Batter up
From The GIST Sports Biz (hi@thegistsports.com)
Hello!
The fiery June 1st WNBA Commissioner's Cup matchup between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky drew record attention with 1.53M average viewers on ESPN, making it cable’s most-viewed program that day. Unfortunately, some of this attention has been largely negative thanks to male sports journalists making painful missteps in their attempts at W coverage.
- For more context on the discourse surrounding Chennedy Carter’s foul, check out the latest episode of The GIST of It podcast with co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Stephanie Rotz.
Pro softball
🥎 A league of their own
The GIST: Good news, softball fans — there’s a new pro league rounding the bases. Athletes Unlimited’s (AU) pro softball arm will now include Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), a traditional-style softball season set to launch in 2025 that represents a major development for a game that has spent decades building to a sustainable pro league. Batter up.
The context: Four years ago, AU Pro Softball launched with a five-week, tournament-style season in Rosemont, Illinois that switches up player rosters weekly and crowns one of the 60 individual players as champion. The league just extended its stadium lease to keep the tourney in Chicagoland for the next five years.
- In 2022, the league added AUX Softball, an even more condensed pro softball competition featuring 42 athletes playing 18 games over a two-week span. The sites for AUX have changed each year, with its third iteration teeing off next week in Wichita, Kansas.
The new model: Pivoting from its previous innovative formats, AUSL will feature four permanent rosters playing a 30-game season. These teams will play games in around eight cities during its inaugural season, but by 2026, the AUSL will become a city-based league with locations TBD.
- This adapts key learnings from city-specific leagues like the WNBA, NWSL, and PWHL, which are all planning franchise expansions. Fan loyalty developed in local markets may be the best way to cash in — Las Vegas, for example, added four pro sports teams in the past decade and its sporting events made $1.85B from out-of-town visitors in 2022. Going all in.
The growth: Despite a rich history, U.S. softball has suffered from woefully inept pro offerings, cutting short a strong college pipeline. College softball has skyrocketed in popularity, especially once ESPN — AUSL’s new founding broadcast partner — began investing heavily in the sport.
- The exposure has spurred spiking viewership: the 2023 Women’s College World Series drew higher peak and average viewership than its baseball counterpart.
Lingering questions: AU has proven there’s interest in all of the women’s sports categories it caters to, yet its move to a city-centered format could indicate a desire to upend its business model to welcome a more traditional (and lucrative) sports league. Or, could this be a case of “more is more” as AU adds its third softball offering? Boom goes the dynamite.
Together With SponsorPulse
👍 Your boss is gonna love this
Nothing raises a brand’s profile like partnering with an up-and-coming team. But combing through opportunities can seem like an endless and daunting task, and your sponsorship dollars are too valuable to gamble with.
- So how can you know which teams will drive the best ROI?
Enter: the Sport Team Sponsorship Valuation Guide from SponsorPulse. They use extensive fan data and benchmarks to provide reliable investment guidance on the average value of a team sponsorship across every team in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, and WNBA.
- The sponsorship decision-making solution of your dreams helps streamline the data, so you can invest with confidence. Your boss will thank you.
👟 Adidas partners with Overtime Select team captains for custom jerseys
New high school girls’ basketball league Overtime (OT) Select unveiled custom Adidas jerseys for its eight teams yesterday. The sportswear brand crafted the bespoke uniforms in collaboration with team captains, who will debut the new threads at OT Select’s inaugural tournament in August. Tuff stuff.
📱 Zoomph shares insight on most engaging Gen Z women athletes on social media
Zoomph recently shared the top Gen Z pro women athletes by Instagram engagement since 2023, with motorsport phenom Toni Breidinger surprisingly topping the list with 38.2M engagements. Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese came in second (21.3M), followed by pro tennis player Emma Raducanu (10.9M), the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark (8.8M), and track star Sha’Carri Richardson (6.9M).
📈 Google Trends shares key WNBA data insights from May
Google Trends’ May data confirmed that the new-look W is a total trendsetter. After its May 14th reveal, “Valkyries WNBA” was the top trending WNBA search in the U.S. for the month. Caitlin Clark’s Fever was the most-Googled team in the league, and searches for “WNBA debut” reached an all-time high in the U.S. during May.
🎟️ The Indiana Fever surpassed its 2023 attendance just five games into the 2024 season, with seven of its nine games selling out. Feeling hot hot hot.
🇬🇧 Two-thirds of British Gen Z women are now engaging in sport, according to UK professional services firm EY.
🚀 Axios found the average cost of the cheapest ad-free tier on most major streamers has increased by over 40% since launch, a painful realization for sports fans as more games are exclusively added to streaming platforms. Getting boxed out.
📺 A month after Paramount CEO Bob Bakish stepped down, the network’s three new co-CEOs laid out a plan that includes growing Paramount+ through a potential joint venture or strategic partnership.
🤖 News unions are criticizing recent agreements Vox Media and The Atlantic have inked with OpenAI for lacking transparency on what they mean for staffers.
Together With Armoire
A productive day starts with a great morning routine: a glass of water, some fresh air, and when it’s time to get dressed, a visit to your Armoire box.
- Armoire is a clothing rental service designed for busy women. Just take their style quiz so Armoire can start building you the virtual Cher “Clueless” closet of your dreams.
- Best of all, GISTers are eligible for up to 50% off their first monthly membership by using code THEGIST. Go ahead, slay your day with an assist from Armoire.
Here’s what has GIST HQ buzzing:
💰 What to invest in
Women’s sports…and supplemental health insurance. When sick or injured, Aflac pays cash to help close the gaps that health insurance can leave behind. It’s a smart choice— just like female athletes.*
🏒 What to shop
PWHL x Barbie capsule collection. Fun, sporty fashion meets iconic style. Come on, Barbie, let's go watch hockey!
🧇 Where to brunch
At a Washington Mystics game. The squad has sold out multiple games in their “Brunch Series,” which features bottomless mimosas and a delicious spread before fans watch the game from premium seats. Dreams do come true.
*P.S. This is a sponsored post. Quack quack.Today's email was brought to you by Aryanna Prasad and Briana Ekanem. Fact checking by Bonnie Lee. Editing by Lindsay Jost. Operations by Elisha Gunaratnam and Lisa Minutillo. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster and Alessandra Puccio. Managing edits by Molly Potter and Ellen Hyslop.