“There’s no better indicator of the fact that this is really a new day for women’s sports than to see former pros investing their own hard-earned capital back into the game,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman told USA TODAY Sports. “In my conversations with former athletes, their motivation is centered around the belief that the time is now. They can ensure they’re doing their part to make a difference for the next generation of girls, who we all know can have a more equitable world.”
Shortly after social media exploded in reaction to blatant disparities between the setup for the 2021 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, a national conversation started about investment in women’s sports and their market value. A 2021 report, commissioned by the NCAA, revealed what many women athletes and coaches had been arguing for years: women’s sports can be a moneymaker and a worthwhile investment, if given an opportunity.
Sports insiders and experts who spoke to USA TODAY Sports say this movement is the result of a convergence of forces.
First, while the COVID-19 pandemic hampered immediate expansion for both the WNBA and NWSL, women’s sports came back before professional men’s sports (the NWSL was first). As a result, they got primetime TV slots. Viewership went up significantly. The following seasons, networks decided women’s sports in primetime should be the norm.
Berman said no fans in the stands of any sporting event allowed “a natural reset” of the narrative that women’s sports struggle with attendance. Now that fans are back everywhere, and often filling areas and stadiums for women’s teams specifically, “it’s really changed the way people believe in the power of women’s sports as a business.”
