BUSINESS NEWS
Want to stay up to date on the latest women's sports press releases and business news? Scroll below to view all women's sports business news.-
September 12, 2024
Hello Sunshine Sets First-Look Deal With Ross Greenburg Productions for Unscripted Female Sports Content (EXCLUSIVE)
Hello Sunshine has entered into a first-look deal with Ross Greenburg Productions to develop and produce unscripted content centered on female sports, Variety has learned exclusively. Hello Sunshine, a Candle Media company, will work with RGP to add to their existing roster of unscripted female sports projects like “Surf Girls” at Amazon and “F1 Academy”...
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September 5, 2024
Magic Johnson on joining ownership group of the NWSL’s Washington Spirit: “The popularity of the game is exploding here in America”
NBA Hall of Famer and businessman Magic Johnson has officially joined the ownership group of the Washington Spirit, partnering with Michele Kang, the majority owner of the team and the first woman of color to hold a controlling stake in the National Women's Soccer League. Johnson told "CBS Mornings" that he and...
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September 4, 2024
Risk and reward: Sportsbooks cash in on rise of women’s sports betting, but at what cost?
The WNBA rookies rivaled each other at LSU and Iowa in a memorable championship game in the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball tournament, with a rematch the following April that drew a women’s college basketball record of 12.3 million viewers in the women’s Elite Eight. Clark and Reese’s high-profile matchups and...
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September 4, 2024
Indiana Fever President Allison Barber to Step Down, Spearhead New Women’s Sports Initiative
Basketball enthusiasts and supporters of women's sports leadership might have heard about a significant development within the Indiana Fever organization. President Allison Barber, who has led the team since 2019, will step down at the end of the season. Her departure comes as she transitions to a new role with...
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August 30, 2024
Lululemon cuts guidance, misses sales estimates after botched launch of ‘unflattering’ yoga pants
Lululemon lowered its guidance and posted its first revenue miss in more than two years on Thursday after it botched a highly anticipated product launch. The company now expects full-year net revenue to be between $US10.38 and $US10.48 billion ($15.4b) down from a previous range of between $US10.7 billion and...
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August 24, 2024
Investor interest in women’s sports skyrocketing
A growing number of investors are upping their spend on women's sports teams as viewership and media deals grow. This growth is set to continue as the business of sports overall is increasingly attracting a widening pool of professional investors such as private equity firms, pension funds and investment firms....
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August 23, 2024
Women’s Elite Rugby Adds Teams in New York, San Francisco and Twin Cities
Women’s Elite Rugby has announced New York, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Twin Cities will be joining Boston, Chicago and Denver as the first six markets in the United States to host a professional women’s rugby team when the inaugural season gets underway in March 2025. Team names...
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August 19, 2024
How much do Olympic champions get paid?
Newly-crowned Olympic champions from Paris 2024 don’t just win bragging rights–national Olympic committees (NOC) or national governments from around the globe reward the achievements of their star athletes with a cash prize. With the expenses that go into being an elite athlete, these funds can go a long way in...
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August 13, 2024
Micky Lawler, a Longtime Tennis Executive, Turns to Basketball
As a child, Lawler, whose father was an executive with a Dutch electronics company, lived in seven countries: the Netherlands, where she was born, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Kenya, France and Belgium. But the move that impacted Lawler the most came when she was 24 and returning to the Netherlands after...
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August 12, 2024
$2M Cash Injection Sends WNBA’s Worst Team To League-Leading Valuation
The WNBA’s worst team may be, at least temporarily, its most valuable. The Dallas Wings, tied for last in the league at 6–19, are now valued at $208 million after two investors bought a 1% stake in the team at $2.08 million. That surpasses every team’s listed value from Sportico’s published...
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August 12, 2024
All-Star Dearica Hamby sues WNBA, Aces alleging discrimination, retaliation for being pregnant
Los Angeles Sparks All-Star Dearica Hamby sued the WNBA and her former team in federal court Monday regarding her treatment from the Las Vegas Aces while pregnant. Hamby's lawsuit alleged the Aces discriminated and retaliated against her, leading to her January 2023 trade to the Sparks. The Aces did not...
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August 7, 2024
Women’s March Madness Could Finally Get $25M in ‘Units’
On Tuesday, the NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors released a proposal for distributing a pot of up to $25 million in prize money in the women’s March Madness tournament, starting with the 2025 event. The proposal, which will not see a final vote until the NCAA convention in January,...
