Squabble up
From The GIST Sports Biz (hi@thegistsports.com)
Hi there!
A week after Las Vegas Ace A’ja Wilson launched her pearly pink A’One signature kicks, the shoe hit the NBA hardwood thanks to Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo. While rumors have surrounded the two stars for years, they hard launched their relationship when Adebayo showed up to Wilson’s South Carolina jersey retirement last week. All the rumors are true.
Basketball
🏀 Squabble up
The GIST: Unrivaled is leaning into its name with its inaugural 1v1 tournament, an uncommon format in pro basketball leagues like the WNBA and NBA. Although the idea of an in-season tournament and a casual 1v1 knockout tourney isn’t new, capitalizing on both concepts in a professional league is. Get your game on.
How it works: The four-day, 23-player competition tips off today, with seeding decided by fan vote. The Mist’s Jewell Loyd and the Vinyl’s Arike Ogunbowale earned first-round byes thanks to the fans, while the remaining 21 players will endure multiple rounds. The champion wins $200K from a $350K prize pool and the remaining money will be divided among participants.
The why: A popular basketball “what if,” 1v1 tourneys are easy to coordinate and feature unpredictable outcomes — even content creators have capitalized on the concept. Others have utilized a more structured format: Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady established Ones Basketball League in 2022, while Jordan Brand hosted The One tournament in Paris last year.
- Despite fan requests, the format has been absent from WNBA and NBA All-Star weekends, which makes Unrivaled’s offering even more enticing. Ball’s in her court.
Zooming out: Unrivaled’s numbers are holding up well in its first month, but it doesn’t hurt to have an in-season tournament, especially when the WNBA and NBA versions have done wonders for ratings. Offering unique in-season formats not only engages fans, but also creates opportunity for Unrivaled’s many sponsors.
- Sprite has already signed up as the tournament’s presenting sponsor, giving the beverage company an opportunity to stand out from the crowd of fellow Unrivaled partners all week long. Refreshing.
Women’s sports
🇬🇧 Blue is the color
The GIST: Last week, UK research group Women’s Sports Trust published a report illustrating how 2024 interest in women’s sports UK audiences has grown for both domestic and international properties. In an increasingly intertwined sports landscape — especially in women’s soccer — these insights are meaningful for marketers at home and abroad. Let’s dive in.
🌎 Interest was steady even without large events. While tourneys like the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Olympics are proven audience-drivers, the UK saw 44.7M viewers tune into non-tentpole women’s sports events in 2024 — its most-watched year ever. When women’s events at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics are included, UK audiences consumed a whopping 564M hours.
🎾🏀 Tennis and basketball are big for UK fans. Even though the WNBA and WTA are U.S.–based, the report shows a sizable audience forming across the pond. The tennis tour’s YouTube channel accumulated 71M views last year, while the WNBA led among women’s sports in TikTok views (361M) and Instagram engagements (90M).
⚽ However, nothing can compete with the nation’s love of soccer. It’s well-established that England loves footy — attendance and viewership continues to rise on the women’s side. Chelsea’s women’s team epitomizes that interest in the game, garnering 167M TikTok views — more than any other women’s sports team’s TikTok channel.
- Chelsea’s visibility is good for marketers to keep in mind, especially as the club pulled off the massive signing of USWNT star Naomi Girma. Girma has endorsement deals with Nike, Kaiser Permanente, and Siete Foods, all of which are getting additional play on the team’s popular TikTok account.
📱 Women athletes are marketing mavens. Women were responsible for 61% of all TikTok views among SportsPro’s 50 most marketable athletes in the world, and UK stars are becoming bona fide sports influencers. The UK athlete with the most TikTok views was BMX rider Charlotte Worthington, followed by track stars Lina and Laviai Nielsen and WSL players Mary Earps and Ella Toone.
- Plus, WSL athletes played well over Instagram last year: Lucy Bronze had more engagements than any other player in the league, while 35% of all WSL engagements on the platform came from player accounts — more than the EPL’s 27% player engagement rate across its top four franchises. Loud and clear.
