Project B, a new Formula One–style basketball league, is coming to a city near you. Actually, it’ll probably be nowhere near you, because teams will be globetrotting — we just don’t know where, exactly.
Project B has begun announcing big names and big ambitions while keeping almost everything else a secret. It has some of the best U.S. players signed on — Alyssa Thomas, Nneka Ogwumike, Jewell Loyd — and it launches in November 2026. But beyond that, the details are fuzzy.
We do know a few basics: the league will have six teams and will stage five-on-five tournaments in seven cities. And we know that Ogwumike, the current WNBPA president, was drawn by the financial package: players are reportedly getting equity stakes and can earn several times what they would even in newer leagues like Unrivaled.
But we don’t know how much, exactly.
Project B’s chief basketball officer, Alana Beard, went on the “Good Game” podcast this week but kept most key details close to the chest.
Which leads to the real question hanging over Project B:
Why is everything around it so mysterious?
Where the mystery began
Public confusion began earlier this year when reports — from reputable outlets — surfaced that the Saudi Wealth Fund was investing $5 billion to build a rival to the NBA, in partnership with LeBron James’ manager.
Then came follow-ups saying the King’s manager was no longer involved. Now, league spokespeople deny receiving Saudi funding. Any Saudi involvement, the founders insist, is minimal — event logistics at most.
Overall, the way they describe the project is totally different from the initial reporting. It’s not an NBA rival, but an F1-style global circuit for men’s and women’s basketball.
It’s not funded by the Saudis; it’s funded by global venture capital and athletes like Candace Parker and Novak Djokovic. And it’s not just a sports league: it’s a start-up aiming to deliver “tech-like” returns.
Why are tech funds investing in pro basketball?
According to Beard, Project B began at a dinner between the founder of Skype (Geoff Prentice) and a former Meta executive (Grady Burnett). They were struck by the fact that basketball has three billion fans worldwide — and that U.S. leagues capture only a tiny slice of that audience.
From Beard’s podcast interview, it’s clear the opportunity has two things tech investors love:
– Huge demand: billions of basketball fans
– Fragmented supply: the cable/streaming maze required to watch sports (or anything else)
Beard pointed out that watching basketball globally is complicated by geo-restrictions, time zones, and blackouts. Project B’s solution will be a single unified streaming platform.
“It is every intent for us to engage a billion users on one platform,” Beard said.
A billion users! That would be quite a feat. Even Formula One, which has its own streaming platform, still draws most of its viewers through linear TV.
But this is tech, where you have to think big. Maybe it won’t just be a streaming platform; maybe the app will also let you place bets, play fantasy or DM the players.
“It’s about getting the eyeballs on the sport and then driving that engagement from there,” Beard said.
In other words: get a bunch of users and figure out the money later.
Why will fans watch Project B?
Even if the tech-investor logic checks out — and the checks clear for players — it doesn’t automatically make sense for fans.
Women’s basketball fans already have plenty of options: the WNBA, Unrivaled, EuroLeague Women, plus domestic leagues around the world. Why follow another one?
Especially one with no home team. Project B’s teams won’t represent cities, and place is often what creates belonging for fans.
Beard says the league is betting on an emerging dynamic in sports fandom: that the name on the back matters more to young fans than the name on the front.
“[Gen Z] is all about highlights, they’re all about streaming, and they’re all about the individual,” she said.
If you became a fan of Unrivaled’s Lunar Owls because you love Napheesa Collier, maybe you can relate. Maybe now you’ll follow Thomas, Loyd and Ogwumike around the globe the same way.
Why the Formula One comparison?
A decade ago, every startup wanted to be the “Uber of X” or the “Airbnb of X.” In the mid-2020s sports-tech world, maybe the line is to be the “Formula One of X.”
Formula One is booming, often drawing 70 million viewers per event and generating more than $3 billion in revenue in 2024. So Project B wanting to be the “Formula One of Basketball” makes sense.
But it’s still not clear why the Formula One format suits basketball in particular, or whether Project B will have the branding savvy F1 used to take off. The touring format alone didn’t spur Formula One’s rise. Storytelling did, through Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” and social media. They built characters. They built drama. Project B will have to do the same.
Should a partnership with Saudi Arabia deter WNBA players?
For now, let’s take the league’s word that they don’t have Saudi backing. Let’s also acknowledge it’s possible the league might play in Saudi Arabia or partner in other ways.
That raises an ethical question for WNBA players, who often advocate for marginalized groups — and likely do not align politically with the Saudi regime. Will this connection damage their credibility as activists?
It’s a complicated question, but the answer is probably not.
For decades, WNBA players have been political leaders domestically while playing in places like Russia and Turkey. In some cases, players weren’t even sure where the money funding their overseas salaries came from. Given how low salaries are in the U.S., that’s a compromise players have been willing to make — and fans have been willing to forgive.