This summer, AT&T featured Angel City FC captain Sarah Gorden and Texas Tech soccer standout Kylie Bahr in its popular “She’s Connected” campaign, which the telecomms brand launched in 2020 to spotlight women athlete entrepreneurs. Last week, we spoke with AT&T assistant vice president, sponsorships & experiential Sabina Ahmed about the success it’s seen by investing in women athletes.

The elite track & field business model is complicated, especially when it comes to athlete pay. The competitors shine globally every four years at the Olympics but, beyond that, fandom and media attention are devoted yet niche, which is why startup leagues like Athlos are trying to reach a wider, year-round audience. Athletes are also considering new, innovative ways to navigate today’s landscape. We recently spoke with Colleen Quigley, a former Olympic steeplechase competitor and Meridia co-founder who’s breaking the mold of the sport’s team structure with a new sponsorship and revenue-sharing model.

The NWSL’s Gotham FC made a huge announcement this week: In 2028, the team will move from New Jersey’s Sports Illustrated Stadium to Etihad Park, the massive, all-electric stadium being built in Flushing, Queens.

On Friday, the NWSL shared midseason KPIs and milestones that illustrate explosive, multidimensional growth. The league saw gains across every major metric — a positive sign in the lead up to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The WTA is embracing storytelling opportunities around its global (and highly-marketable) athletes. In May, the women’s tennis league debuted Style Unpacked, a docuseries that paired WTA athletes with world-class stylists. Last week, the WTA recalibrated that formula with WTA Tour Bites, an original series that tells personal stories through the lens of food.

It’s a rare and special moment when soccer is the mainstream sport in North America, one American soccer (specifically, the NWSL) wants to sustain after the crowds head home. In May, the women’s soccer league announced its Summer of Soccer initiative to capitalize on WC fervor. In June, we spoke to NWSL CMO Rachel Epstein about why the league has “locked arms” with FIFA and how the tourney can be an entry point for sustained footy fandom.

The prize pool for this weekend’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is an astounding $13M, the largest purse in women’s golf history. As the players, ahem, swing into action this morning, let’s tee off on the lucrative growth of the women's game.

In big PHWL news, the women’s hockey league under a single-entity ownership structure opened itself to outside investment for the first time yesterday. The PWHL — founded and owned by Mark and Kimbra Walter — welcomed Kilmer Sports Ventures and Ilitch Companies into the league as strategic investors with a commitment of over $100M.

There’s nothing more American than baseball (cards), right? That’s the idea behind sports authentication platform The Realest’s new partnership with the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL). Together, they will launch and develop the first officially licensed trading card program for an active pro women’s baseball league in the U.S..