Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa has doubled player payments and invited offshore teams to join the competition in 2025.
The third edition of the revamped women's national basketball league will move to a new October-December window this year, avoiding timing clashes with the national men's competition and many of the top women's leagues around the world.
One of the league's founding principals was pay parity with its male counterpart - this will see the women paid more than the men, with the best players earning about $3000 a week.
"Importantly, the pay allows the players to spend more time training and working on their game, instead of those second and third jobs to try and make ends meet," said Sky Sport commercialisation and fandom head Justin Nelson.
"This is a really big day for women in sport and huge day for women in basketball.
"I think the big message for women's sport with this announcement is, as you build commerciality and more partners come on board - and more partners are investing in women's sport - we've pushed a big part of that back to the players.
"It's a great day, but it does emphasise that more and more companies are investing in women's sport, and that's exciting."
Teams from Australia and Asia are reportedly interested in entering the league next year.
Watch the video for the full interview.
