Guard Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes listens as the group cheers after breaking the NCAA women’s all-time scoring record through the game against the Michigan Wolverines at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on February 15, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa.
Matthew Holst | Getty Images
Women’s sports reached an inflection point in 2023, propelled by major latest broadcast deals, once-in-a-lifetime players and record-breaking audiences that dramatically modified the sports landscape.
From Caitlin Clark fever in Iowa to a packed house of 92,000 fans for women’s volleyball in Nebraska, women’s sports have never been more on the forefront.
And it isn’t slowing down.
Revenue generated by women’s elite sports could surpass $1 billion this yr, a 300% increase from 2021, based on estimates from Deloitte.
Greater media deals and more industrial sponsors are driving record valuations for girls’s sports, with several teams’ values expected to exceed $100 million in 2024, based on Deloitte.
Last yr saw record media deals for girls’s sports because the NCAA and NWSL each inked groundbreaking agreements. And investors from private equity to celebrities are lining as much as get in the sport.
Yet, there’s still loads of work to be done, specifically, within the areas of equal pay, prime-time access and even the necessity for more historical data.
CNBC surveyed among the most high-powered women executives in sports, starting from league commissioners to team owners and CEOs, to listen to their thoughts on the state of girls in sports. A few of their answers have been edited for style, clarity and length.
What do you see as the first obstacle hindering the expansion of girls’s sports?
Renie Anderson, executive vp and chief revenue officer for the NFL: The obstacle, or really the chance, for today is to proceed to amplify the spectacular athleticism of those women. Quite than be shocked and surprised that ladies are spectacular at sport, we’d like to do a greater job of weaving within the message of greatness when highlighting the greatness in men’s sports. It’s there. It just doesn’t get the eye it deserves.
Jessica Berman, National Women’s Soccer League Commissioner
Jesse Grant | CNBC
Jessica Berman, commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League: Since the world has woken as much as women’s sports, the expectations on how briskly this could grow, from all stakeholders, is admittedly difficult. We’re 100 years behind men’s sports, and so it isn’t to say that we must always crawl. It’s to say that it’s difficult to form of construct the plane as quickly as so many stakeholders expect it to be built — and to do it in a way that is sustainable and commercially viable.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks to the media to award Breanna Stewart #30 of the Recent York Liberty with the 2023 Kia WNBA Most Worthwhile Player Award before the sport against the Connecticut Sun during round two game two of the 2023 WNBA playoffs on September 26, 2023 in Brooklyn, Recent York.
David Dow | Getty Images
Cathy Engelbert, commissioner of the Women’s National Basketball Association: Certainly one of the obstacles is the undervaluation of our assets. Whether it is a patch on the uniform or an ad buy on a broadcast, we’d like to vary the model. It’s based on decades-old spreadsheet models which might be tailored to men’s sports and in those models, loads of things that firms are actually supporting in women’s sports aren’t being accounted for like their diversity, their community, the indisputable fact that they aren’t the “one and done” type.
Jessica Gelman speaks through the fifteenth Annual Sports Business Journal Awards ceremony at Recent York Marriott Marquis Hotel on May 18, 2022 in Recent York City.
John Lamparski | Getty Images
Jessica Gelman, KAGR CEO and founding father of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: A serious obstacle has been available data on performance which supports and enhances storytelling. These stories create interest and drive (i.e. see Caitlin Clark’s NCAA scoring record quest). This past yr the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference donated to Sports-Reference to support the addition of school women’s data back to 1987.
Jayna Hefford, senior vp of operations for the Skilled Women’s Hockey League: Women’s sports still struggle to secure prime broadcast windows, consistent airtime and traditional media coverage. Moreover, the scarcity of traditional media coverage has historically forced women’s teams and leagues, in addition to women-owned media firms, to take the lead in promoting their very own narratives. This limited visibility has made it difficult to draw brand support, though research indicates that firms investing in women’s sports see lucrative returns.
Haley Rosen, Just Women’s Sports
Source: Just Women’s Sports
Haley Rosen, CEO and founding father of Just Women’s Sports: Certainly one of the largest obstacles hindering the progress of girls’s sports today is counting on the legacy platforms. Legacy platforms aren’t set as much as support women’s sports and construct on the momentum. Yes, they’ll air the games. But there’s only a lot time within the day for the shoulder programming and coverage needed to amplify the ladies’s leagues, and legacy platforms are all the time going to prioritize men’s sports. Viewership numbers are rising, however the relative percentage of girls’s sports coverage on legacy platforms hasn’t modified.
Mollie Marcoux Samaan, LPGA Commissioner, speaks through the State of the Association press conference through the first round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 16, 2023 in Naples, Florida.
Michael Reaves | Getty Images
Mollie Marcoux Samaan, commissioner of the Ladies Skilled Golf Association: Women’s sports today face two primary obstacles: investment and exposure. On the LPGA we have made some great strides. Our total revenue has gone up 65% within the last 4 years, and total purses — the prize funds players’ play for every week — has grown 70% since 2021. That is due to investment, due to partnerships, due to corporate decision makers seeing not only the numerous industrial value of the LPGA but additionally the chance to have a positive impact on the world.
