For years, much of the conversation around women’s sports centered on its potential. Today, investors are looking more closely at the businesses behind that potential.
More capital is entering the market. Fan bases are growing. Media rights, sponsorships, venues, and athlete brands are creating new commercial opportunities. And a broader mix of individual investors, family offices, and institutional capital is taking notice.
But perhaps the more important shift is what comes next.
"Women's sports can’t be viewed as one single entity," said Maddie Winslow, director for William Blair's Sports, Media & Entertainment team. "Each league is different, and so are the opportunities within them."
That distinction is becoming increasingly important as investors move beyond the overall growth story and evaluate individual teams, leagues, and business models.
If You Build It, They Will Come
"Investor interest in women's sports has grown significantly in the last five years," said An Le, director for William Blair's Sports, Media & Entertainment team.
During that time, the increased level of investment from team owners has also been paired with heightened commitments from other key stakeholders across the sports ecosystem, including media partners and sponsors. To Winslow, this matters because the growth of these franchises and leagues cannot be achieved in isolation.
She described a dynamic in which stakeholders were historically reluctant to be the first to commit significant resources. As more participants began investing, that cycle started to break.
"It took some first movers to say, 'We're going to do this, and we're going all in,'" Winslow said. "That got the ball rolling."
The impact can show up in ways beyond the initial investment. Media rights and sponsorships remain two of the largest commercial opportunities across sports, Le noted, but the growth of those levers depends in part on the audience a league can attract and deliver, making fan engagement and gameday attendance other important factors.
“That leads to operational decisions ranging from the creation and launch of the brand, to how you market the product and interact with fans, to choosing which venues you play in, all part of a broader commercial strategy,” Le said.
A team with greater control over its venue, for example, may have more access to sponsorship assets and the ability to host additional events. Just as important can be control over scheduling, as securing a prime Saturday night game rather than a less desirable weekday window can affect attendance and viewership, ultimately influencing the value of media rights and sponsorships.
The right model, however, depends on the team and market. For some organizations, owning a dedicated venue may make sense. Others may benefit from playing in an existing facility as a tenant depending on their unique circumstances.
A League of Their Own
The audience itself is another area where conventional assumptions are being challenged.
As organizations have collected more data, those operating both men's and women's franchises have found that their respective fan bases often overlap far less than might be expected, Le said—in some instances, only by about 10% to 20%.
"Rather than simply competing for the same audience, women's teams have an opportunity to bring new fans into the sports ecosystem," Le said.
They may also build loyalty differently. Many men's teams have been around long enough for fandom to pass organically from generation to generation. Emerging women's teams and leagues are often building many of their fan relationships in real time, making the quality of the sporting product and fan experience particularly important.
At the same time, the relationship between fans and individual athletes is becoming increasingly powerful in sports. Athletes are entering the professional ranks with larger followings than ever before, often built during their collegiate careers, providing another avenue for teams and leagues to connect with audiences.
"With younger fans in particular, the connection can start with the athlete rather than the team or league," Winslow said. “This relationship is more pronounced in many women’s sports properties.”
For investors, understanding those dynamics matters because they can influence not just how a team attracts fans but also how it develops brand partnerships and other commercial relationships.
A More Discerning Market
The way investors value women’s sports assets is becoming more sophisticated as they are increasingly being evaluated as standalone businesses.
Less than a decade ago, Le noted, a women's team owned alongside a men's franchise was often just included within the value assigned to the larger organization. Now, the women’s teams are being evaluated as separate business opportunities.
Our team understands not only the momentum behind this category, but also the fundamentals of the individual businesses and where they sit in their development, and what it may take to create value over the long term.”
STEVE HOROWITZ, Managing Director and Co-Head of Sports, Media & Entertainment for William Blair
Some women’s sports teams are owned by their male counterparts.
"Even with ownership groups that own two teams (women’s and men’s) in the same sport, as the industry continues to mature, these owners are making the strategic decision to operate and grow these as separate businesses with their own dedicated staff, resources, and facilities," Le said.
Along with evaluating the standalone business, as investors look for places to deploy capital, an established league may present a very different proposition than an emerging one. Ownership structures, governance, capital needs, fan behaviors, commercial models, and growth trajectories can vary significantly.
The question, then, is no longer simply whether an investor wants exposure to women's sports; it's which specific assets align with their objectives.
Knowing the Difference
That kind of evaluation requires an understanding of how individual groups operate and where they are in their development.
William Blair acquired Inner Circle Sports earlier this year, expanding the firm's investment banking platform into the Sports, Media & Entertainment sector by bringing in a team that has advised on transactions and strategic initiatives across women's and men's sports.
The team’s extensive experience in women's sports includes executing M&A transactions and advising leagues as they consider their businesses over longer time horizons.
That experience can help put today's momentum in context, particularly when teams and leagues are at very different stages of development.
"The market for women's sports is becoming more nuanced as it grows," said Steve Horowitz, managing director and co-head of Sports, Media & Entertainment for William Blair. "Our team understands not only the momentum behind this category, but also the fundamentals of the individual businesses and where they sit in their development, and what it may take to create value over the long term.”
For investors, that makes the next phase less about discovering women's sports and more about understanding what they're investing in.
About Inner Circle Sports
Inner Circle Sports, a William Blair business, is the leading boutique investment bank focused on the intersection of sports, media, and entertainment. The firm has extensive advisory experience across teams and leagues, stadiums and arenas, technology and services, media and entertainment, and colleges and universities. Inner Circle Sports has advised on recent transactions involving NWSL expansion (Bay FC, Boston Legacy, Denver Summit, Atlanta City FC, and Columbus), Chicago Stars, Gotham FC, San Diego Wave, Unrivaled, San Diego Padres, Chicago Bulls, San Francisco 49ers, and Tampa Bay Lightning, among many others.