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Women’s sports are taking off, drawing in fans around the country and offering opportunities for investors and sponsors.
Women’s sports could generate at least $2.5 billion in value for rights holders by 2030, more than double the $1 billion in 2024, according to McKinsey & Co. It said revenue from women’s sports grew 4.5 times faster than that of men’s sports between 2022 and 2024.
To explore this rapid evolution, City National Bank recently hosted a panel on the impact of women on the business of sports.
The discussion featured Susie Piotrkowski, vice president of women’s sports programming at espnW, Cate McManmon, chief strategy and finance officer for the Chicago Stars FC, and Christine Monjer, president of the Los Angeles Sparks.
The panel was moderated by Randie Brooks, senior vice president and team lead for Sports Banking at City National.
Not a Philanthropic Pursuit
Higher valuations and fast-growing revenue are being driven in part by marquee players like basketball stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and tennis pro Coco Gauff, who are attracting fans and drawing TV coverage. But the sports' growth is also due to a new crop of owners and female executives seeking to drive change in the industry and create sustainable businesses.
“The pace of evolution in women’s sports has been more wild than anything I’ve witnessed in my career,” said McManmon.
McManmon began courting investors to buy the Chicago Stars at the beginning of 2023, when the team’s national media rights deal was worth one-fortieth of what it is today.
On a roadshow, she told prospective investors that “this is not a philanthropic pursuit. This is a business opportunity.”
A diverse group of women eventually purchased the Stars, which turned out to be a lucrative investment given that the next expansion franchise went for triple the price paid for the Stars, said McManmon.
“You had to spot the green shoots and understand the product was undervalued,” she said. “Now it’s hard to get access to these deals and valuations are really taking off.”
More Than Just Marquee Names
The numbers show that fans are interested in the sports themselves, not just the household names. Attendance at WNBA games this year exceeded 3 million for the first time, while the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and the Women’s College World Series also set new viewership records.
This league-wide growth reflects a broader shift in how women's sports are covered. For media leaders like Piotrkowski, the focus is on normalizing the product in the mainstream.
“Women’s sports are sports, we are ESPN and should treat them as such,” Piotrkowski said.
That philosophy is mirrored at the team level, where executives are building loyal fanbases for their franchises. Christine Monjer, president of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, explained her strategy.
“They [star players] matter, but we can’t really sell to that," Monjer said. “So, we sell to the broader team, and we speak to that.”
She described this mission as core to her role. “My responsibility is to create brand love for the franchise,” Monjer said, adding that the approach is working: Sparks’ season ticket prices are up almost 110%, despite the loss of star player Cameron Brink and a subpar season this year.
Sponsors & Media Take Notice
Beyond ticket sales, much of women’s sports revenue comes from selling TV rights and attracting sponsors to advertise during games.
Revenue generated by espnW's women’s sports portfolio has risen from less than $10 million four years ago to hundreds of millions of dollars today, said Piotrkowski.
“We’re on rocket ships and that is more than just one single player,” Piotrkowski said, adding that espnW accounts for about 68% of women's sports consumption.
Meanwhile, teams such as the Chicago Stars are luring sponsors by providing them with data to show who their fans are and how they behave. Stars fans, for example, tend to be more highly educated, affluent, diverse, female and digitally savvy, McManmon said.
She said viewers who see a brand associated with a women's sports team are twice as likely to search for that sponsor on the internet, twice as likely to tell their friends and family about it, and twice as likely to purchase a product from that brand than fans of men's sports.
In fact, research from RBC and Wasserman found that fans of women's sports are 54% more aware of sponsors and are 45% more willing to consider a purchase from them.
“That is so powerful because these sponsors are trying to make sense of how to value this,” McManmon said.
The Next Frontier: Merchandising
The panel agreed that another underexploited revenue stream is merchandising, which is only now beginning to catch up to explosive fan demand. The recent phenomenon of Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever jersey selling out in just one hour after the WNBA draft is a powerful signal of the untapped market for women's sports apparel.
This points to a larger, systemic opportunity, according to Monjer.
“There are just a handful of concessionaires doing merch, and that’s a really lucrative space that we’re seeing a ton of growth in,” she said.
Ultimately, the rush for jerseys and other fan gear is another clear indicator that the business of women's sports is not just growing—it's proving that the demand has been there all along.
This article is for general information and education only. It is provided as a courtesy to the clients and friends of City National Bank (City National). City National does not warrant that it is accurate or complete. Opinions expressed and estimates or projections given are those of the authors or persons quoted as of the date of the article with no obligation to update or notify of inaccuracy or change. This article may not be reproduced, distributed or further published by any person without the written consent of City National. Please cite source when quoting.
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