The limit does not exist

The GIST: On Wednesday, Athletes Unlimited (AU) announced that all four of its month-long pro women’s sports leagues — basketball, softball, volleyball, and lacrosse — will broadcast games on ESPN platforms. The deal is a multiyear renewal of the entertainment network’s previous agreement with AU, which saw impressive viewership growth YoY. It’s like they have ESPN or something.

The details: Although financial details are unknown, ESPN will show a quarter of AU basketball games (6), about two-thirds of softball games (38), half of the lacrosse games (12), and two-thirds of volleyball games (20). That’s just over half of all 126 AU games this year, with 57 airing on linear networks and 14 streaming on ESPN+.

• This varies from last year’s deal, which also featured 57 games on linear TV but showed 42 games on ESPN+. According to Front Office Sports, AU strategically reduced its ESPN+ catalog to make room for competing networks and is currently in active negotiations to bring the remaining games to broadcast TV.

The leverage: As AU’s popularity grows, so does its market value. ESPN is in the company of other AU broadcasters like CBS Sports, Fox Sports, and Bally Sports. In fact, AU’s upwards trajectory among ESPN viewers gives them crucial leverage when negotiating deals with other networks.

• Plus, all four of these sports will be in the Olympics come 2028, an event that is always a ratings winner. Although NBC owns Olympic broadcasting rights until 2032, the AU deal allows ESPN to cash in on Olympic popularity for these surging sports.

Zooming out: After years of being sidelined by major networks, women’s sports leagues are in a position to negotiate for enhanced deals. As networks use women’s sports to prop up their streamers, AU knows its product deserves primetime linear coverage, too. The recent NWSL deal set the tone, and it's helping other leagues achieve the same success. Time to get paid.

The GIST: SponsorUnited data recently revealed that the number of sponsorship deals in pro women’s sports increased by over 22% YoY thanks to more than 5.5K deals last year. These numbers further prove the marketability of women athletes, who also see consistently higher rates of engagement. Keep scrolling for more key insights from the report.

⛳ The LPGA led all women’s sports properties with 1.1K sponsorship deals. The pro women’s golf league saw its sponsorship total increase by 25% YoY in 2023, then bagged major deals last month with TUMI, Rhone, and Ally.

🎾 The WTA saw the greatest YoY boost among all women’s sports properties. The tennis tour, which topped 1K total deals, saw 26% growth in 2023, just edging out the LPGA’s 25.5% boost. WTA athletes are super marketable, too — Coco Gauff was the highest-paid woman athlete in 2023, while nine of the list’s top 15 also played tennis. Ace.

💨 Gatorade is the most active brand in the game with 51 sponsorships in pro women’s sports leagues. This is up from last year’s data, where Gatorade was still one of the space’s most active companies. In addition to deals with the WNBA, NWSL, and LPGA, the sports drink brand is working with newer leagues like AU and the PWHL.

🎿 U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin and recently retired Angel City FC goalkeeper Brittany Isenhour each nabbed the most endorsements (33). This tracks: Shiffrin was one of the top 15 highest-paid women athletes last year with $6.1M earnings, $5M of which came from endorsements — and in a non-Olympic year to boot.

Looking forward: The data showed the success of well-established leagues, but newer ones like the PWHL, AU, and this year’s two new pro volleyball leagues should make waves on next year’s list. Thanks to increased media exposure — think the PWHL’s national deals and AU’s expanded ESPN deal — these young leagues are poised to be major players soon enough. Watch this space.

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