Is Women’s Sports a New Hotbed for Innovation?
It’s a fascinating time to be in women’s sports. Whether you’re an investor, a player, a fan or just here to bet, there’s a lot of momentum in the space. There’s promise of real change happening and in some cases — Equal Pay for the USWNT + USMNT for this and last year’s World Cup performances — I can see it happening before my eyes. I’ve been traveling to a few conferences this year and I’ve been lucky enough to be in rooms where it’s said time and time again that we want to build a different sports world than the one that exists on the men’s side.
And I think we already have an unparalleled sense of community and support that we're seeing in women's sports. But what I’m really interested in is how the world of women’s sports evolves outside of the old sports echo chambers and creates lasting and positive change for a new generation of owners, players and fans.
Where we’re at today.
For the Owners, we’re seeing that having diverse and fragmented ownership of professional sports teams can lead to some really positive results - financially and I think soon to be on the field as well - with Angel City FC’s approach in the NWSL. While having this many celebrities (Abby Wambach, Natalie Portman, Uzo Aduba, Julie Foudy, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Garner or Gabrielle Union to name a few) in your VIP section isn’t a reality for most other cities, I think Chicago’s approach with both the WNBA’s Sky and the NWSL’s Red Stars is continuing to allow space for owners to make real financial returns on their investments and also providing players with a safe and stable environment to play the game they love.
On the Player side, we’re also seeing some disruption with the player experience with Athletes Unlimited’s strategy to a professional league. The players are put at the middle of decisions being made and have executive committees to ensure incentives are aligned with players’ desires. They also brought together entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and pro athletes for their Innovation Collective Summit again this year.
And for the Fans, it’s become well documented that women’s sports fans are a different breed. The Fan Project done by Sports Innovation Lab is helping teams and brands understand the benefits of putting money into women’s sports because of things like community growth and brand loyalty that leads to greater returns for the folks investing in women’s sports.
So with a new and diverse group of owners and folks interested in owning women’s teams, along with players who are increasingly feeling a sense of agency, with a growing group of passionate and loyal fans -- there's an opportunity to create systems breaking with traditional models.
Since women started playing sports, there’s always been a sense of survival -- be grateful to be here and don’t ask for more than what you’re given.
Where fear thrives, innovation will always be stifled.
Now, I believe we are moving into a period of thriving for some women’s sports in the US and Europe where that power dynamic is shifting to allow more space for creativity in.
Additional Factors Changing the Tides.
Media Rights - For the first time ever, media deals are being sold separately for big tournaments like Women’s March Madness and the Women’s World Cup…and bringing in a profit.
Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) - Youth and college athletes are now allowed and empowered to use their platform to make real money outside of their sports performances alone. This also doesn’t rely on traditional media outlets -- so the barriers to entry are low.
Accountability - Perhaps most importantly, the actions of abuse, toxicity and inequality are now being called out and acted upon with more serious consequences than ever before for our women athletes. #contigojenni
We have momentum and the world is watching…
When innovation is done well, there are diverse perspectives in the room with an equal sense of safety, belonging and power to impact the decisions being made. If folks feel they have the ability and skills to help bring changes that will last -- everyone wins.
So let’s stay out of the echo chambers of old values, ideas and expectations of what women’s sports could be next.
Whether it’s about getting more diversity in clinical research participants or bringing equal pay onto every field -- these are problems we get to solve and to me it always comes back to players being seen as more than assets, but partners to listen to and encourage to bring all parts of themselves to their sport.
94% of women holding c-suite positions are former athletes (Inc.)
So what’s one way we get more women CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies? Encourage athletes to explore areas of interest and hone those skills outside of sports alone.
I love getting to think about and bring that innovation to how players, coaches, teams and leagues think about their athlete’s health and wellness during their prime. So let’s keep showing women athletes their future is bright and limitless after they hang up their cleats.
— A
