A femininomenon
From The GIST Sports Biz (hi@thegistsports.com)
TGIF!
After bringing home Olympic bronze and second place on Dancing With The Stars, rugby star Ilona Maher is taking her talents to merry olde England. On December 3rd, Maher signed a three-month contract with Premiership Women’s Rugby team Bristol Bears, and her popularity as a sports influencer is already paying off.
- Since she joined the club, the team has moved its January 5th game to Ashton Gate Stadium (where its men’s team plays), seen its merch site crash, and doubled its social media followers. A femininomenon.
Women’s sports
📈 The next big thing
The GIST: Last week, UK–based charity Women’s Sports Trust (WST) found at least 80% of UK brands involved in sports sponsorship are likely to continue investing in the women’s game in the next three years, among other key findings. To collect data, WST spoke to 49 brand decision-makers about their sponsorship plans, with 69% being existing women’s sports partners. Let’s dive in.
♥️ Those who are in the game want to stay in. Among brands that already sponsor women’s sports, 85% were likely to continue investing in the women’s game. Additionally, 51% of all companies expressed intentions to work with individual women athletes, who have proven to drive engagement and brand favorability at increased rates.
⚽ Women’s soccer is a major draw. The sport — which has financially flourished this year thanks to the establishment of NewCo — appealed to 55% of surveyed brands. Expanded media rights and access, plus stadium flexing, have catapulted women’s footy into the spotlight, where it’s quickly become the UK’s fifth most-attended sport.
💰 Media rights are key. Brands are tuned into one of the biggest predictors of women’s sports growth: accessibility. At least 45% of those surveyed believed working with budding media rights holders as a “distinct benefit in sponsoring women’s sport,” something NWSL partners could speak to after a historic deal preceded its most-watched championship ever. Getting in on the ground floor.
💼 However, companies still face challenges when making the business case for women’s sports. Despite their interest in sponsoring the game, 31% said evaluating ROI for a property was the most challenging part of sealing a deal and 21% noted that communicating sponsorship value to stakeholders was the second biggest challenge.
- But the companies that did listen were rewarded. Eight-six percent said their women’s sports sponsorships either met or exceeded ROI projections and 32% said women’s sports activations reported better than expected on KPIs. More than you bargained for.
PWHL
🇨🇦 All on the same team
The GIST: Hockey is huge in Canada, so naturally, the PWHL’s popularity is growing fast among Canadian fans and sponsors. After tipping off its second season with nearly 50 corporate partnerships, the league inked three more Canadian-based deals this week, demonstrating its interest in reaching women’s sports fans on both sides of the border.
Bravado Designs: The women-founded, Canadian-based intimate apparel brand signed its first sports partnership as the PWHL’s official bra partner on Wednesday. While the deal caters to Canadian PWHL fans with exclusive pop-ups and activations, Bravado will share branding across all six PWHL arenas, meaning they’ll reach American fans in NYC, Boston, and Minnesota.
Intuit Quickbooks: On Thursday, Quickbooks became the PWHL’s official accounting software partner, marking the American company’s first women’s sports league sponsorship in Canada. The multiyear deal will specifically focus on supporting small, women-owned Canadian businesses after a survey found they face greater financial strain than their male counterparts. Stacks on deck.
GoodLife Fitness: The affiliation with Canada’s largest gym chain isn’t league-wide (yet), but the brand did secure partnerships with the PWHL’s two Ontario-based teams on Wednesday. GoodLife will serve as the official fitness club for the Toronto Sceptres and Ottawa Charge, as well as the Charge’s official training partner.
Zooming out: Women-focused brands have been flocking to women’s sports not only for values alignment and audience access, but also to access consumers at an appealing price point. Globally, women fans tend to harbor positive brand sentiment for those involved in women’s sports, and the Canadian women’s sports scene is rapidly growing.
- To this end, the PWHL offers a unique cross-border connection: American companies can reach new Canadian customers, and Canadian brands can access a much larger audience south of the border. Too smart, eh?
