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.-
June 17, 2024
Carlyle completes purchase of Seattle women’s soccer club
Private equity giant Carlyle is getting into women's professional soccer, but it doesn't plan to spread its money around. The firm on Monday confirmed that it purchased Seattle Reign FC, a National Women's Soccer League club, from France's OL Groupe. Deal terms are $58 million for a 97% stake. Axios
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June 13, 2024
Investigation into WNBA Champs just got more serious
The back-to-back champion Las Vegas Aces are facing some adversity, not just because of their current three-game losing streak. The Aces franchise was placed under investigation last month after the announcement of an arrangement between the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and the Aces players that would have...
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June 10, 2024
The Highest-Paid WNBA Centers
The highest-paid WNBA center is Brionna Jones, who earns $212K annually. She signed a 1-year contract in February to extend her stay with the Sun. Jones was drafted by Connecticut in 2017 and has spent her entire career there. She has netted $618K in salary during her time with the...
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June 5, 2024
Simone Biles’ Ex-Coach Looks to Launch Pro Gymnastics League
Former Olympic gymnastics coach Aimee Boorman is hoping to raise money through an equity crowdfund to stand up a “first of its kind” professional women’s gymnastics league. In an offering statement filed last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Pro Gymnastics Invitational—otherwise known as the Global Impact Gymnastics Alliance—disclosed...
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June 3, 2024
Investment in WSL Could Be ‘Spectacularly Successful’
Last week, Chelsea F.C. announced it hired a bank to help with potentially selling a minority stake in its women’s team. In its announcement, Chelsea said the women’s side will be “repositioned so that it sits alongside, rather than beneath” the men, which will bring “dedicated resources, management, and commercial leadership” exclusively...
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May 30, 2024
FOS PM: A Record U.S. Women’s Open
The U.S. Women’s Open teed off Thursday at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania with a record purse on the line for the third straight year. The $12 million up for grabs this week is up $1 million from last year, when American Allisen Corpuz took home $2 million for her...
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May 30, 2024
New basketball league Unrivaled lands star-studded investor lineup, aims to pay highest average salary in women’s …
A new women’s basketball league has attracted a star-studded roster of investors from the media and sports world at a time when ratings and general interest in the WNBA and other professional women’s leagues is rising. Unrivaled, the pro women’s basketball league founded last year by New York Liberty’s Breanna...
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May 30, 2024
Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier Launching Women’s 3-on-3 League
The women's basketball boom will continue this winter with the launch of a new women's 3-on-3 basketball league called Unrivaled. Shams Charania reported that WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier co-founded the league which will set the record for "paying the highest average salary in pro female sports history." With...
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May 28, 2024
Canada’s New Women’s Soccer League Unveils Name, Logo
The foundations of Canada’s newest soccer league unveiled its name and logo, along with two new teams and a schedule. League CEO and co-founder Diana Matheson — a former Canadian national women’s team midfielder — announced the league would henceforth be called the Northern Super League and unveiled a league...
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May 28, 2024
Professional softball looking for ‘viable’ options to expand amid growth of women’s sports
College softball has seen “monumental growth” over the past decade, but there still “isn’t currently a viable pro option for past and current collegiate softball stars to continue building their brands or for diehard fans to follow,” according to Colton Sulley of the OKLAHOMAN. The broadening of the college game...
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May 27, 2024
Could the U.S. Women’s Open Get Its Own Media-Rights Deal?
NBC Sports will air the U.S. Women’s Open. What is the broadcaster paying for the tournament’s rights? That’s complicated. The United States Golf Association owns and operates a variety of championships, like the U.S. Open, for both men and women. Traditionally, it has sold all of its media rights together...
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May 23, 2024
The WNBA Is Coming to Toronto—and Vancouver and Montreal
Toronto was officially named as the home of the league’s 14th franchise Thursday. The yet-unnamed team will be the league’s first outside the United States and second in a recent wave of expansion. It will begin playing in the 2026 season under owner Larry Tanenbaum of Kilmer Sports Ventures. Tanenbaum...