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August 6, 2024
Simone Biles’ Post-Olympic Tour Could Make Millions
Simone Biles broke her own record yet again on Monday, adding an 11th career Olympic medal with a silver in floor exercise to extend her lead as the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history. Already she’s fielding questions about a potential return in 2028 for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles....
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August 5, 2024
85% of industry leaders forecast double-digit growth in women’s sports
PwC’s report stated that the sports sector is becoming highly sought-after due to continued revenue growth (based on media rights and sponsorship deals) and more sustainable business models emerging. Sports experts surveyed were optimistic about institutional investors’ prospects, especially with growth in the sports market. Though growth isn’t universal, PwC...
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August 1, 2024
UConn Star Paige Bueckers Inks NIL Deal With Unrivaled Basketball League, per Report
UConn women's basketball star Paige Bueckers will sign an NIL deal with the new professional women's 3-on-3 Unrivaled basketball league, according to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic. The deal for Bueckers is historic, as she becomes the first NCAA athlete to receive ownership equity in a league as...
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July 31, 2024
San Diego Wave’s Jill Ellis Sues Ex-Employee for Defamation
San Diego Wave FC president Jill Ellis says a “disgruntled former employee” of the club defamed her on X and Instagram earlier this month by portraying Ellis as fostering an abusive work environment and then used “fake emails” to validate that critique. Through her attorney, Ryan Stonerock of Harder Stonerock, Ellis sued former Wave video...
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July 29, 2024
Angel City FC Launches Fund to Empower Los Angeles Youth
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) of the NWSL has launched the Angel City Impact Fund, the LA-based women’s professional soccer team’s philanthropic arm. The nonprofit’s inaugural initiative will expand ACFC’s community partnership with the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The goal is to serve over 7,000...
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July 29, 2024
Michele Kang launches first global multi-team women’s soccer organisation
Kang becomes the first person to own an international organisation entirely dedicated to women’s soccer. KIH, which is central to Kang’s mission, aims to raise US$100 million to support its goals. Kang will contribute US$50 million in combined seed funding and matching funds to support KIH. Under Kynisca, the National Women’s Soccer...
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July 27, 2024
First women’s sports bar in California officially opens
The lines wrapped around the block and customers waited hours to get a table at California’s first sports bar dedicated to women's sports. Resting on the 6500 block of Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach, Watch Me! Sports Bar celebrates women athletes and their achievements. Eddy and her partner, Jax...
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July 25, 2024
Olympic Coach Fired Before Opening Ceremony
Canadian women's soccer Olympic head coach Bev Priestman was fired following allegations of using a drone to spy on opponents hours after the team's 2024 Paris Olympics pre-Opening Ceremony match, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced Thursday (July 25). Assistant coach Andy Spence will serve as the team's head coach for the remainder of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Assistant coach Jasmine...
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July 21, 2024
WNBA: Viewership tops records as rookies shine, women’s sports interest grows
Talks to finalize an "historic" WNBA media deal that press reports suggest would be around $200 million a year, up from $60 million currently, reinforces the rising popularity of the league and women's professional sports in general, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said on Saturday. With Saturday's WNBA All Star Game followed...
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July 20, 2024
Top 10 richest women’s sports teams in 2024
The rising popularity of women’s sports is evident with Angel City FC, a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team, becoming the world’s most richest women’s sports franchise, now valued at $250 million. This is about $110 million more than the WNBA’s two-time champion Las Vegas Aces, who were previously the...
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July 20, 2024
WNBA: Viewership tops records as rookies shine, women’s sports interest grows
Soaring viewership, surging media attention and an electrifying rookie class featuring standouts Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese marked the strongest first half of the WNBA season since the league's 1997 inception. Talks to finalize an "historic" WNBA media deal that press reports suggest would be around $200 million a year,...
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July 17, 2024
Paris Olympics marketing blitz powered by female athletes
Global advertisers are hiring more female athletes to launch marketing campaigns ahead of the Paris Summer Olympics, a move aimed at capitalizing on recent record ratings for women's sports in the U.S. and Europe to reach new audiences. While the Olympics has long been considered the pinnacle of women’s sports,...
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July 17, 2024
Willow Bay, Disney CEO Bob Iger take majority stake in Angel City FC
Angel City FC is now the most valuable women's sports team in the world following an agreement by Willow Bay and Bob Iger to purchase a controlling stake in the National Women's Soccer League franchise at a $250 million valuation. Bay, the dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication...
