GAINESVILLE, Va. — The Solheim Cup tees off Friday morning at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club just outside Washington, D.C., and the three-day USA-Europe women’s team event is expected to break multiple records off the course.

Total attendance is expected to surpass the record 130,000 fans who made it out to Solheim Cup competition days, practice rounds, and other activities in 2021 in Toledo. The liveliest spot will be the 2,000-seat mini-stadium built around the first tee box, giving the golfers a loud team sports setting they don’t normally experience.

This is the first Solheim Cup being played at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, which borders Lake Manassas. It has hosted four Presidents Cups between 1994 and 2005, as well as a PGA Tour event in 2015.

Solheim Cup organizers—the LPGA and Ladies European Tour—are working with SeatGeek for the first time, and before this week, ticket revenue had already surpassed the record sum from three years ago, the last time the event was in the U.S. The event has grown its top-tier sponsor list from three to five, leading to a 200% increase in revenue there.

Ready for Action

U.S. viewership of the Solheim Cup should be up from recent years, thanks to more coverage hours on the main NBC network channel. 

NBC Sports will have more than 28 hours of live on-course action. Golf Channel has the event Friday and the early windows on Saturday and Sunday. But over the weekend, a record six hours will air on NBC, nearly double the total from 2021. 

In 2021, NBC’s coverage averaged roughly 756,000 viewers on Saturday and Sunday. That year’s event finished on a Monday, averaging 588,000 viewers on the Golf Channel. All of those numbers were down double-digit percentage points from the previous Solheim Cup in the U.S. in 2017. When the Solheim Cup is in Europe, the entire event is shown on the Golf Channel due to the time difference.

Women’s sports are undoubtedly having a moment. From college basketball and the WNBA to the NWSL and even volleyball, attendance, viewership, and media-rights money are up across the board. 

But what about women’s golf?

“I think it depends on how you look at it,” LPGA chief marketing and brand officer Matt Chmura tells Front Office Sports. “The purses that our players are playing for are up, but they’re also amongst the highest in women’s sports.”

The LPGA is awarding more than $120 million in prize money this season. The top five earners so far on tour each won more than $2 million, with Nelly Korda topping the list at $3.6 million. That’s slightly behind the top five earners on the WTA Tour (between $3 million and $7 million), but far ahead of other leagues. 

Portland Thorns forward Sophia Smith is the highest-paid NWSL player, with a salary of roughly $500,000. The highest-paid player in the WNBA, Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young, makes just over $252,000 per year.

Better Together

When it comes to creating more interest in the Solheim Cup and women’s golf in general, Chmura says there remains work to be done by the LPGA, as well as the sport’s other governing bodies.

“If you’re a golf fan, you’re cheering for Team USA—Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, Solheim Cup,” he says. “And I think that the more we can all work together to galvanize U.S golf fans around Team USA that behooves all of us, both the men and the women.”

The LPGA Tour has nine more events this fall after the Solheim Cup and next year will look to bring in new fans to celebrate its 75th anniversary season.

As the U.S. attempts to win its first Solheim Cup since 2017, the team’s uniform provider is hoping to win over the squad on a long-term basis.

While most of the world’s top golfers get paid big bucks to rep brands like Nike, Adidas, or Callaway on the LPGA Tour, this week, Team USA is being outfitted by Dunning Golf, a high-end performance apparel brand that only released its first women’s collection in 2022.

Dunning took over Team USA responsibilities ahead of last year’s Solheim Cup, signing a two-year deal. That brought some stability after Cutter & Buck provided the uniforms in 2021 after Jofit did so in 2019. 

In 2022, Team USA officials reached out to Dunning and met with company leaders at that year’s U.S. Women’s Open in North Carolina, Dunning Golf president Mike Elliott tells Front Office Sports. The final say came down to U.S. captain Stacy Lewis, who ultimately decided on Dunning being Team USA’s uniform provider. Elliott is hopeful the relationship can continue in 2026 and beyond when the U.S. will likely have a new captain.

Look Good, Play Good

With the Solheim Cup taking place just outside Washington, D.C., on the same week as Sept. 11, Lewis wanted Team USA’s apparel to honor the six branches of the U.S. Armed Forces across the event’s three practice rounds and three competition days. Friday’s uniforms are inspired by the Coast Guard, Saturday’s by the Navy, and Sunday’s by Space Force. 

Logistics have been tricky, though. The 12-person squads weren’t finalized until a few weeks ago when the U.S. and Europe made their captain’s picks, so Team USA had to preorder outfits for 18 golfers just to be safe. 

Dunning is one of many brands seeking to capitalize on golf fans who want to sport red, white, and blue this week. The Solheim Cup built its biggest merchandise building ever, a 10,000-square-foot structure near a main spectator gate.