How can women’s sports leverage milestone events like those seen in 2023 to further expand reach?
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 22: USTA President Katrina Adams speaks through the Louis Armstrong Stadium Dedication Ceremony at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 22, 2018 in Recent York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
Steven Ryan | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Katrina Adams, former pro tennis player and ex-CEO of the US Tennis Association: I feel what the Women’s Tennis Association has done for a few years, is shown other skilled sports what might be achieved in the event that they use your voice and their talent, that they will survive. Whenever you take a look at the players of today — , we talk concerning the [Caitlin Clark types] and Sabrina Ionescu and Coco Gauff, who was the best paid athlete last yr — there’s so many opportunities for these young women to make use of their platform to actually speak up and speak out on what it means to be on a level playing field week in and week out.
Berman: I feel we have now to go from these being moments to being a part of a movement, in order that we get out of the default of getting these reference points be episodic, or transactional or in isolation, in order that it could actually translate to more sustainable growth and investment. I feel the more we are able to display and discuss a few of those consistent data points that show that the business is definitely being inbuilt a more consistent way, the better it’ll be to debunk the narrative that these are one-off success stories.
Pamela Duckworth
Source: FuboTV
Pamela Duckworth, head of Fubo Studios at FuboTV: Female athletes are multifaceted — also they are moms, businesswomen, philanthropists, media moguls and more. We are able to use the momentum from attention-grabbing sports moments to bring athletes’ stories to the forefront and connect with broader audiences that way.
Engelbert: Sports is about marketing, marketing, marketing. If you happen to look back on the history of the NBA that put the league on the map and the multibillion-dollar deals, it was a rivalry coming out of school, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Then it was a marketing genius with Michael Jordan and Nike. But you wish capital to market and advertise. I feel the marketing strategy we put in place now that we have now this capital is to construct household names, create rivalries, and promote games or events of consequence.
Fanduel CEO Amy Howe attends The Way forward for All the pieces presented by the Wall Street Journal at Spring Studios on May 18, 2022 in Recent York City.
Steven Ferdman | Getty Images
Amy Howe, FanDuel CEO: Women’s sports must proceed to position their star athletes (i.e. Ionescu, A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart of WNBA) within the mainstream at parity with their male counterparts – the 3-point competition was an ideal example. Not surprisingly, all of this investment and support is fueling greater performance from female athletes which is driving added success in places like FanDuel’s business, where we saw a 270% increase in bet counts on women’s sports and 101% increase in handle, or amount wagered. It’s an actual flywheel effect.
Rosen: There are tens of thousands and thousands of sports fans on the market waiting to be onboarded into this space. We now have to make it easy and fun for them to be a women’s sports fan and never just depend on the stand-alone moments. Meaning meeting them on daily basis on their feeds, creating content that engages them and keeps them continually connected to this space.
How do name, image and likeness regulations factor into the expansion of girls’s sports?
Adams: I feel it’s a possibility for our women to finally be recognized and truly make a living. The boys, they’ve had this chance for years, for a long time, “under the table,” in the event you will, now the ladies are in a position to do it legally with the NIL. For them to make a bit money and really grow the game of their communities, of their cities of their college towns, etc. I feel it’s great. They’re learning the right way to turn out to be entrepreneurs at a younger age, and so they’re doing extremely well.
A portrait of Renie Anderson NFL SVP, Chief Revenue Officer.
Source: NFL
Anderson: I feel NIL helps likely a small few through their social media. I’m unsure outside of a handful of wonderful athletes/influencers it’ll be unfolded throughout college sports for girls, prefer it is for football for men. But I suppose we wait and see. I do not think it hurts, but for those few women that do profit, it’s a possibility for them to lift up other women.
Duckworth: NIL opens doors for female athletes to construct their very own brands in ways in which weren’t possible before. Why shouldn’t a female athlete generate profits the identical way her male counterpart can? Money equals independence in my book. Kudos to major sports stars like Angel Reese or Caitlin Clark on showing young women just what might be built.
Billie Jean King and Jayna Hefford walk to centre ice for the ceremonial puck drop before Toronto plays Recent York of their PWHL hockey game on the Mattamy Athletic Centre on January 1, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mark Blinch | Getty Images
Hefford: The positive impact of NIL on women’s college athletics has reverberated throughout women’s sports, making a scenario where all boats rise. As more female athletes turn out to be household names, the investment in women’s sports is more likely to increase, encouraging more young girls to start out — or proceed participating in — sports.
Rosen: On paper, it’s great and we must always have fun anything that helps women athletes grow their brand and monetize their talents. There are obviously still some details that should be ironed out, especially on the subject of team dynamics and the potential for NIL deals to force players into taking the short-term profit at the price of their long-term development.