The GIST

BIG news, hockey fans! 👀 • The Professional Women’s Hockey League is preparing to expand beyond its six existing markets, potentially as early as the 2025-26 season. 🤩 • To kick things off, the league is launching a request for proposal (RFP) process for potential new clubs. According to Amy Scheer, PWHL’s senior vice president of business operations, the goal is to grow to eight teams from the current six by the 2025-26 season. 🙌 • “Expansion is the first question we get asked, at every event we’re at,” Scheer shared. “It just seems like the right time to look into it. And I think, once we have these conversations and understand what the real interest is, we’ll understand if this is the right time or not. But it was the right time to put the word out.” 👏 • The PWHL will continue to operate as a single-entity league, without individual owners. Therefore, no expansion fees will be charged. 🏒 • Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, New York and Minnesota are set to begin the league's second season next month. 💪 • GISTers! Which city should the PWHL expand to? ❗#thegist • #hockey #womenssports #sportsbiz

Everyone watches the WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) - only UP from here!

The league matched NBA viewership, but surpassed the NBA’s engagement. Notably, the W outperformed the NBA in Week 6 viewership due in part to the 2.1M viewers who watched the Sky host the Fever in June. 👀📈 • Over the course of the WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association)'s 2024 season, the league showed comparable viewership to the NBA’s 2023-2024 season through the first 11 weeks of action. Plus, WNBA fans engaged with team-owned content more frequently than their NBA counterparts. 🤳 • The W averages 272.24 engagements per 1K followers compared to the NBA’s 17.07, meaning it boasts both quality and quantity in its fandom — any brand’s dream duo. 🤩 • The WNBA’s in its transformation era after a record-breaking season, but what does all this growth mean specifically for league sponsorship? Data platform Relo Metrics released a report exploring how brands are thriving thanks to their women’s hoops investment. 💌 • The 2024 rookie class fueled big numbers. Indiana Fever games accounted for 45% of total broadcast value, and one of the biggest benefactors of the Caitlin Clark effect was Gainbridge. The Fever’s stadium naming rights partner outpaced all other financial institutions in sponsor media value (SMV) despite having less logo exposure than the next closest naming rights sponsor, Barclays. 👀 • What’s more, of the WNBA’s 13.6M mentions across all digital channels (up 571% YoY), 35% included one of seven marquee players in this season’s rookie class — Clark, the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardosa, Washington Mystic Aaliyah Edwards, LA Sparks Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson, and Las Vegas Ace Kate Martin. The kids are alright. 😌

Angel Reese is stepping into history with her new Reebok deal! 🔥 • The Chicago Sky forward has just signed a multi-year contract extension with Reebok, with her first signature shoe set to drop in 2026. 👀 • Only the second WNBA player in history to receive a signature shoe from the brand, Reese is making waves both on and off the court. 🌟 • "We've already kicked off the design process, and it means the world to me to have Reebok's full support and confidence with this shoe and overall partnership. A signature shoe has always been a dream of mine, and I want all the young girls out there to remember that anything is possible," said Reese. 👏 • Stay tuned for more updates as Reebok and Angel continue to break barriers in women's sports. 👑 #thegist • #womenssports #basketball #sportsbiz

Which one is your favorite, GISTers? 🏀 • The WNBA season may be over, but you don't have to wait much longer for more women's hoops. Along with NCAA basketball just around the corner, the inaugural season of Unrivaled is set to tip off in January. 📆 • The new 3x3 league co-founded by the Minnesota Lynx's Napheesa Collier and NY Liberty's Breanna Stewart have unveiled the names and logos of its six teams. Say hello to the Laces, Lunar Owls, Mist, Rose, Phantom, and Vinyl! 🤩 • Each team is grounded in the unique spirit of women’s basketball – its community. The “basketball club” term is intended to reflect European soccer clubs and the fan communities they have built. 🙌 • Can't wait for the full announcement of players! 👀 #thegist

The Chicago Red Stars are getting a fresh new name and logo. ⭐ • After this season, they’ll be officially known as the Chicago Stars Football Club. But don’t worry, they’ll continue playing under the Red Stars name and crest for the remainder of the season and through the playoffs. ⚽ • According to team president Karen Leetzow, this change marks a new chapter for the club, reflecting a more authentic representation of Chicago both on and off the pitch while still honoring the legacy of past players, fans, and associates. 👑 • The name, Chicago Red Stars, was chosen in 2009 as a tribute to the four stars found on the Chicago city flag. The club’s crest, which also paid tribute to the city flag with its colors and stripes, was modified once in 2017, but kept the familiar elements of the Chicago flag intact. ✨ • The Red Stars have been a fixture in the NWSL since 2009 and are currently heading into the playoffs after securing a spot with a 10-13-2 record. 💪 • This is the “first major brand change” in the NWSL since being founded in 2006, according to Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune.👀 • Fun fact: they also drew an NWSL-record 35,038 fans at Wrigley Field this past June. 👏 #thegist • #soccer #womenssports #sportsbiz

