Sports Business

Happy Friday!

Sign Up

The GIST: The women’s professional basketball landscape is leveling up. NY Liberty star Breanna Stewart and the Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier announced the launch of a new women’s league called Unrivaled yesterday, creating another domestic alternative for WNBA players during the offseason.

The details: Unrivaled will host 3x3 and 1-on-1 games from January to March in Miami, although no official start date has been announced. The league will field six franchises stacked with the top 30 WNBA stars, and plans to offer the players competitive salaries.

• The 3x3 game is on the rise. From WNBA teams investing in the format to the recent U.S. domination on the growing global court, three seems to be the magic number.

The context: Unrivaled joins Athletes Unlimited (AU) as a U.S. offseason alternative for WNBA players. AU Basketball runs for five weeks in the winter and features 44 of the best pros competing as individuals within a unique scoring system.

• In its first season, AU athletes made about $1.3K per game, comparable to a WNBA rookie salary, while top athletes earned around $3.3K — only half of a top W contract.

Zooming out: Especially after the horrifying and wrongful imprisonment of Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner, finding ways for WNBA athletes to supplement their income while staying home during the offseason is more important than ever — even if it means some friendly competition.

• While the WNBA, Unrivaled, and AU might be competitors on paper, giving athletes multiple offseason opportunities is a huge step forward for player safety, and a win for fans and sponsors interested in women’s basketball.

The GIST: The LPGA keeps sinking sponsorship birdies. According to a report released by SponsorUnited yesterday, the LPGA has exponentially grown its brand investments in recent years, while offering major ROI to sponsors. This success translates to big wins like larger prize pools — including this weekend’s US Open’s record $11M purse.

The numbers: For the first time ever, the LPGA counts over 1K brands investing in the association and its athletes, with companies seeing up to a 400% ROI as women’s golf continues to grow. And the golf tour isn’t compromising quality for quantity — 83% of sponsors bought assets in the last year that promote diversity and inclusion.

• Individual LPGA golfers averaged 15% follower growth YoY on social media, while also boasting a 4.6% average engagement rate. English golfer Charley Hull, Kiwi Lydia Ko, and American Nelly Korda led the way for total branded engagement. They know about popular.

The trend: The LPGA is mirroring the rapid sponsorship growth seen across women’s sports in recent years, including 100% growth for its brand investments since 2019. Comparably, the WNBA saw 90% growth from 2019 to 2022, while the 2022 NWSL Championship broke records, largely due to Ally sponsoring the game’s move to primetime.

Zooming out: As athlete endorsements and sponsorship deals grow, leagues are able to offer more to players and fans. The upcoming US Open’s record purse and its historic use of ShotLink technology would likely not be possible without the influx of investment in the tour. A true hole-in-one.

Looking for a new podcast? Then you have to check out our twice-weekly podcast, The GIST of It. Hosted by BFFs Ellen Hyslop and Stephanie Rotz, it’s the women-produced and -hosted sports podcast you’ve been waiting for.

But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what our listeners are saying:

• “They are enthusiastic and funny and I don’t miss an episode!” (Ronbenlisa)

• “The best sports podcast on the air!” (_Jo777)

• “Finally a podcast that gives women’s sports the attention in deserves.” (Dnp!!)

Join the conversation (and these happy listeners!) by subscribing to The GIST of It wherever you tune into podcasts.

For the second time in three years, ESPN initiated mass layoffs of on-air talent, letting 20 sports personalities go late last month. The recent wave follows Disney’s plan to cut $5.5B in costs this year, while rumors have already begun to swirl about promotions for remaining employees, like Doris Burke and Mina Kimes.

While the ATP considers Saudi investments, WTA athletes like Jessica Pegula see the country’s sovereign wealth fund as an avenue for equal pay, and Billie Jean King verbalized her support for Saudi-hosted events. Hmm…

LSU gymnast and supermodel Olivia Dunne is using her platform to help fellow female LSU athletes secure NIL deals, partnering with Bayou Traditions to launch the Livvy Fund. Dunne’s fund joins a growing list of organizations dedicated to pairing brands with women athletes.

📺 Las Vegas Aces star Candace Parker wants smarter broadcast times for televised WNBA games. Same.

👾 Sports Interactive will add a long-anticipated women’s mode to the Football Manager video game in 2025.

💸 The NY Liberty and Brooklyn Nets partnered with NY–based Webull to provide free financial literacy courses to NYC high school students.

🚙 The FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) added Hyundai and Kia to their list of sponsors.

📈 Per Google, women’s sports’ global search interest is up (tell us something we don’t know!) — WWC searches during each tournament grew exponentially between 2015 and 2019 and this year’s Women’s College World Series surpassed the men’s.

ICYMI, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup just around the corner, we dropped a tee that you’ll be proud to rock no matter what team you’re cheering for.

Inspired by the ongoing fight for equal pay for all pro women’s soccer players across the world, we created an “Equal Pay for Equal Play” tee.

To proudly don the message in time for the tourney, you have to move fast: before Sunday.