salary, and a team salary cap jumping from 1.5 million to 5 million. But again, players are saying this isn't about big salary numbers. It's about revenue sharing.

Kaari: 3:51

According to the players, the math still doesn't add up, and until it does, there's no deal.

Kaari: 3:56

So for now, bold and sometimes questionable proposals, firm resistance, and a whole lot of uncertainty about hitting that January 9th deadline.

Kaari: 4:08

And now it's time for our listener question. This question comes from Bethany in Shreveport, Louisiana. How does the Unrivaled League actually make money?

Kaari: 4:19

Great question. Because on the surface, Unrivaled looks expensive. Big salaries, high-end facilities, and player first everything.

Kaari: 4:30

So here's the simple version of how it all breaks down.

Kaari: 4:34

Unrivaled didn't invent a new economic system. They simply did the radical thing of treating women's basketball like a legitimate business. Remember what Unrivaled investor Dan Rosensweig said in the last episode of The Pod? "This could work."

Kaari: 4:50

And it did.

Kaari: 4:53

First, media rights. Unrivaled's biggest revenue driver is a major TV deal with TNT through Warner Brothers Discovery. That gave them a national broadcast home and a significant chunk of guaranteed revenue right out of the gate.

Kaari: 5:09

Second, sponsorships. Big ones. We're talking blue chip brands like Ally, State Farm, Under Armour, Sephora, and Samsung. Those founding partnerships brought in real money and serious credibility.

Kaari: 5:24

Third, tickets. Even though they played in a small arena in Miami, about 850 seats, they sold out every game and still cleared seven figures in ticket sales.

Kaari: 5:37

Fourth, merchandise. Merch came online late in the season and still generated about $1.4 million. And moving forward, Unrivaled expects merchandise to be one of their biggest growth areas.

Kaari: 5:52

Put it all together, and Unrivaled made over $27 million in revenue in year one and nearly broke even while paying players an average salary of about $200,000. That's why investors already value the league at around $340 million.

Kaari: 6:12

Yep, it's working.

Kaari: 6:14

And it's convincing proof that a women's professional sports league can be successful and player forward from day one.

Kaari: 6:22

Thanks for that question, Bethany.

Kaari: 6:24

If you'd like to hear your question answered on the podcast, you can send it to me at host at hergamehervoice.com.

Kaari: 6:33

Side note, if you're a regular listener, you may have noticed that I didn't call out the Gmail email address. That's because I got myself an early Christmas present. I bought the domain rights for Hergamehervoice.com. This podcast is moving into the big time, baby.

Kaari: 6:52

Now here's part two of my chat with Dan Rosensweig.

Kaari: 6:56

In the last episode, you heard how Dan's firsthand experiences with Stanford athletes opened his eyes to the opportunity gap women athlete space after college, and what ultimately led him to investing in the unrivaled women's professional basketball league.

Kaari: 7:12

In part two, you'll hear how Dan, as CEO of Chegg, used a NIL-related strategy to help set women athletes up for future financial success.

Kaari: 7:23

But first, what is NIL?

Kaari: 7:26

A quick refresher just in case you're not sure.

Kaari: 7:29

NIL stands for "Name, Image, and Likeness." It's the rule change that allows college athletes to earn money from things like brand partnerships, endorsements, and sponsorships. Opportunities that for decades were off-limits for college athletes.

Kaari: 7:46

Here's a clip of Dan talking about NIL and women athletes. And one quick note when Dan says "both of them here," he's talking about Cameron Brink and Paige Bueckers, two of the most recognizable names in women's college and now professional basketball, and two of Chegg's first NIL partners.

Dan: 8:06

I then reach out to both of them when the NIL deal started. I was like, "listen, you don't know who I am, but you guys are in college. It's a college company. I would like to back you with an NIL deal."

Kaari: 8:19

But reaching out was just the first step. What really changed Dan's perspective came after the contracts, when he actually sat down with these women and listened to how they saw themselves, not just as athletes, but as people who were working to shape their futures. Here's Dan again.

Dan: 8:37

And you sit down with these people, these young ladies, and you say, look, what do you want from life? And you realize they are two very different human beings. But what brings them together is a passion for basketball and building the brand of women's basketball.

Kaari: 8:52

Those conversations made something clear to Dan. These athletes weren't waiting to be told who they were or what came next. They already understood their value both on and off the court. Once again, here's Dan.

Dan: 9:05

They're students, they're athletes, they're entrepreneurs, they're they're uh the best of the American dream.

Kaari: 9:12

Once you start seeing athletes this way, as entrepreneurs, not just jocks, the next question is: are they actually being paid in a way that reflects their value? Again, here's Dan.

