Unrivaled Basketball Playoffs Start in Miami; TNT Brings Studio Show to Sephora Arena
unrivaled basketball wraps its regular season Friday night in Miami and moves straight into postseason play: the first round begins Saturday in Miami, the semifinals are set for Monday in Brooklyn, and the championship returns Wednesday to Miami.
Unrivaled Basketball studio show comes to Sephora Arena
For the championship game, TNT Sports will bring its “Unrivaled Studio Show” live to Sephora Arena ahead of the 9: 30 p. m. ET tip-off, with a lead-in from the U. S. -Canada match in the SheBelieves Cup soccer tournament. Candace Parker, Renee Montgomery and Andraya Carter are scheduled as the studio talent for the show on TNT/truTV, and Craig Barry, TNT Sports’ EVP & Chief Content Officer, said the network has requests out for special guests and wants a good number of players to stop by.
TNT aims to raise the profile with live studio access
Barry described the push to expand the show’s presence as part of evolving the broadcast presentation. “We’re interested in evolving the presentation, the experience. We think bigger crowds mean more energy. We think a bigger venue means more dynamic coverage, ” he said, and added that moving more games outside Sephora Arena to larger venues could be a positive development for the league’s exposure. Barry also called Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell a “really good” partner and said this is a moment when Bazzell must determine what comes next for the league.
Viewership trends and audience makeup
Unrivaled’s viewership has fallen around 40% to average just north of 120, 000 viewers across all games on TNT/truTV; that figure rises to 156, 000 when excluding games that air only on truTV. Games on truTV continue to draw about 60% female audiences, while TNT’s audience sits in the high 50% range. For context on gender share, Barry noted U. S. Women’s Soccer draws about a 40% female audience and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament about 38% female.
Even as the league navigates those audience shifts, the schedule is concrete: the regular season concludes Friday night in Miami, first-round playoff games begin Saturday in Miami, the semifinals are scheduled Monday in Brooklyn, and the championship returns Wednesday to Miami with the live studio show preceding the 9: 30 p. m. ET tip-off.
Playoff action kicks off Saturday in Miami; TNT’s live studio show at Sephora Arena and the 9: 30 p. m. ET championship tip-off are set as highlights of the week, and the semifinals in Brooklyn on Monday will decide the teams that return to Miami for Wednesday’s title game.