🚀 WNBA hype confirmed as study reveals rising brand value
Morning Consult’s 2024 Fastest Growing Brands report revealed the WNBA is the fastest-growing brand among U.S. adults this year, affirming the explosive ROI the league and its sponsors experienced this season. Plus, it found positive buzz about the W nearly doubled between January and September. It’s all anyone’s talking about.
📺 Warner Bros. Discovery expands reach in Comcast distribution deal
This week, entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) finalized a major distribution agreement with Comcast to broadcast WBD content in the U.S., the UK, and Ireland. This means WBD has distribution deals with both of the top two cable carriers in the U.S. after securing a similar deal with Charter Communications in September.
🏆 FIFA shares key updates for upcoming World Cup tournaments
This week, FIFA confirmed dates for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil and approved Saudi Arabia’s months-long endeavor to secure hosting rights for the 2034 men’s FIFA World Cup. The country has already poured an estimated $6B into sports sponsorship since 2021 and plans to keep bankrolling global sporting events, but there have been roadblocks — especially in women’s soccer.
- Despite protests from women’s footballers against FIFA’s involvement with Visit Saudi and Aramco, the country is circling the calendar in hopes of hosting the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup, too.
Together With Skyscanner
You already know about the growth in women’s sports, but did you know its soaring popularity is impacting global tourism? Our friends at Skyscanner say that Sports Mode, aka, traveling for an athletic event, will be one of the top seven travel trends of 2025.
- Ready to book a flight? Not so fast — first check out Skyscanner, the ultimate travel engine, and find the cheapest fares before you jet off.
💼 The WNBA and WNBPA met for early discussions about a new CBA Wednesday, with the union confirming it will opt out of the current agreement after the 2025 season. Early bird gets the worm.
💸 Notre Dame sophomore Hannah Hidalgo inked an NIL deal with energy drink brand Red Bull, joining South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley and LSU’s Mikaylah Williams.
⛳ Veteran sportscaster Scott Van Pelt will headline ESPN’s coverage of new tech-infused golf league TGL, which has been in talks with the LPGA to feature its golfers.
👟 Boardroom’s Nick DePaula highlighted that despite Unrivaled’s new Under Armour (UA) uniform partnership, only one of the league’s athletes (Marina Mabrey) is actually on UA’s roster.
▶️ YouTube TV is copying fellow streaming platforms and boosting its monthly price by $10 to a whopping $83. Be kind and rewind, please?
💰 Alexis Ohanian endowed his alma mater UVA’s women’s basketball program with the largest gift in its history and the second-largest for women’s sports at the university.
🏟️ Sports Illustrated owner Authentic Brands Group finalized a 13-year naming rights agreement with New Jersey’s (former) Red Bull Arena.
💸 University of Texas NIL collective Texas One Fund raised almost $10.5M in revenue last year, spent more than $13.3M, and gave about $11.7M to Longhorn student-athletes. Everything’s bigger.
Giveaway Alert
With the holidays right around the corner, you deserve a festive year-end treat. How about a quick getaway to beautiful Charleston, South Carolina?
Enjoy the ultimate cocktail experience including the following:
- 🏨 A three-night stay at the deluxe Dewberry Charleston
- 🍸 A history-inspired cocktail class
- 💳 A $500 AMEX gift card for travel…and so much more
Charleston’s calling — enter to win today.
Here’s what has GIST HQ buzzing:
🧑🎄 How to get in the holiday spirit
By watching this vintage MJ vs. Santa clip, where Micheal Jordan schools Old Saint Nick on the court.
🎁 What to gift
An NFL-themed handbag — perfect for the sports-loving fashionista in your life (or yourself!).
🖤 What to mark on your cal
The first Monday in May. The 2025 Met Gala will be co-chaired by a group of Black men including sports royalty LeBron James and Lewis Hamilton. May 5th can’t come soon enough.
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