It’s a new era for women’s sports — and it’s long overdue

Women’s sports have been enjoying more than a bit of a renaissance as of late — and with all of the upcoming money-making deals, it’s clear that this renaissance includes enough of a financial war chest for people to finally take the female division of all professional sports just as seriously as their male counterparts. 

The so-called “Women’s Sports Renaissance” first kicked off back in June, when the new media deal for the WNBA was announced. As has been previously reported, the league will get an average of $200M annually from the agreements, which were negotiated in tandem with negotiations for its new 11-year TV rights deals worth an estimated $76B. 

The league may receive even more money from other media partners. In its 28th season, the WNBA has set new milestones for attendance, popularity, League Pass subscriptions, app downloads, product sales, and social media interaction.

And that’s not all. 

According to Yahoo! Sports, the Women’s Super League — the female division of professional men’s soccer, or football as it’s known abroad — negotiated what it’s calling “the most significant broadcast partnership ever for women’s football,” worth about $84M, as of Oct. 30, according to sources close to the matter. The previous broadcast agreement, which was negotiated back in 2021, was only worth about $9M a year. 

Not to be outdone, Sports Illustrated is reporting that the roster size of Unrivaled, a six-team 3-on-3 summer women’s basketball league that was co-founded by Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty and Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx, is going up from five to six players per squad. Play on the Miami-based circuit is expected to start in 2025.

Collier credited the league’s surge in profitability for the expansion. 

“We’re able to do this because we outperformed our financial projections,” she said to The Athletic. “So now we get to do something that we wanted to do in the future which is give more people spots in Unrivaled.”

In comparison to the WNBA’s previous minimum of $64K per year, Unrivaled is now able to offer a starting salary to its players of $100K per year. While this is still far less than what the average NBA player earns in a given year (excluding, of course, the marquee superstars), it’s still a sign that the profitability of women’s sports is on the rise. 

ESPN, too, is taking notice of the uptick in interest in women’s sports and is talking about enhancing the coverage and time slots they provide for broadcasts in the first place and is finally thinking about launching a show dedicated solely to women’s sports.

In short, women’s sports are serious contenders for both fan and advertising dollars, and it couldn’t be a better time than ever to make it happen.