Let the games begin
From The GIST Sports Biz (hi@thegistsports.com)
TGIF!
We’ve got big news from the Olympic world: On Wednesday, the IOC approved expansion of several women’s sports, meaning women will represent over 50% of LA28 athletes. Women’s water polo went from 10 teams to 12 to match the men, 3x3 basketball added four more squads, and a new women’s boxing weight category was added.
- But the biggest win might be in soccer, where the women’s field will grow from 12 teams to 16, while the men’s side will shrink from 16 to 12. Reaching a fever pitch.
Women’s sports
📺 Ad it on
The GIST: On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated (SI) announced the creation of the SI Women’s Games, a six-sport competition scheduled for this fall. The tournament aims to capitalize on the surging popularity of women’s sports and exemplifies media companies working together to innovate ad packaging and scale up advertising inventory in the space. Let the games begin.
The details: Over a five-day period in Oceanside, CA, the competition will feature basketball, volleyball, tennis, gymnastics, flag football, and combat sports. Athletes will compete in individual and team competitions as either “Team Americas” or “Team World,” a popular format in pro hoops.
- Scripps Sports, which has a multiyear deal with SI, will be the exclusive U.S. broadcaster for the event. Locked in.
The precedent: Founding a women’s sports competition to create media and advertising opportunities is a relatively recent trend. Brands like Ally, Aflac, and Shark Beauty have all sponsored NCAA women’s hoops showcases, with the latter executing a similar concept to the SI Women’s Games: An experiences brand and a media network showcasing women’s sports.
- While Shark Beauty is the presenting sponsor, the December basketball competition is actually facilitated by Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) and Fox Sports. It’s a solid move for Fox, which is looking to bolster its women’s basketball programming, and for HS&E, which wants to capitalize on the brand loyalty of women’s sports fans.
Zooming out: The SI Women’s Games are expected to be a biennial event, which is especially smart in the lead-up to LA28. As HS&E noted in its 2024 report, women’s basketball and volleyball viewership has seen some of the fastest growth across women’s sports, while tennis is experiencing global YoY growth and flag football is already courting serious investment interest.
- Competitions like this also help media companies scale up their advertising offerings as the space gets crowded. Scripps and SI can both benefit from sponsor activations and broadcast ad sales for this event, while also giving brands another opportunity to spend in women’s sports at a time when companies are looking to equalize. One plus one really is three.
PWHL
🏒 Pick-up sticks
The GIST: The PWHL shared wins from its first-ever Takeover Tour today, which saw all six teams play games at nine different exhibition sites across the U.S. and Canada. Not only was this a brilliant strategy to market test in potential PWHL cities, but the tour spurred engagement and allowed the league to reach new hockey fans.
- This data shows that exhibition tours can be extremely successful in women’s sports, especially when it comes to smaller and mid-sized markets that are typically overlooked. Small but mighty.
🏟️ A total of 123,601 fans showed up across the nine tour stops. Big crowds in Denver (14,018) and Detroit (14,288) helped the league reset the U.S. attendance record for a women’s hockey game…twice. Five of these games ranked among the league’s top 10 in single-game attendance, led by Vancouver’s 19K sellout.
🤩 About 80% of these fans experienced their first PWHL game thanks to the tour. While it primarily stopped in existing NHL markets, up to 78% of attendees were visiting the host venue for the first time, meaning these women’s hockey fans didn’t previously engage with the city’s NHL team. Dommage.
📈 The league saw a 30% increase in social followers during the Takeover Tour, which benefitted from extensive IRL activations. Over 900 girls participated in hockey clinics at all nine tour sites, player-fan interactions resulted in over 1.4K autographs, and brands like Upper Deck got in on the memorabilia trend in women’s hockey.
Zooming out: While the PWHL plans on adding at least two new cities by next season, it can’t expand to every Takeover Tour city in the imminent future. But there’s still a valuable lesson here: Existing fans willing to travel and new, local fans are available out-of-market, so women’s sports leagues and brands need to think of creative ways to reach them.