Dan: 9:24

By the way, at the time we gave each of them their largest contracts, and we actually gave them contracts larger than their managers asked for at the time, because we believe that in order for NIL to work for women athletes, that it needed to be worth the money for the agent because they take a small percentage. So you give somebody $8,000. Why is the agent going to work on that when they can work on some man thing of $2 million?

Kaari: 9:52

That, my friends, was a key insight. And acting on key insights is one of Dan's strengths.

Kaari: 9:58

When women athletes are underpaid, it doesn't just hurt them, it breaks down the entire ecosystem around them. Agents walk away, opportunities disappear, and the narrative becomes, see, there's no market.

Kaari: 10:12

But when companies decide to pay women differently and intentionally, NIL becomes more lucrative for them.

Kaari: 10:20

In part three of my conversation with Dan, we'll go back to Unrivaled and talk about the business mechanics of it and how it syncs with an elevated fan experience.

Kaari: 10:32

And now, hoop heads, it's time for the awards section of the podcast.

Kaari: 10:36

First, the Buzzer Beater Award.

Kaari: 10:41

This week's Buzzer Beater Award goes to A'ja Wilson. And by the way, she's the first person to win two Buzzer Beater Awards in one year. She can add this award to the slew of others she was just handed.

Kaari: 10:55

Last year, Time gave Caitlin Clark its 2024 Athlete of the Year Award. This year, they kept the honor in the WNBA by giving four-time League MVP A'ja Wilson the prestigious award for 2025.

Kaari: 11:10

Wilson is the first W player to win a WNBA title, finals MVP, league MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. She is well on her way to GOAT, that's greatest of all time, status.

Kaari: 11:26

And the Associated Press also named her its female athlete of the year.

Kaari: 11:31

Congratulations, A'ja.

Kaari: 11:34

And now the Airball Award.

Kaari: 11:38

This week's Airball Award goes to University of Tennessee's senior forward Janaya Barker.

Kaari: 11:44

After Tennessee lost to UCLA in late November, cameras caught a very awkward post-game moment. Janiah Barker appeared to pull her hand away from an attempted handshake with her former coach, UCLA's Cori Close.

Kaari: 11:58

It all happened live on the game broadcast, which, as you can imagine, immediately set the internet on fire.

Kaari: 12:05

Both Barker and Close later tried to pour some water on the situation. Barker said they did shake hands. Respectfully, though, I'm just saying I know what I saw. She also said she wished Cori Close well.

Kaari: 12:18

Close, for her part, praised Barker as a great player and framed the tension as stemming from Barker's transfer to Tennessee in search of more playing time.

Kaari: 12:27

Then, later that same day, Barker took to Twitter, sorry, I mean X, to clarify that she, quote, "wished nothing but the best for Coach Cori Close." Except she spelled Cori's name wrong.

Kaari: 12:42

So now we're left with the real question: was it an innocent typo or an elite-level demonstration of pettiness? Either way, in my book, it's a giant airball.

Kaari: 12:55

And finally, the flagrant foul award.

Kaari: 12:59

This week's flagrant foul award goes to Stanford Women's Basketball.

Kaari: 13:04

Wait, what?

Kaari: 13:04

Yep. My beloved team gets a flagrant foul, not for lack of effort, defense, or shooting, but for committing the ultimate basketball crime: 30 turnovers in a 65-62 loss to Tennessee.

Kaari: 13:19

It's actually amazing that Stanford didn't lose by more, but luckily Tennessee had some trouble scoring off Stanford's turnovers.

Kaari: 13:27

Like I said, the Cardinal shot well, defended well, and they were leading deep into the fourth quarter. But turning the ball over 30 times against a Tennessee team that lives off chaos, that's no bueno.

Kaari: 13:40

Every Stanford player who played in that game had at least one turnover.

Kaari: 13:45

The good news? Nunu Agara was a menace in the best way. She had 14 points, 11 boards, clutch buckets, and nearly stole this game back at the end.

Kaari: 13:55

I t showed that Stanford can really hang with anyone.

Kaari: 13:58

The bad news? You simply cannot win Power 5 games while treating the basketball like a live grenade.

Kaari: 14:05

Sorry, Stanford, you know I love you, but you get a flagrant foul for that embarrassing number of turnovers.

Kaari: 14:15

I'm Kaari Peterson, and you've been listening to Her Game Her Voice.

Kaari: 14:19

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Kaari: 14:20

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Kaari: 14:26

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Kaari: 14:29

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Kaari: 14:34

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Kaari: 14:40

Thanks for listening and happy hoopin!