As our pals TOGETHXR would say, EVERYONE WATCHES WOMEN'S SPORTS!🔥🙌⁣ •⁣ The fast facts: ⁣ 🏀 4th-most viewed WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) Finals Game ever across all networks ⁣ 🏀 Audience peaked at 3.3M viewers⁣ 🏀 Across 5 games, the 2024 WNBA Finals were up 115% vs. 2023⁣ 🏀 All Finals games are among the top 15 most-viewed Finals ever across all networks⁣ •⁣ YOU KNOW WE LOVE TO SEE IT! THE GROWTH IS REAL AND IT'S ONLY GOING UP FROM HERE! 📈📈📈⁣

Sending big congrats to the NY LIBERTY on making history with their first-ever WNBA championship. 🏆 This season, we teamed up with Nike and PMG to promote the Sabrina 2, Sabrina Ionescu's latest signature shoe. The best part? You can customize your own pair of Sabrina 2s online in the Nike by You lab. Even Liberty mascot, Ellie the Elephant, designed her own kicks that paid tribute to her squad. Check out more from our partnership including: - A surprise for Cal Stars (Sabrina’s former EYBL team) at Nike Nationals: https://lnkd.in/dJjt9mgG - Jason Sudeikis getting in on the Sabrina 2 action: https://lnkd.in/d67gFYE8 - And of course, our very own custom GIST Sabrina 2 design: https://lnkd.in/dRTZ8_-9 Stay tuned to see what we do with Nike next. 😉 Game to partner up? Reach out to Erin Miller or contact us here: https://lnkd.in/dnxeVrRY #partnerships #wnba #womeninsports

A new sales record for WNBA and Fanatics! 🔥 • Fanatics announced Monday that its previous all-time, 30-day, post-WNBA Finals sales record was broken by the new champion New York Liberty, whose championship merchandise became the fastest selling in league history in fewer than 24 hours. 🥳 • Among the five best-selling products are a shirt designed by apparel maker Stadium Essentials, a hoodie from black women-owned streetwear brand Playa Society and a “special event” white shirt from Nike that will be worn during the upcoming parade, featuring the arm of Lady Liberty holding the torch while adorning a championship ring. 🗽 • The Liberty, a founding franchise that had lost its five previous finals appearances including last year against Las Vegas, captured the first championship in franchise history with their Game 5 win. 🏀 • The championship series set milestones for the WNBA, with Games 1 to 3 each eclipsing over 1 million viewers on ESPN—the first time that has happened since 2003. 👏 • The Liberty made history on and off the court—raising a trophy and shattering sales records. 👑 #thegist • #womenssports #sportsbiz #basketball

The more the merrier. 📈🙌⁣ • For more exclusive business stories from the world of women's sports, subscribe to our 3x-weekly, forever-free sports biz newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e2cr75Uf • The Athena Pledge, a first-of-its-kind, collaborative project between AT&T, Capital One, Cisco, and Deloitte, was announced last week with the aim to rally other brands to increase their women’s sports spend as well as to prioritize women’s sports in their own strategic planning. 👏⁣ •⁣ 🏀The context: Women’s elite sports will generate more than $1.28B global revenue in 2024, representing 300% growth in just three years. Despite this unprecedented growth, there’s still an investment gap between women’s and men’s sports. Women’s sports receive 10% of all sponsorship dollars, 15% of media coverage, and a fraction of media rights fees compared to men’s sports. 💰⁣ •⁣ However, C-suite perceptions are shifting: According to a survey released alongside the Athena Pledge announcement, 93% of surveyed brand decision-makers are optimistic about the future of women’s sports. It also found survey respondents are hoping to target women (88%), diverse audiences (62%), and Gen Z (57%) with their investment dollars. 👀⁣ •⁣ ❓The why: Even with women’s sports seeing significant revenue, viewership, and popularity increases, some brands are still hesitant to invest. Thirty-two percent of survey respondents said they have faced internal resistance, while 57% expressed ROI–related concerns.⁣ •⁣ And that’s where the Athena Pledge comes in: It plans to unite brands with the common goal of enhancing the women’s sports ecosystem, while also providing insights to help maximize ROI and opportunities for collaboration with industry stakeholders. 🔥⁣ •⁣ 👁️➡️Looking ahead: Other brands, like banking company Ally, have made concerted efforts to increase their own women’s sports spend, but this unique collaboration brings together four founding members from diverse industries. It’ll be interesting to see how this foursome can leverage their individual strengths to help transform women’s sports. Teamwork always makes the dream work. 💪⁣