Women's sports are booming. Why now? 

In July 2020, astir 5 months into the planetary pandemic, 144 WNBA players gathered successful Bradenton, Fla., to play a 22-game condensed play successful bare arenas.

Inside the "Wubble," a campus-style isolation portion astatine IMG Academy created arsenic a work-around to societal distancing guidelines, athletes took regular COVID tests, shared villas with teammates, and traded successful household clip for astir 3 months of elite basketball. 

On the court, Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings led the league successful scoring with 22.8 points per game, Las Vegas Ace centre A'ja Wilson was named MVP, and the Seattle Storm swept the Aces 3-0 successful the title series.

However, what happened disconnected the tribunal proved conscionable arsenic important successful the league's emergence.

When the Black Lives Matter (BLM) question surged pursuing the execution of George Floyd by a Minneapolis constabulary serviceman connected May 25, 2020, WNBA players were among the archetypal nonrecreational athletes to marque a nationalist stand, filling societal media platforms with their messages of enactment for Floyd.

And erstwhile Atlanta Dream proprietor Kelly Loeffler, a Republican senator, objected to their message, the players pushed back, publically supporting her hostile successful the November election, which she yet lost. A fewer months later, she sold her involvement successful the franchise.

WATCH | Why women's sports person go large business: 

The WNBA players were abruptly beforehand and centre, and with large programme gaps brought connected by the pandemic, WNBA games and societal justness initiatives were broadcast connected large sports broadcast channels specified arsenic ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, CBS Sports Network, and adjacent platforms similar Facebook and Twitter. 

With some the NBA and WNBA playing successful bare arenas, wherever the echo of squeaking sneakers bounced disconnected the walls, determination seemed a much just examination to beryllium made betwixt the 2 leagues. 

"We were looking astatine a tribunal with nary fans astir it, the crippled was cardinal to it," Ann Pegoraro, seat of Sport Management astatine the University of Guelph said. "They saw them [the NBA and WNBA] arsenic equal, and I deliberation that enactment them connected immoderate adjacent footing." 

The equation had changed, and not conscionable for women's basketball. The emergence crossed each women's sports has been steadily gaining momentum successful caller years. From soccer, to hockey, to volleyball, women's sports are experiencing a record-shattering surge similar ne'er before. 

Since then, 2 caller pro leagues person launched successful Canada, emerging superstars similar Caitlin Clarke person captured planetary audiences, and wealth has flowed. Lots of money. The lifeblood of immoderate nonrecreational sport, antheral oregon female, and until now, thing the women's pro leagues person struggled to attract. 

"No infinitesimal successful past has been what it is present with women's basketball, women's soccer, women's hockey, women's cricket, and there's the information present astir the world, it has conscionable ne'er been determination before," said Diana Matheson, laminitis of the Northern Super League (NSL).

Three years aft the Wubble summer, WNBA viewership grew by 170 per cent, indicative that the times truly are changing. 

Attractive concern option 

When asked if launching the archetypal women's pro shot league successful Canada would person been imaginable 10, adjacent 5 years ago, Matheson, a erstwhile elder women's nationalist squad star, responded without hesitation, "No." 

"To beryllium honest, Canada is simply a precise blimpish state erstwhile it comes to investing successful ourselves. It seems to beryllium thing I've learned a batch astir doing this," she said. "And it's not conscionable women's sport, it's crossed the board." 

Prior to April 2025, Canada was 1 of conscionable 2 countries — Haiti is the different — which competed successful the 2023 Women's World Cup which didn't person its ain nonrecreational women's league.

So erstwhile the NSL, launched its inaugural play this April and 14,000 fans were successful Vancouver's BC Place stadium, it was historic. 

The eight-team league is owned by Matheson's institution Project 8 Sports, Inc. and is already acceptable to adhd its ninth franchise squad adjacent season. 

"It's been 3 years since we started Project 8. We could spot what was happening successful women's athletics already astatine that clip and what was going to happen," she said. "The acceleration of that maturation during those 3 years, I think, amazed everyone."

There has been a 53 per cent summation successful attendance astatine women's shot games successful the U.S. since 2019, heavy influenced by the Women's World Cup and adjacent wage question pushed guardant by U.S. elder women's shot team.  

"I didn't person immoderate of the numbers that archer the sponsors that actually, our instrumentality basal successful women's athletics engages much with women's enactment sponsors, they're much loyal, they person a higher spend," she said. "It was communal to perceive that women's athletics doesn't marque money, that nary 1 watches women's sport. It wasn't treated similar a business."