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May 22, 2024
WNBA Star Angel Reese Becomes Part Owner of Professional Soccer Club
Former college basketball star and WNBA rookie Angel Reese has added a new title to her impressive resume: professional sports owner. The Maryland native is now a part-owner of DC Power Football Club, Washington, D.C.’s new professional women’s soccer team, which will debut in the USL Super League this summer. The team, one of the eight founding...
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May 15, 2024
Why Aren’t There More Women Running Coaches?
The number of women track and field and cross country coaches in collegiate and pro spaces is still stunningly low, especially in comparison to other sports. A 2023 report put out by the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at The University of Minnesota in collaboration with WeCOACH...
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May 15, 2024
The WNBA’s challenge: How to translate the Caitlin Clark hype into sustained growth for the league
The stars seemingly have aligned for the WNBA with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese joining the ranks of A'ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi and others. The league is getting unparalleled attention. Now the challenge for the WNBA after opening its 28th season Tuesday night is translating the hype and...
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May 15, 2024
Why Aren’t There More Women Running Coaches?
A 2023 report put out by the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at The University of Minnesota in collaboration with WeCOACH found that just 18.6 percent of head coaches of college-level women's track and field and 19.3 percent of head coaches in college-level women's cross country were...
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May 14, 2024
Caitlin Clark’s WNBA Debut Marks the Start of a New Era for Women’s Basketball
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 will go down as the beginning of a new era in the WNBA. Caitlin Clark has arrived, and with her come logo threes, eye-popping passes, and, above all, unlimited promise for the business of women’s basketball. The WNBA has been building to this moment. The league...
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May 11, 2024
Interest in women’s sports rises, but participation gap remains
A congressional watchdog in a new report called on the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to improve its enforcement of Title IX compliance in college athletics. The U.S. Government Accountability Office in the report issued Thursday appeared critical of the OCR’s oversight in expanding opportunities for women in college...
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May 10, 2024
Toronto Set to Be WNBA’s 14th Franchise, First Outside U.S.
Toronto will be the WNBA’s 14th team and first outside the United States, beginning play in May 2026, according to the CBC. Billionaire Larry Tanenbaum, the chairman of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment and a minority owner in the Maple Leafs and Raptors among other investments, was awarded the franchise, with...
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May 8, 2024
WNBA to begin full-time charter flights this season, commissioner says
The WNBA plans to commit $50m over the next two years to provide full-time charter flight service for its teams during the season, the league’s commissioner announced Tuesday in a move that addresses years of player safety concerns. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a meeting with sports editors that the league will...
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May 8, 2024
Dallas approves plan to bring pro women’s soccer team to the Cotton Bowl
The Dallas City Council unanimously approved a plan to bring a new professional women’s soccer team to the Cotton Bowl. Sports fans really only get to enjoy the historic stadium for a few big games out of the year. But that will change when the USL Super League starts its inaugural...
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May 8, 2024
Caitlin Clark boost leads to major broadcast partnership to show Fever games
TEGNA Inc. and the Indiana Fever announced an expansive broadcast partnership that will bring Fever games to an unprecedented number of households across the country. The collaboration, which includes 11 additional markets joining TEGNA’s Indianapolis NBC affiliate, WTHR, marks a milestone in the promotion of the WNBA and women's sports on broadcast television. The...
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May 8, 2024
Retired WNBA legend Candace Parker named president of Adidas women’s basketball
According to Adidas, Parker will "collaborate with the brand to create a powerful platform aimed at influencing and elevating the future of women’s sports. She will drive innovative strategies and empowering initiatives to push the game further while inspiring the next generation of hoopers to dream bigger and reach higher...
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May 5, 2024
How Form’s Co-Founders Use Social Media To Build a Winning Fitness Brand
Recently becoming part of the Seattle Storm ownership group, Sue Bird joined an elite set of former professional athletes turned owners across the NBA and WNBA. She is only the third retired WNBA player to move into ownership, joining Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks) and Renee Montgomery (Atlanta Dream). Bird's...
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May 5, 2024
A $5,000 check won by Billie Jean King 50 years ago helped create Women’s Sports Foundation
Billie Jean King’s $5,000 check from her sportswoman of the year award was used to launch the Women’s Sports Foundation in 1974. Since then, the foundation has invested more than $100 million to help girls and women gain opportunities and equity in sports. AP Sports