• Loading stock data...
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Tuned In returns to NYC on September 16. Hear from the biggest names in sports media. Click here to get your spot

Upstart Leagues Are Looking for Their Caitlin Clark

PWHL and other upstart leagues are gunning for mindshare with American audiences. What they need is a household name.

PWHL
Imagn Images

In its sophomore season, fan enthusiasm for the Professional Women’s Hockey League hit new heights. In February, the league set an attendance record for a professional women’s hockey game in the U.S.—then broke it two months later. And its nine-city takeover tour averaged more than 13,000 attendees and helped it pick its first two expansion teams.

But despite its success in attracting new fans to women’s hockey, the PWHL hasn’t reached mainstream status. For that, it may just need a generational star.

“I’d love to get to the point where our players have crossed over culturally, similar to the Caitlin Clarks, the Angel Reeses, the Alex Morgans, all these great players—that our players have now entered the conversation outside of sports and are part of everyday culture and conversation,” PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer said at the Front Office Sports Future of Sports: Leagues of Their Own event.

To get stars that cross over into mainstream culture, you need talent, of course, but you also need lightning in a bottle. David Beckham wasn’t the world’s top player when he moved to MLS in 2007, but his celebrity—burnished by a Spice Girl spouse, underwear modeling ads, and the film “Bend It Like Beckham”—accompanied him to the States, making the fledgling league a destination for European-born stars.

Clark wasn’t married to a pop star or getting namechecked in films, but she entered the mainstream at a time when women’s hoops needed a shot in the arm. With Clark on point, Iowa’s 2024 championship game against South Carolina drew 18.9 million TV viewers, almost doubling the previous viewership record for a women’s championship while eclipsing the men’s viewership for the first time ever. Fans followed Clark to the WNBA, where attendance shot up 48% from the previous season.

Even if the popularity of women’s basketball had plateaued before Clark’s arrival, it was at least a known quantity. Some leagues aren’t yet at a point where talent or celebrity will move the needle. “I think we’re at a point in our country with our sport that we’re educating the fan on what the game is,” said Major League Rugby chief revenue officer Lucas Reid. Getting internationally recognized players into the league, which is set to start its eighth season, would be a nice thing to have, but it isn’t a focus, given that American fans are still navigating the rules.

Grand Slam Track, which is in its debut season, is in an altogether different position. While track is a globally watched sport that has produced household names like Usain Bolt and FloJo, it nonetheless lacks a recognizable platform for athletes outside the Summer Olympics. President and COO Steve Gera plans to give it to them, starting with four-time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and three-time gold medalist Gabby Thomas. Grand Slam Track’s strategy of “stakes, stories, stars” is designed to grow the athletes’ profiles and the league’s at the same time. 

“That flywheel of an athlete actually being able to build themselves up only helps us grow,” said Gera, “because it actually extends the amount of storytelling that we can do about our athletes on an annual basis.”

So far, upstart leagues like the PWHL have been doing a lot of the storytelling themselves. Soon, they hope to have stars writing storylines that the whole country follows.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Gabby Williams: ‘Unrivaled Saved the WNBA’s Butt’

Unrivaled was co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.
Jul 27, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Sky guard Kia Nurse (11) drives to the basket against Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) during the second half at United Center.

Fever-Sky Draws 1.5M Viewers Despite Clark, Reese Absences

Clark and Reese both missed the game due to injury.

How Sports Leagues Are Responding to NFL Headquarters Shooting

The building housing the NFL headquarters was barricaded and closed Tuesday.
Jul 24, 2025; Washington, D.C., USA; Venus Williams (USA) waves to the crowd after her match against Magdalena Frech (POL)(not pictured) in a women's singles match on day four of the Mubadala Citi DC Open at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center.

Venus Williams Returns to U.S. Open Ahead of New Mixed Doubles Format

The number of doubles teams at the US Open has been cut to 16 from 32.

Featured Today

Las Vegas sign

College Sports Embracing Vegas After Years of Cold Shoulder

The Big Ten became the latest newcomer to Sin City.
2000, Jupiter, FL, USA; FILE PHOTO; Montreal Expos pitcher Hideki Irabu in action on the mound against the New York Mets at Roger Dean Stadium during Spring Training
July 28, 2025

Dead Sports Franchises Are Alive and Well on Twitter

The Expos, Sonics, and Whalers have active social media accounts.
Limited Hype
July 27, 2025

Sneaker Reselling Was Once Easy Money. Success Is Now Complicated

Vendors need to evolve what they’re selling and how they do it.
HAPPY GILMORE 2. BTS - (L to R) Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore and Rory McIlroy as himself on the set of Happy Gilmore2.
July 26, 2025

‘Cool As Hell’: How ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ Hooked Golf’s Top Stars

The process was “cool as hell,” Adam Sandler tells FOS.
Jul 27, 2025; Washington, D.C., USA; Leylah Fernandez (CAN) celebrates with the championship trophy after her match against Anna Kalinskaya (not pictured) in the women's singles final of the Mubadala Citi DC Open at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center.

DC Open Increases Women’s Purse by 39%, Keeps 2027 Target for Equal..

DC Open chairman Mark Ein spoke to Front Office Sports.
NYPD
July 29, 2025

Shooter at NFL Building Targeted League Over Head Injuries

The gunman shot one league employee in the building lobby.
July 29, 2025

Golf Major Bringing Biggest Women’s Sporting Event to Wales

Royal Porthcawl Golf Club is hosting the AIG Women’s Open.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Dealmaker Jeffrey Kaplan maps the evolution of sports as an asset class
July 29, 2025

Top MLS Voices Advocate for International Schedule Change

The league is still weighing a move to align with international soccer.
July 28, 2025

NYC Shooter Targeted NFL HQ, Went to Wrong Floor

NFL employees were told to shelter in place during the shooting.
July 28, 2025

Harper-Manfred Clubhouse Clash Foreshadows MLB Labor Battle

MLB’s commissioner clashes with the two-time NL Most Valuable Player.
July 28, 2025

The Fastball and the Furious: Bristol MLB Game Will Set Attendance Record

The league makes history with the special-event game in Tennessee.