Just implicit a twelvemonth up of the NSL's launch, the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) began its inaugural season. 

When the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) folded successful 2019, much past 200 pro hockey players crossed North America and Europe came unneurotic to propulsion for amended wages, wellness care, and wide enactment arsenic athletes. 

For 4 years, players competed successful what was called the Dream Gap Tour, making monthly trips to North American cities to vie successful assemblage rinks successful signifier jerseys, awaiting amended opportunities.

When the PWHL formed successful 2023, a player's relation was created successful tandem, and a binding corporate bargaining statement (CBA) was enactment successful spot up of the league's archetypal game.  

"The existent concern successful our league and successful our players is thing that is huge," said Erin Ambrose, who plays for the Montreal Victoire. "No women's league has ever had a CBA earlier the archetypal puck [drop]. To person that hap I deliberation is mounting a caller precedent for pistillate sports." 

Ambrose said she ne'er thought having a three-year declaration with benefits, similar a lodging stipend, would beryllium possible. 

"It's inactive precise overmuch surreal," she said. 

The PWHL recovered speedy success, attracting a cardinal fans to some regular and playoff games successful its 2nd season, according to the league. 

The request for Toronto Scepters tickets was truthful precocious successful its inaugural play that the squad moved from the 2,600-seat Mattamy Centre to Coca Cola Coliseum, which seats much than 8,000 fans, successful 2025. 

Matheson said that portion the NSL was already successful the works earlier the PWHL, it helped to propel the NSL forward. 

According to caller information from RBC, which highlights the increasing entreaty of women's sports arsenic a profitable concern accidental successful 2025, women's squad valuations are expected to summation from $2.6 cardinal US successful 2023 and 2024, to $4.3 cardinal successful 2027. 

In elemental terms: women sporting franchises are being purchased for importantly little wealth than they extremity up earning, indicating their ripe accidental for maturation successful the existent sports ecosystem. 

San Diego Wave FC, a squad successful the NWSL founded successful 2021 conscionable sold for 5,550 per cent return-on-investment for its founding owners. Meanwhile, the WNBA's enlargement Golden State Valkyries were precocious valued astatine $500 million, the astir of immoderate team, and 10 times what the owners paid conscionable 2 years erstwhile to articulation the league.

League One Volleyball, the indoor women's league which began its inaugural play successful January and is backed by high-profile investors including histrion Amy Schumer and NBA champion Jason Tatum, secured $60 cardinal successful backing successful 2024. 

So, what's driving the growth? 

High-value sponsorship deals, assemblage metrics, and squad performances, to sanction a few. 

"We're seeing astute and antithetic investors getting into women's sport. We're seeing Alexis, Ohanian and Serena Williams knowing wherever to enactment their money," said Pegoraro. "Anybody who plays successful the banal market, anybody who bets, they privation that large return. Women's sports is the spot they tin get it now, and it's beauteous good guaranteed." 

Pegoraro adds that "now is the clip to get in," and references a fewer of the savvy concern moguls pouring wealth into the booming industry. 

Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, purchased a involvement successful the heavy celebrity-backed Angel City FC, the L.A-based NWSL squad present considered the astir invaluable women's shot squad globally astatine $280 million. 

In 2022, American billionaire Michele Kang went connected a spending spree, buying the NWSL's Washington Spirit for $35 million, the autarkic U.K. shot club, London City Lionesses successful 2023, arsenic good arsenic a bulk involvement successful the French nine Olympique Lyonnais Féminin successful 2024. 

"She made her wealth and she knows what she's doing, she's getting a instrumentality connected her investment," Pegoraro said. "Men's leagues are astatine maturation league levels. They don't person immoderate maturation imaginable left. Sure, financially they inactive look to grow, but their instrumentality bases are beauteous locked. They're not seeing exponential growth, whereas women, twelvemonth implicit year, we're seeing exponential growth."

Marketing toward women

When the Toronto Tempo, Canada's archetypal WNBA team, was revealed arsenic an enlargement squad acceptable to articulation the league successful 2026, Sephora Canada was swift to leap connected committee arsenic a large sponsor. 

Allison Litzinger, Sephora's senior vice-president of marketing, said that having much women successful enactment roles impacts wherever large brands put their money. 

"It influences not lone what we put in, but however and wherefore we amusement up," she said. "More divers perspectives bring greater consciousness to areas that person agelong been undervalued. This allows america to marque choices that are some culturally applicable and business-savvy."

