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.

Today, sports data leader Genius Sports (which acquired Sports Innovation Lab in 2025) published the fifth edition of The Fan Project, Sports Innovation Lab’s long-running report series that examines the economic value of women’s sports fandom. The latest release, “Turning Culture Into Commerce,” shows how the culture of women’s sports is shaped by athlete entrepreneurs.

Volleyball is bigger than ever, and FIVB wants to meet the moment. After bringing its 2027 tournament stateside, the international volleyball federation is officially teaming up with Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) as the event’s exclusive sponsorship and media rights sales agency.

Wimbledon will be here in two weeks — and by here, we also mean here in North America. The All England Club which hosts the UK’s Grand Slam is transforming Central Park’s Wollman Rink into an authentic grass tennis court, bringing a bit of the event’s unique magic to help win over the NYC audience.

Many cities have multiple sports teams, but few gather fans together quite like Toronto’s Exhibition Place. The district houses BMO Field and Coca-Cola Coliseum, which is now home to NSL, PWHL, and WNBA teams — all of which have joined the fold within the past three years. In May, we spoke with Exhibition Place CEO Don Boyle about why he’s keen on bringing women’s sports teams to the area and the distinct value of women’s sports fans.

Every women’s sports fan knows the struggle of not finding the game they want to watch on TV. That’s the driver behind Xfinity’s campaign to highlight its expanding WNBA coverage across platforms — and to underscore its message, the telecomms company brought in one of the faces of the league: former Iowa Hawkeye and current Indiana Fever sensation Caitlin Clark.

Dallas Wings star Azzi Fudd spoke with The GIST last week about her recent community court activation brought to life by Cash App. Last Tuesday, the payment app hosted a community basketball clinic and donated $35K to a local nonprofit that provides sports equipment and programming for young girls.