Sports Business

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The GIST: Under Armour’s (UA) new chief doesn’t want to leave money on the table. CEO Stephanie Linnartz said Tuesday that womenswear and footwear will star in the company’s growth strategy, declaring that it “will go after women harder than this company has ever seen.”

The details: Linnartz said footwear is essential to growing UA’s womenswear business. It will kick off efforts by remarketing existing products but will eventually launch new shoes with the help of sneaker and branding experts. The strategy aligns with UA’s refreshed focus on Sportstyle, its athleisure division.

The context: The company’s revenue rose 8% to $1.4B in Q4, but UA hasn’t maximized its footwear or womenswear businesses. Shoes comprise 25% of UA’s annual revenue and women’s products account for even less, so both industries are the definition of untapped potential.

• The global footwear industry is expected to generate almost $400B in revenue this year, up 3.5% YoY, while the women’s athleticwear market will approach $200B globally in 2023. Sheesh.

Zooming out: A rejuvenated marketing effort and the promise of new products also opens the door for UA to incorporate female athletes into its brand identity. If the company decides to grow its women’s sports endorsements, basketball should be its first play — hoopers lead the pack for sartorial currency, especially for footwear.

• Aliyah Boston may not be on UA’s books anymore, but the brand can tap WNBA champ Kelsey Plum after the parties struck an agreement last November and try to recruit popular talent in the pros and college. Watch this space.

The GIST: The Athletic now doubles as a ticket agent. Yesterday, the publication inked an exclusive, multiyear ticketing deal with StubHub that will allow American and Canadian subscribers to stay updated on their favorite teams and buy tickets to see them in action.

The details: Buttons to buy tickets through StubHub will slowly be integrated into The Athletic’s existing content hubs on both desktop and mobile, including team home pages and schedules. Subscribers to The Athletic and its parent, The New York Times (NYT), will also receive exclusive StubHub offers later this year.

Zooming out: Seamless ticketing integrations could translate to butts in seats, which provides plenty of obvious perks for StubHub. The same is true for women’s sports franchises after The Athletic pledged to increase its coverage of women’s sports through a partnership with Google.

• However, the new deal also showcases the publication’s evolution following its NYT takeover. The sports news outlet has diversified its revenue streams since being acquired in January 2022, most notably by introducing ads last September in an effort to be profitable by 2025. Money talks.

The GIST: You may know that Boston Children’s Hospital is the nation’s most prestigious pediatric hospital, but did you also know they lead the country in pediatric orthopedics and sports medicine?

The powerplay: The team at Boston Children’s knows sports participation can be crucial to kids’ well-being, so they built the nation’s top pediatric sports medicine division to help them stay in the game.

• Serving grade-schoolers and NCAA athletes alike, Boston Children’s knows every patient has different needs, so they use a whole-team approach to create a unique plan of attack for every injury, so the players can play, play, play, play, play.

On Wednesday, a judge ruled in Diamond Sports Group’s (DSG) favor in its dispute with the NBA’s Suns and WNBA’s Mercury. The judge found Phoenix violated bankruptcy code, blocking its new deals with Gray Television and Kiswe.

• Phoenix and DSG must now find an appraiser to determine the valuation of the teams’ broadcast rights and then reach a consensual agreement to resolve the matter.

Disney’s overall revenue increased 13% to $22B in Q2, per its Wednesday earnings report. Operating losses for the company’s streaming business decreased due to subscriber growth at ESPN+ and pricier subscriptions, but revenue for Disney’s cable business dropped 7% to $6.6B. Nobody’s perfect.

MyNILpay, dubbed the Venmo for student-athletes, went live yesterday. The app allows fans to pay their favorite athletes directly in exchange for signed digital assets, and any student-athlete is eligible to join the platform. WNBA vet Nancy Lieberman is on MyNILpay’s board and it counts NFL quarterback Andy Dalton as an active user.

Sky New Zealand and leading national publication Stuff teamed up Wednesday to create a multimedia hub dedicated to July’s FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC), which will feature 26 live games, news, and analysis. The pair invited sponsors to scoop up inventory before the hub goes live on July 1st. Sweet as.

🏀 Topps will release an autographed trading card featuring star Iowa hooper Caitlin Clark in August.

⚽ The NWSL’s Angel City FC and fintech company Klarna launched “A New Dawn,” a women-focused, sustainable capsule collection.

🏐 380K watched ESPN’s broadcast of the NCAA beach volleyball championship, up 208% from 2019, the last year the network aired the game.

🏓 WNBA players Haley Jones and Jewell Loyd are now co-owners of Major League Pickleball teams in LA and Miami, respectively.

🎾 The new owner of Cincinnati's U.S. Open precursor, the Western & Southern Open, might relocate the event to Charlotte, North Carolina.

💰 Foot Locker hired ex-Nike exec Blanca Gonzalez as SVP and general manager of WSS, a footwear and apparel subsidiary known for its connection to Latinx communities.