In a 2024 study by sports information level Relo Metrics, the WNBA generated a grounds $136 cardinal successful sponsor media worth successful 2024 from large brands similar Nike, Gatorade, Booking.com, and Bumble, a woman-founded dating app. 

As Litzinger points out, women's sports is nary longer a "niche" spot for brands to invest.

Meanwhile, successful Canada, women are liable for 75 to 80 per cent of user spending done purchasing powerfulness oregon influence, according to Business Development Canada. 

And according to Lisa Ferkul, the main gross serviceman for the Toronto Tempo, the WNBA's instrumentality basal is 54 per cent women successful Canada, information which influences which brands the squad chooses to spouse with and however they tailor their selling strategies. 

"That decision-making powerfulness comes from the information that women are much engaged," Ferkul said. "If you look astatine the purchasing funnel, fans of women's sports are really much alert of sponsors that enactment their favourite team, frankincense making them much apt to see them for their adjacent acquisition need, and much apt to bargain from them." 

After women's sports generated an astronomical $1 cardinal successful 2024, a caller study from Deloitte projects that the women's sports manufacture volition beryllium worthy $2.35 cardinal this year. 

"At its core, equity is conscionable bully business. Brands are ever looking for achromatic abstraction — untapped areas wherever they tin grow, differentiate, and physique stronger connections," Litzinger said. "Women's sports connection precisely that. It's a little saturated abstraction with passionate, engaged fans, and it creates existent accidental for brands to amusement up with authenticity and impact."

Litzinger says that for brands that regularly prosecute with women consumers, sponsoring women successful athletics is simply a earthy alignment. 

"It enables america to beryllium contiguous wherever consumers are progressively much focused and to elevate visibility successful meaningful ways," she says.

Top players successful the league are besides seeing bigger deals than ever before, similar Clarke's eight-year, $28-million contract with Nike, oregon L.A. Sparks guardant Cameron Brink, who is expected to beryllium making a precocious six-figure income done endorsements. 

According to Ferkul, women athletes are much accessible to fans, creating a ripe concern accidental to sponsor them. 

"Fans tin get person astatine the tournaments. They're much accessible to sponsors and to the media, and that creates a peculiar enslaved and connection. That makes them much charismatic to each those stakeholders," she said. 

With the Toronto Tempo conscionable nether 1 twelvemonth retired from its inaugural season, Ferkul lone sees a agleam aboriginal for women's sports and their continued fiscal growth. 

"It's truly a movement. Billie Jean King says that. Our owner, Larry Tannenbaum, says that. And I volition usage it, due to the fact that we're starting to beryllium that investing successful women's sports is bully business," she said. "I deliberation it's conscionable a substance of clip erstwhile brands volition beryllium spending their selling dollars arsenic connected women arsenic they bash connected men." 

What's next?

Chloe Primenaro, an 18-year-old PWHL-hopeful who plays for the University of Minnesota, is waking up to a caller dawn for women's hockey. 

When Primenaro enters the draught successful 3 years time, she'll person a level of accidental that her relation model, Montreal Victoire centre Marie-Philip Poulin, could person lone dreamed. 

"I remember, ever from a young age, wanting to play with Team Canada and to spell to the Olympics, and present with the PWHL, obviously, that's a extremity of mine," Primenaro said. "Just knowing that there's thing awaiting aft assemblage is awesome." 

With beardown investors and subordinate enactment successful place, the lone obstacle lasting betwixt Primenaro and a nonrecreational sports vocation should beryllium the 1 antheral athletes face: warring bony and nail against the world's top athletes for a roster spot. 

Like anything, there's inactive country for growth: Ambrose hopes to spot subordinate wages amended astatine a yearly summation of much than three per cent successful the PWHL. Matheson says that each teams should person entree to top-notch facilities located successful metropolis centres successful bid to physique up the occurrence of women's leagues. 

But looking backmost connected pre-pandemic times, erstwhile Clarke had not yet burst onto the scene, erstwhile women's sports quality was buried heavy into the regular quality shuffle, and erstwhile sex parity astatine the Olympics wasn't yet possible, the advancement is undeniable. 

What happened successful the Wubble successful 2020 could person been conscionable a blip successful time, a fleeting, unprecedented infinitesimal that near arsenic rapidly arsenic it came, similar disguise mandates and lasting six feet portion from 1 another.  

But from the mouths of athletes, to squad owners, to league-launchers, 1 happening is for sure: women's sports are not conscionable having a moment, they're starting a movement.