Sports Business

Hi there!

Sign Up

The GIST: It’s been a busy week for the WNBA. Fresh off a successful trip to Toronto and ahead of tonight’s season tip-off, the league and its players scored three solution-oriented deals with CarMax, Priority Pass, and Gaming Society this week.

CarMax: The used car retailer upgraded its agreement to become the league’s newest “Changemaker” sponsor on Wednesday. CarMax stays on as the WNBA’s opening weekend presenting partner but will increase its visibility across marquee events and plans to help boost the league’s presence.

• The brand will sponsor a WNBA League Pass free trial that runs until May 28th, as well as a digital content series about the players. CarMax will also assist athletes with media training and networking. Honk if you love an upgrade.

Priority Pass: A day later, the WNBPA inked a deal with airport lounge access program Priority Pass to offer every WNBA player access to relevant perks like sleeping areas and spa treatments. WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike says she’s hopeful others “will see this [partnership] as a call to action and provide similar access and resources.”

Gaming Society: The sports betting platform’s WNBA prediction game returned for its second season yesterday, complete with a new chat feature and updates during live games. It originally launched midway through 2022 and recorded 17K-plus total game plays, logged 4.7 games played per user, and averaged 4.5 minutes per user.

Zooming out: From media coverage to charter flights (or a lack thereof), the WNBA’s problems sometimes earn just as much press as its standout athletes. This week’s deals address some of those concerns and simultaneously earn each brand goodwill for their intentional women’s sports investments. Spending wisely.

The GIST: Roku just hit play on an all-in-one women’s sports hub. Six months after creating a general sports center, the media company launched the Women’s Sports Zone on Wednesday, an in-app feature that provides access to live games and on-demand content.

The details: The Women’s Sports Zone features live coverage of the WNBA, NWSL, college basketball, LPGA, and the USWNT’s FIFA Women’s World Cup slate, among other sports. ION’s free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel will also be available through the Roku Channel for its Friday night WNBA games.

• Roku’s new hub also includes access to the Women’s Sports Network (WSN) as well as content like Keke Palmer’s The Longshots, dance reality show Bring It!, and Megan Rapinoe–hosted docuseries Prodigy.

The trend: FAST channels are all the rage thanks to their similarities to the cable model, and the Roku Channel may be the industry’s poster child — it has 70M active streaming accounts and outperformed ad revenue projections in Q4 2022. Women’s sports have also hopped on the FAST bandwagon with the WSN and DAZN’s new soccer platform.

• The new channels won’t be the broadcast industry’s big solution to its cord cutting problem but are being billed by some as “part of the answer” as these platforms will benefit when ad spend increases on all streaming platforms.

Zooming out: As the media industry determines if FAST channels are here to stay, betting on women’s sports is a prudent way to keep audiences around since they boast steady increases in viewership and advertising dollars. Maybe the rising tide can lift these boats, too?

Did you know that 94% of executive-level female leaders played sports?

Did you also know that there’s a positive correlation between playing sports and improved self-image among girls?

Did you know that girls who play sports have higher trust-levels with their friends?

That’s why it was so important that our pals at Tangerine hosted their Community Gym ahead of last Saturday’s WNBA Canada Game.

• Forty girls from the GTA were invited to run drills with Chicago Sky star and fashion icon Courtney Williams before a surprise trip to the big game.

• Thanks to Tangerine, these future All-Stars were able to witness what their future could look like. The Sky’s the limit from here.

Per a report yesterday, ESPN is laying the foundation to sell its TV channel to cord cutters via subscription and is internally using the code name “Flagship” for the project. However, it will still offer the TV channel as is and will negotiate with cable providers and sports leagues to ensure flexibility when it eventually goes DTC.

The University of Cincinnati’s women’s and men’s basketball teams will be outfitted by Jordan Brand starting next season, the school’s first year in the Big Ten Conference. Though other Bearcats teams will still sport Nike uniforms, Cincy’s women’s hoops team will rock Jordan Brand for the first time. Jumpwoman.

In an effort to make cricket an Olympic sport for LA 2028, the International Cricket Council reportedly told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that it could earn up to $268M through a new media deal in India alone. The IOC’s current deal in the Asian nation is allegedly worth $12M, meaning the proposed new figure would mark a 22x (!!!) increase.

• The decision is up to the LA Games’ committee, which has identified 10 sports that could be added in 2028, including cricket, flag football (with the NFL’s support), softball, and lacrosse. California dreamin’.

More than 20M people in the U.K. watched over three minutes of women’s sports coverage from January to April 2023, up from 18.9M last year. Women’s Super League audiences are up 36% YoY, and 15.3M have caught at least three minutes of action so far in 2023.

• The home team is attracting TV crowds in record numbers. Audiences for England rugby games during the Six Nations grew 17%, while the country’s cricket team drew an average of 150K viewers per match this year (up from 138K in 2020).

🏆 McDonald’s renewed its longstanding deal with FIFA and will sponsor July’s Women’s World Cup. Lovin’ it.

🏀 Prime Video ordered a documentary about the Atlanta Dream’s fight against ex-owner Kelly Loeffler during her unsuccessful senatorial campaign.

⚽ Rising USWNT star Trinity Rodman is Oakley’s newest brand ambassador, appearing in its “More Than Meets the Eye” campaign.

📺 The WNBA’s Connecticut Sun secured a local broadcast contract with NBC Sports Boston and Telemundo Boston.

🏁 E.l.f. Skin signed a deal with Katherine Legge, the only female driver in next weekend’s Indy 500.

🏉 Qatar entered the race to host the 2025 Rugby League World Cup after France dropped out this week, joining bids from New Zealand, South Africa, and Fiji.

🪧 Eight players’ unions — including the WNBPA, NWSLPA, and USWNTPA — issued a statement in support of the WGA Strike.