📊 A (data) set shot
Relo Metrics shares data insights on the value of WNBA sponsorship
🏀
Ever wonder how much exposure a half-court logo gets? That’s where Relo Metrics — a firm that uses AI to measure sports marketing efficacy — steps in. Last week, Relo spoke with The GIST to share exclusive WNBA insights from its proprietary software that tracks brand exposure.
July 26, 2024
⭐ All the stars
WNBA All-Star Game shatters viewership records as league skyrockets in popularity
🏀
This year’s WNBA All-Star Weekend (ASW) became an epicenter for women’s basketball culture like never before, and it was more than just brands (and celebs) showing up at the marquee event. As expected, fans tuned in on TV, which sponsors anticipated and prepped for with numerous ASW activations.
July 24, 2024
⭐ Never shine if you don’t glow
Team WNBA upsets Team USA for the second time in spicy All-Star Game matchup
🏀
In case you missed the memes, WNBA All-Star Weekend (ASW) turned 115-degree Phoenix into Arizona’s hottest club. From the Atlanta Dream’s Allisha Gray’s Skills Challenge payday to Saturday’s spicy, sold-out All-Star Game (ASG), here’s what made this ASW extra special.
July 22, 2024
🐝 Let’s bee together
Bumble partners with WNBA for multiyear sponsorship
🏀
Women-first dating app Bumble is firmly embracing its sporty era. After past collabs in the e-sports and NIL spaces, the app announced a multiyear partnership with the WNBA last Wednesday The move followed a Bumble survey that helped it realize its users are all about love and basketball.
July 22, 2024
🤝 Unrivaled support
Ally becomes the first and founding partner for 3x3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled
🏀
Unrivaled — the 3x3 pro women’s basketball league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier — made its first major partnership announcement on Friday. Unsurprisingly, the first sponsor to sign with the new league is Ally, the financial institution that’s been transforming women’s sports through investment via its 50/50 Pledge.
July 22, 2024
🏀 Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane
WNBA legends head to Phoenix for 2024 WNBA All-Star Weekend
🏀
Grab your finest Pitbull aviators because the brightest stars in the WNBA will shine across two banner nights of All-Star festivities from Phoenix, Arizona. The weekend includes a 3-Point Contest, Skills Challenge, the actual All-Star Game, and a concert from Mr. 305 himself. Here’s what you need to know before the fun begins tonight at 9 p.m. ET. Dale.
July 19, 2024
💰 Work hard, pay harder
WNBA secures $2.2B for historic 11-year media rights deal
🏀
July 19, 2024
The WNBA just netted another record — this time, for the most lucrative media rights contracts in women’s sports history. On Tuesday, The Athletic reported the WNBA signed three media rights deals alongside the NBA for a grand total of $2.2B over the next 11 years — and they’re likely not done yet.
Read Full Story
Ep #384

Gender parity at the Paris Olympics

July 25, 2024
Gender parity at the Paris Olympics

The Paris Olympics are almost here!

In a very special episode of The GIST of It, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz dive into gender parity at the Olympics, sponsored by our pals at Canadian Tire. Since 1900 when women first competed at the Olympics to 2024, there’s been enormous progress in terms of gender equity at the Games — and the Paris Olympics will be the most equitable ever.

In addition to discussing the history of women at the Olympics, this episode features two insightful conversations with Kim Saunders of Canadian Tire and Julia Wilkinson, a former Team Canada Olympic swimmer, who have both seen the growth of women’s sports firsthand from a business and athlete perspective. Trust us — you don’t want to miss this.

Continue Reading

💫 Stars showed out on the adidas Blue Carpet for the CCYAA Classic
💫 Stars showed out on the adidas Blue Carpet for the CCYAA Classic
🏀
This feature is brought to you by adidas and the Canadian Chinese Youth Athletic Association (CCYAA), a non-profit that improves access to sports and community for Toronto-area youth.
July 17, 2024
🏀🏒 Get in sports fans, we’re going shopping
The NBA and NHL free agency frenzies are just beginning
🏀🏒
With both the NBA and NHL Drafts done and dusted, it’s time for the chaos of free agency to take center stage. The wildest stretch of the offseason began yesterday at 6 p.m. ET for the hoopers (and pens are already being put to paper) while the puck drops on NHL free agency today at 12 p.m. ET.
July 01, 2024
Australia’s NBL teams up with Wollemi Capital to purchase majority WNBL stake
🏀
We have a winner, folks. A month after governing body Basketball Australia (BA) announced it was shopping a majority stake in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL), Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) and the Wollemi Capital Group Syndicate (WCGS) formed a consortium to buy in.
June 28, 2024
🏀 Roll out that orange carpet
NCAA-to-pro pipeline: Women’s basketball
🏀
Pro women’s basketball is on the rise, and the sport’s historic growth is fueled in part by the college game’s skyrocketing popularity. The WNBA is the gold standard league in the U.S. — but there are other domestic opportunities for NCAAers to make it big.
June 26, 2024