Pump up the volume

The GIST: This Saturday, England’s Red Roses won the Women’s Rugby World Cup at home, but the wins extend beyond the field. Global interest in women’s rugby is reaching a fever pitch and rising, setting it up as the next Olympic sport ripe for commercialization. But is rugby ready for its close-up in the U.S.? Let’s dive in.

💄 Ilona Maher: Since her social media breakout during Paris 2024, U.S. rugby star Maher has continued to make history, from her rising follower count to uplifting England’s Bristol Bears. She’s brought rugby to mainstream shows like Dancing with the Stars and the ESPYs, signed countless beauty brand deals, and has drawn crowds everywhere she goes — but Maher wants even more.

🏟️ World Cup attendance: Speaking of Maher, she and Team USA broke the record for a women’s World Cup crowd when 42,723 people showed up for an early round match. However, that mark was broken on Saturday when the championship drew 81,885 fans in a stadium sellout that was the second most-attended World Cup final ever, women’s or men’s.

💰 Financial support: The sport is garnering increased investment, from U.S. women’s rugby Sevens team’s $4M gift from Kynisca in 2024 to HSBC’s new global partnership with the Global Rugby Players Foundation. Women’s rugby is also drawing newcomers like Emirates and Unilever, which has an expansive deal for the next two World Cup tourneys.

🇺🇲 The U.S. conundrum: We’ve seen Team USA break domestic records twice this summer, but new pro league Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) doesn’t seem to be drawing the same fanfare. After signing a promising global broadcasting deal with DAZN, WER paused the deal indefinitely, whereas fans have been able to access USA Rugby on Paramount+ and at sports bars.

Zooming out: The hype for the national team is there, but it’s unclear if women’s rugby in the U.S. is ready to make the jump to a full-time league. While the USWNT has been beloved since the 1990s, it wasn’t until 2013 that a sustainable pro women’s soccer league materialized after many failed iterations.

• It might take time for the Team USA hype to funnel into a year-long league, but what matters is how that league is supported. Clearly there’s interest, but as we’ve seen with other women’s sports, WER is going to need an accessible, widespread media network picking up the game in order to convert new fans. It’s worth a try.

The GIST: It seems like everyone has a podcast these days — last week, Front Office Sports pointed out that Billie Jean King, Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy, Sophie Cunningham, and the Williams sisters have all recently launched pods, not to mention Men In Blazers’ expanded slate. But how many is too many? In women’s sports, we may still have a ways to go to reach the peak.

• As the audience for women’s sports continues to grow, the media ecosystem is looking to meet the demand, meaning women’s sports pods have so much to capitalize on. Mic check.

The data: There may be too many pods on the men’s side: An overwhelming majority of Apple’s top 100 sports podcasts cover men’s sports, with The Mina Kimes Show (No. 65) featuring a rare woman host. The only women’s sports pod in the top 100 is Welcome to the Party (No. 93), followed by Bird’s Eye View (No. 102) and Post Moves (No. 120).

• But it’s worth noting where podcasts are accessed: Spotify’s Top 50 for sports looks different, and YouTube is actually the preferred platform for podcasts among 31% of weekly listeners followed by Spotify (27%) and Apple (15%). YouTube is also where sports stars like Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, and Sue Bird have amassed thousands of subscribers for their pods.

The landscape: The women’s sports pod boom corresponds with the sector’s recent explosive growth. iHeart Radio — which launched the first women’s sport audio platform in 2024 — has been transparent about ramping up production: These pods have reached 89M monthly listeners, saw downloads in the top 10%, and prompted nearly half of iHeart’s new sports podcasts to focus on the women’s game.

• Leading soccer podcast network Men In Blazers saw similar results when it launched The Women’s Game with Sam Mewis in 2024. In the vertical’s first six months, it saw 100K followers and about 100M impressions across social media platforms, reached No. 1 in U.S. soccer podcasts, and consistently ranked in the top five.

The opportunity: Nostalgia speaks to everyone these days, and that trend has flourished in the rewatch podcasts that review popular shows decades after wrap. Julian Edelman’s Games With Names relives great sports moments with stars like Brandi Chastain, which Front Office Sports’ new Second Acts Live is also doing with Sue Bird.

• Plus, podcasts are a prime opportunity for retired women athletes as the medium prizes storytelling, perspective, and wisdom. With the growth of today’s women’s sports, people still want to hear from OGs about their experiences and current perspectives — consider BJK and Bird’s numbers on Apple.

Zooming out: For successful podcasts capitalizing on popular trends, the next step is involving brands. Pod listeners are primed for ads, and women’s sports fans are favorable toward companies supporting their fave athletes. Knowing this, brands like Ally and Verizon have entered the chat, but there’s still a lot of real estate — consider OliPop’s merch drop with Good Vibes FC. Heard.