On your marks
From The GIST Sports Biz (hi@thegistsports.com)
Happy All-Star Weekend!
Sadly, Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark will be on the bench for both the All-Star Game (ASG) and her three-point showdown against the NY Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu due to a lingering injury. While that may influence viewership, ASG ticket prices have still soared to record highs this week with an 84.5% YoY boost in average price as of Wednesday.
- While Clark won’t be on the court, she’s still hoping to do important work behind the scenes after expressing interest in attending yesterday’s CBA negotiations. A real team player.
Track & field
✨ All the world’s a stage
The GIST: Athlos — the women’s track meet launched last year — is returning this fall with a clever plan to win over fans. Yesterday, the organization confirmed it will host a portion of its competition in the heart of Times Square. This is reminiscent of recent PLL and WLL strategy, illustrating how niche sports and upstart leagues are using unconventional gimmicks to hook viewers. Hits different.
The details: On October 9th, the competition’s long jumpers — including Olympian and influencer Tara Davis-Woodhall, Jasmine Moore, and Quanesha Burks — will participate in the event’s qualifying round in NYC’s Times Square.
- After the success of last year’s track events, Athlos added a field event (long jump) and is continually stacking its roster with Olympians ahead of its October 10th track meet at NYC’s Icahn Stadium. Billing itself as a cultural moment, last year’s event also drew crowds with a Megan Thee Stallion performance and is promising another popular musical guest for 2025.
The marketing: Athlos has already made it to Times Square through the more traditional route — advertising on its iconic digital billboards. The org paid for ads last year before and after the competition, and while costs typically range from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, these placements can nab 1.5M daily impressions.
- An estimated 330K pedestrians walk through Times Square daily, and while there’s plenty of IRL advertising — especially for the local and global entertainment scene — major sports events aren’t typically hosted there.
- The meet also gains crucial marketing by tapping Davis-Woodhall, an advisor-owner in the league who boasts nearly 2M Instagram followers across her personal and joint account with husband Hunter Woodhall. Davis-Woodhall joined Athlos founder Alexis Ohanian to announce the event on CBS Mornings yesterday.
Zooming out: After drawing over 3M viewers in year one, Athlos has an eye on expansion, adding its first-ever field event and planning to shift to a team-based league with multiple meets in 2026. And as the competition heats up, Athlos needs to make an even bigger splash in NYC this year — and this is a creative way to cram a first-of-its-kind event in front of Times Square’s constant crowds.
- Considering that 77% of experts consider experiential marketing to be far more effective than traditional digital media marketing, enticing new fans with a splashy qualifying event is expected to drive locals and tourists to the finals at nearby Randall’s Island. On your marks.
🏟️ WNBA enjoys uptick in attendance thanks to NY Liberty and Golden State Valkyries
After historic attendance last year, the league is bigger and better in 2025 with an average 11K fans per matchup through 140 games, up 13% from a 9.8K average last year. The Valkyries and Liberty are mainly responsible for the jump: Golden State has sold out all 11 home games so far this season, while the Liberty have averaged nearly 16K fans per game.
🎙️ iHeart launches Azzi Fudd podcast after a successful year of its Women’s Sports Network
iHeart is celebrating the first birthday of its Women’s Sports Network (WSN), which it launched last summer as the first audio platform dedicated to women’s sports content. To honor the occasion, the platform is timing the release of its latest show, UConn star Azzi Fudd’s Fudd Around And Find Out, with the WNBA’s All-Star Weekend festivities.
- In its first year, WSN leveled up women's sports coverage on iHeart from less than 1% to over 34%, reaching 89M monthly listeners across nearly 500 radio stations. You get the gist.
📱 LeBron James’ and Naomi Osaka’s production houses launch new YouTube series
LeBron James’ Uninterrupted and Naomi Osaka’s Hana Kuma are working with UltraBoom Media and sponsor Chase on a new show about stars outside of the arena. The biweekly web series, Off Day, features athletes exploring different cities, starting with Osaka in Tokyo. Additional episodes include MLB star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in Toronto and tennis player Aryna Sabalenka in NYC.
👀 The Phoenix Mercury is the best-run WNBA franchise and the Chicago Sky is the worst, according to an anonymous WNBA player poll from The Athletic.
🎙️ Basketball players Sydney Colson and Theresa Plaisance are expanding their media footprint with Unsupervised, a new podcast created with Togethxr.
🥊 A sellout 19.7K crowd watched the Katie Taylor–Amanda Serrano rematch at Madison Square Garden, generating $2.63M in ticket revenue — a record for women's boxing. TKO.
🤝 Online media platform EssentiallySports announced a strategic partnership with three-time WNBA champ Natasha Howard.
🧀 LA Sparks forward Rickea Jackson announced a new partnership with Cheez-It. Left no crumbs.
🌊 The Ocean Conservancy and ambassador Napheesa Collier are partnering with GOAL to replace single-use plastic cups with reusable ones at this weekend’s WNBA ASG.
🏈 Downy Rinse is teaming up with with NFL Flag, the pro league’s youth flag football outfit.
🎤 Grammy-nominated artist GloRilla is headlining the halftime performance at the W’s ASG. TGIF.
Hi. It’s us. We’re the recommenders, it’s us.
👟 What to look forward to wearing
Angel Reese 1s. The Chicago Sky star unveiled her new signature sneaker blending glam with game, just like she does.
🤫 What to shop
Victoria’s Secret activewear. From tennis skirts to supportive sports bras, they have all your sporty essentials.
🏀 Who to follow
LeagueFits for all the WNBA tunnel looks. Hoops meets high fashion every single game day.
Today's email was brought to you by Aryanna Prasad and Briana Ekanem. Fact checking by Bonnie Lee. Operations by Elisha Gunaratnam and Marga Sison. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster, Alessandra Puccio, and Lisa Minutillo. Managing edits by Molly Potter and Ellen Hyslop. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.