Future of Sports: Women’s Sports Takes Center Stage
About The Event
In many ways, women’s sports was the biggest sports story of 2024, as proved by the eyeballs and revenue. At the same time, many new and nascent leagues and teams have launched only in the past few years (USL Super League, PWHL). The new commercial opportunities mean companies will increase their spending to reach new audiences or shift more spending from men’s to women’s sports to capture the growth. We will look at where the financial opportunities lie for advertisers and brands as the landscape shifts.
Tune in Dec. 10 at 1pm ET.
Agenda
Investment Gold Rush
We have seen record-breaking investment in women’s sports in the past few years across multiple categories: ownership deals, new facilities, sports docuseries and streaming content, and more. From skyrocketing team valuations to sparkling new practice centers, the bar continues to be set higher and higher. We’ll discuss the massive business growth, and where holes (and opportunities) still remain.
Women’s Sports on the Screen
The rise in interest and eyeballs for women’s sports is driving a slew of new TV rights deals, from the WNBA (Disney, ABC, Amazon), to NWSL (Amazon, CBS, ESPN) to NCAA (mega new ESPN deal). We’ll dive into which networks and streamers are doubling down.
Marketing/Brand Partnerships Bonanza
The increase in screen time for women’s sports has opened up a new world of advertising, with different brands buying media around women’s sports. Media agencies are committing to boosting investment in women’s sports. And novel partnerships between sports franchises and women-focused brands have emerged—for example, fertility clinic RMA became the “official fertility partner” of the NWSL’s Gotham FC and New York Liberty, and high-end skincare brand Laneige partnered with Phoenix Mercury earlier this year. We’ll dive in.