BUSINESS NEWS

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...

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...

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...

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,...

July 18, 2024

Angel City FC to Become World’s Most Valuable Pro Women’s Sports Team

Angel City FC is getting a major boost thanks to Willow Bay and her husband and Disney CEO, Bob Iger. On Wednesday, it was announced that Iger and Bay will become the new controlling owners of the Los Angeles-based women’s soccer team. With the deal, Angel City FC becomes the most valuable women’s...

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,...

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...

July 16, 2024

Women’s Sports Merch Is a $4 Billion Market, but Supply Isn’t Meeting Demand

As women’s sports continue to hit new heights in revenue and ongoing investment, fans of all genders are clamoring to snap up merch. The women’s sports apparel market has soared to an estimated $4 billion in the U.S. alone, according to data from Klarna and fan-intelligence company Sports Innovation Lab (SIL)....

July 9, 2024

Reign FC, Storm team up to bring women’s amateur soccer to Ballard

Reign players Lu Barnes, Jess Fishlock and Olivia Van der Jagt and NJ/NY Gotham FC’s Sam Hiatt headline a host of new investors set to bring a USL W, an amateur women’s soccer league, team to Ballard. The pre-professional soccer team will be a sister club to Ballard FC, with...

July 9, 2024

Los Angeles Sparks Sign Lease Extension with Crypto.com Arena

The Los Angeles Sparks announced today the signing of a five-year extension with AEG, the owners of Crypto.com Arena, to continue playing its home games at the state-of-the-art arena through 2029. The agreement prolongs a productive partnership between the team and the iconic downtown Los Angeles venue. The Sparks, founded...

July 4, 2024

Peloton Interactive Successfully Sues Women’s Cycling Community for Use of Word ‘Peloton’

Billion-dollar fitness behemoth Peloton Interactive successfully sued a women’s cycling group for using the term “Peloton.” The Women’s Peloton, a Belgian community that promotes and advocates for women’s cycling, will have to change its three-year-old brand name within the next three months or pay 500 Euros [$540 USD] per day,...

July 3, 2024

Disney CEO Bob Iger, wife Willow Bay on verge of purchasing controlling stake in NWSL’s Angel City FC: reports

Bob Iger is one of the most powerful figures in the media. The longtime Walt Disney Co. CEO and his wife, Willow Bay, the dean of USC's journalism school, appear to be close to striking a deal that would see them make a significant investment in a professional women's sports franchise. The...

July 2, 2024

Fever, Sky Pushing WNBA Resale Ticket Prices Upward

Logitix, a ticketing platform, published a report that monitors multiple secondary ticket exchanges for WNBA games. Among its findings are that the average resale ticket price, without ticketing fees, has grown to $87.75 through the first half of the 2024 season, up from $50.10 during the 2023 season. While there’s...

June 26, 2024

Companies pass up $4 billion in women’s sports merch market

The lack of merchandise options, or lack of merchandise period, isn’t just a source of annoyance to women’s sports fans. It’s one more example of the economic inequities that have held women’s sports back. And it's costing the companies that make and sell merch, as well as teams and leagues. As...

June 24, 2024

Peloton Instructor Exits Add to Fitness Company’s Woes

As June winds down, three popular Peloton instructors are set to exit the at-home fitness giant following a round of contract negotiations that has left some Peloton devotees disheartened. Kristin McGee, Kendall Toole and Ross Rayburn each took to social media to announce their upcoming departures. It’s another blow to...

June 21, 2024

Investors Have Their Eyes On Women’s Sports As Profitability Soars

The rapid development of new leagues has made investing in women’s sports increasingly more attractive and full of opportunities. Now, more than ever, women’s sports are on investors’ radars, with its status as one of the fastest-growing industries making the market especially enticing. Women’s sports are increasingly profitable. The 2023...

June 18, 2024

Nike Increases Paid Parental Leave to 16 Weeks for All US Employees

Nike is making a big change to support employees on their journey to parenthood. The Swoosh late last week announced that as of June 1, it has increased its paid parental leave benefit from eight to 16 weeks for all U.S.-based employees to bond with a child after birth, adoption or...

June 18, 2024

Here’s What Every WNBA Franchise Is Worth

For the first time in league history, Sportico published WNBA team valuations for all 12 teams for the 2024 season. As the sport grows in popularity and continues to sell out arenas and break attendance and viewership records, the WNBA will likely increase in value ahead of the 2025 season. The teams will...

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

June 17, 2024

Women’s Sports Audio Network Announces Slate of Original Shows Across a Range of Sports, Adding Capital One and e.l.f as Founding Partners

WSAN, founded by iHeartMedia and Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, reveals new programming from top athletes and personalities including Madison Packer and Anya Packer, Tisha Alyn, Sheryl Swoopes, Rennae Stubbs, Khristina Williams and Sarah Spain "Women’s Sports Reports" Go LIVE June 18 Across more than 500 iHeartMedia Broadcast Radio Stations NEW...

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...

June 13, 2024

USL Super League and Peacock Ink Multiyear Media Rights Agreement as Part of New and Expanded NBCUniversal Streaming & Technology Partnership

Peacock to stream every regular season and playoff match as the “Official Home of the USL Super League” NBC Sports Next’s SportsEngine Play is named streaming home for USL League Two, USL W League, and USL Youth As an official USL technology partner, SportsEngine will provide its club registration and...

June 11, 2024

Jetboil® Embarks on Adventure with Bound For Nowhere Partnership

June 11, 2024 -- Racine, WI /SPORTSWIRE WOMEN/ - Jetboil®, the #1 choice of backpackers, campers, and adventurers*, proudly unveils its collaboration with the renowned adventurers behind Bound For Nowhere, MAK and Owen. This first-of-its-kind partnership from Jetboil includes sponsorship of the couple’s latest film, “Press On: A High Sierra...

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...

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...