Together With NativePath
💅 Invest in your self-care
You’ve heard influencers and the Internet say how good collagen is for you, but do you know why? Let’s get some facts straight about this super supplement, courtesy of our friends at NativePath, the creators of the Original Collagen Peptides. For instance:
⬆️ Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body
💪 It helps your hair and nails grow, and strengthens your joints
😌 It keeps your skin elastic and youthful
NativePath’s Original Collagen Peptides are single-ingredient collagen, made up only of types I and III, which make up 90% of the body’s collagen. Try them for yourself and take up to 45% off your order, plus free shipping, today.
🏎️ Netflix pivots its sports media strategy with a push for F1 media rights
Netflix is parlaying its success with Drive To Survive into pursuing U.S. F1 broadcasting rights starting in 2026. This is quite the pivot from Netflix’s strategy up until now, which has largely been focused on one-off sporting events and docuseries. It seems like everybody agrees.
⚖️ Estates of civil rights icons identify basketball as an ideal partnership space
In celebration of civil rights activist Malcolm X’s 100th birthday, his estate partnered with the NBA ’s Detroit Pistons to create a capsule collection honoring Malcolm’s deep connection to Detroit. The collab marks the first time his estate has partnered with a pro sports franchise.
- This was also new for Martin Luther King Jr.'s estate this year — it signed its first-ever sports partnership this January with the Coretta Scott King Classic, a women’s basketball tournament played in Newark, New Jersey, on MLK Jr. Day.
🏓 New report signifies growing global interest in the WNBA and racquet sports
According to a new report from marketing agency Redtorch, the WNBA experienced a 322% jump in online searches this year, more than any other sports property. Four out of the top seven properties in online search growth were women’s leagues, with racquet sports like padel and tennis seeing massive jumps. Making a racket.
👀 Tennis icon Serena Williams made a surprise appearance during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show while dancing to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” Better not speak.
🎤 Grammy-winning rapper Doechii narrated a rare Nike Super Bowl ad highlighting prominent women athletes such as A’ja Wilson, Alexia Putellas, Caitlin Clark, and Jordan Chiles.
👻 A new Snapchat report showed users consume over 25M minutes of sports content daily on the app, while Snapchat users were 2.4x more likely to check social media for live Super Bowl LIX updates compared to non-users.
🏒 Average PWHL attendance is at 7.2K per game near the season’s halfway point, up 33% from last year’s 5.4K season average.
🏐 League One Volleyball named three women executives to new leadership roles: chief growth officer Stephanie Alger, chief administrative officer Christina Donelson, and SVP of marketing and communications Stephanie Martin.
📸 Verizon (a partner of The GIST) launched its Behind The Lens activation for sports content creators covering the Super Bowl.
🏛️ At least 250 college athletes have opted out of the House v. NCAA settlement as they seek further compensation in new federal suits seeking higher payouts.
🏈 Nike signed youth flag football Janasia Wilson in the first-ever NIL athlete deal for flag football. Leaving the past behind.
Together With Boardroom
From 14-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant and entrepreneur Rich Kleiman, Boardroom’s newsletters give you the inside scoop on the biggest trends in the sports and entertainment biz. From the latest billion-dollar media rights deal to the NIL signings shaping the professional sports leagues of tomorrow, we deliver key insights daily.
- Join the thousands of industry leaders who rely on Boardroom to stay informed. Sign up today!
Peep our squad’s MVPs (Most Valuable Picks):
🏇 Who to know
James M. Jeter, Ralph Lauren’s first Black Creative Director for Men’s Polo. He started as an intern and worked his way up to designing the groundbreaking Morehouse & Spelman Collection, shifting Polo’s legacy in the process.
🏈 What to check out
The story of Kyle Smith, the NFL’s first-ever fashion editor. He didn’t love sports growing up, but now he’s making sure the league stays stylish.
🎧 What to listen to
“Buffalo Extreme,” an NPR podcast following the Buffalo All-Star Extreme cheer team, a group of Black teen girls, as they navigate the aftermath of a racist mass shooting near their gym.
Today's email was brought to you by Aryanna Prasad and Briana Ekanem. Fact checking by Bonnie Lee. Editing by Dee Lab. Operations by Elisha Gunaratnam and Marga Sison. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster, Alessandra Puccio, and Lisa Minutillo. Managing edits by Molly Potter and Ellen Hyslop. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.