- While Unrivaled’s in-person attendance was limited, partner Ally engaged American fans with watch parties across the nation’s growing network of women’s sports bars. And the WNBA has garnered support from Canadian brands by hosting three W games in Canada, which ultimately brought a team to Toronto. Sounds aboot right.
📉 President Trump continues stock market turbulence after tariff pause stabilizes stocks
It’s been a rollercoaster on the stock market this week as the U.S. president’s tariff decisions have caused the market to fall, then rise, then fall again. On Wednesday, Trump declared a 90-day pause on the controversial “reciprocal tariffs” he announced just last week.
- Stocks were initially bolstered by the news, but that was quickly undone by clarification yesterday that tariffs against China could reach 145%. The sports sector has definitely taken a hit, losing an estimated $318B following Trump’s tariff policy announcement.
💅 Ellie the Elephant debuts NY Liberty partnership with Essie
Nailcare brand Essie debuted its new partnership with the NY Liberty by appealing to fans through beloved mascot Ellie the Elephant. Essie gifted Ellie her first-ever manicure and planned an extensive social media roll out to announce even bigger news: This partnership makes Essie the first official nail polish partner in the WNBA. In-vesting in style.
💄 Sephora stays on the court with latest women’s basketball partnership
Beauty retailer Sephora is stepping up its game as the official beauty partner of the Golden State Valkyries. Through a new multiyear deal, it’s the first brand to purchase the naming rights for a WNBA training facility: the Sephora Performance Center in Oakland, CA.
- The company recently partnered with 3v3 basketball league Unrivaled and sponsored its tunnel walk, became the first founding partner of the Toronto Tempo, and made its case as an ideal basketball sponsor by partnering with Netflix to be a plot twist in the streamer’s hit show, Running Point. Perfect right off the bat.
📱 Fans watched 8.5B minutes of women’s March Madness across ESPN platforms, the second-highest total for the tournament in network history.
🥎 Wednesday’s rivalry game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State attracted 9,259 fans, setting the NCAA regular-season softball attendance record.
💰 BMO became the official bank of the Northern Super League and the presenting partner of its broadcasts.
👟 DiJonai Carrington inked a multiyear deal with Reebok Basketball, following in the footsteps of her father, former NFLer Darren Carrington, who was also a Reebok athlete. Keeping it in the family.
🏎️ NASCAR driver Katherine Legge extended her partnership with E.l.f Cosmetics for a third year.
🏨 The USL announced Best Western Hotels as its official hotel partner, with the brand citing upcoming FIFA World Cup and Olympic bids as drivers of domestic soccer fandom.
🎾 In order to support player calendar flow, the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals changed its date and location from November to September in Shenzhen, China.
🧼 Dial announced a new program that rewards clean sheets in USWNT and USMNT matches through a multiyear partnership with U.S. Soccer. Defense wins championships.
Giveaway Alert
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😌 One Hypervolt 2 massage gun (worth $199)
👀 A Normatec Go (valued at $349) for compression calf massaging
🔥 The Venom 2 Back (starting at $249), the lower back heat wrap of your dreams
📈 One WHOOP band + 1 year membership (worth $239)
💰 And $200 cash for any gear you need, like new sneakers. Cha-ching.
What are you waiting for? Enter now for a chance to step up your recovery game.
Here’s what passed The GIST squad’s vibe check this week:
🩸 What to learn about
DVT in the NBA. A medical condition called deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is making headlines after impacting stars like Milwaukee Buck Damian Lillard and San Antonio Spur Victor Wembanyama.
☁️ How to smell nice
With Cloud by Ariana Grande, a staple scent that won’t break the bank. You won’t smell like a dandelion, but it’s still oh so fresh.
📚 What to read
There’s No Base Like Home by two-time Olympic softball medalist Jessica Mendoza and her sister Alana Mendoza Dusan. The duo teamed up on the novel inspired by their own childhood adventures. A true home run.
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