Sports Business

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The GIST: A recent study of iStock analytics reveals a stark lack of women in sports visuals, but also found an appetite from consumers to engage with women’s sports. For example, only 9% of iStock’s most downloaded sports visuals depicted women and girls participating in sports. Time to look at this photograph (data).

The company: iStock is a subsidiary of Getty Images that provides premium visual stock photo content. Its clientele includes small to medium business and enterprises, creatives, and students. Leading up to the WWC, iStock released figures and interpretations of its most popularly downloaded sports-related files.

The data: According to iStock’s research, eight in 10 people consider it crucial to cover men’s and women’s sports equally, 72% of respondents agree that sports organizations and all businesses should do more to promote women's teams and their stars, and 75% want to see more authentic portrayals of women athletes.

• This means representation that emphasizes athleticism and skill, rather than beauty and sex appeal. In other words, consumers don’t just care about women athletes because “they’re hot.” Breaking news, we know.

The why: Visual media is essential to capturing viewers’ attention and can both perpetuate and break stereotypes. The inclusion of more stock media showcasing women’s athletic abilities, the realities of women’s sports across all competitive levels, and women as sports fans, ensures women’s sports are more accurately represented. Sorry Lizzo, that truth doesn’t hurt.

• iStock’s paltry 9% figure for its photos mirrors the lack of coverage for women’s sports. According to Togethxr, women’s sports receive less than 10% of sports media coverage, despite making up 44% of participants.

• As women’s sports continue to grow, the media needs to grow with it — including the visual depiction of female athletes. Imagery should be used in more impactful ways and provide an authentic portrayal of the current sports landscape. Representation matters.

The GIST: The 2023 WNBA All-Star weekend is waking up in Vegas tomorrow and the league is looking to win big. Here’s a sports biz look at this year’s midseason showcase by the numbers.

Midseason viewership: Throughout the first half of the 2023 season, viewership is up 46% vs. 2022, with 548K average viewers across 13 games on ESPN platforms and 647K during the eight ABC games. Despite appearing on ESPN networks for the 19th time, this will be the first primetime All-Star Game on ABC. Aces.

New brands: This year’s All-Star weekend rostered a handful of first-time partnerships for the WNBA. Jordan Brand is providing jerseys for the game, fit with its famous Jumpman logo. In addition, Jordan is releasing four, limited-edition footwear models in the iconic WNBA orange, and kicked off the initial drop yesterday.

• The league also announced black-founded and woman-led beauty brand Mielle as its first-ever official textured hair care partner. The company will serve as an associate partner of interactive fan festival WNBA Live, providing samples of its newest collection and organizing player meet and greets.

The pay: Compensation for playing in this year’s All-Star Game is reportedly a $2.5K bonus and a first class flight, notably low compared to the NBA’s $100K bonus for players on the winning team. However, like the new WNBA playoffs format, players are eligible for additional bonuses this weekend.

• The game’s MVP, along the three-point and skills competitions winners, will take home a $5K check instead. Additionally, All-Star status can be used as leverage in future negotiations for salary or sponsorship deals. Cashing out.

The GIST: The FIFA Women’s World Cup is just around the corner and we’re celebrating by hosting our very own free-to-enter bracket challenge. LFG!

The prizes: Along with bragging rights, winners will be walking away with cold, hard cash. The GIST is awarding a grand prize of $1,000 (!!!) and some GIST swag to the top bracket, while the second- and third-best brackets will walk home with $500 and $250, respectively. The winner will also be featured across The GIST’s newsletters and socials. Celeb status.

How to play: First, submit your picks for the group stage by guessing where each country will finish in their respective group. Then, when the group stage is over, we’ll send you an email to submit your picks for the knockout stage, where you’ll pick a winner for each game. Good luck!

FIFA and TikTok have announced a partnership ahead of next week’s WWC, and the hashtag #FIFAWWC has already generated 38.2B views on the popular social media app. TikTok isn’t new to the soccer world either — it recently struck similar deals with MLS and the 2022 Women’s Euro.

A group of Boston-based investors hoping to secure a 2026 NWSL expansion team bid proposed $30M in updates to the city-owned George White Stadium in Franklin Park, which could be the potential team’s new home.

A recent study revealed a significant surge in betting on women’s sports globally. Soccer leads the way with a 20% overall growth rate since 2020, with participation from female bettors more than doubling. Tennis, basketball, and cricket also showed an annual growth rate of about 10% from 2017 to 2022. Upping the ante.

🏆 Wednesday’s ESPYs handed out just five awards to women athletes, including LSU hooper Angel Reese and boxer Claressa Shields, while the USWNT received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for its equal pay fight.

📺 USWNT legend Brandi Chastain narrates the NWSL’s latest 2023 FIFA WWC commercial. She does have a thing for excelling on TV.

⚽️ CBS Sports’ Golazo Network is adding a studio show devoted entirely to women’s soccer.

🏀 Las Vegas Aces guard and All-Star starter Chelsea Gray will join Unrivaled as a founding player.

🎟️ Fanatics is launching live events company Fanatics Events to specialize in activations geared toward collectors.

📺 Telemundo announced Ford, Volkswagen, and Xfinity as major sponsors for its 2023 WWC coverage.

🤖 Vivid Seats and OpenAI have partnered to launch the first live event ChatGPT plugin, showcasing a potential sports-related use for AI (instead of a billionaire’s new pet project).