Other Women's Sports

1/17/2023 |  Viacom18 Secures ‘Historic’ Rights Deal for Women’s Cricket (Front Office Sports)

Another major media company has invested in a sport with more than 2.5 billion fans. 

Viacom18 — a joint venture between Paramount Global and Mumbai-based Network18 — has reportedly secured a five-year, $116 million media rights deal with the new women’s Indian Premier League. The inaugural women’s Twenty20 tournament will begin play in March. 

1/11/2023 |  The name, image and likeness (NIL) era in college sports is keeping female athletes as busy as bees (Gist Sports, The) The name, image and likeness (NIL) era in college sports is keeping female athletes as busy as bees. According to a recent Opendorse report, women’s sports are outpacing most men’s sports in terms of NIL activity as brands continue to recognize women student-athletes’ marketing appeal.

12/20/2022 |  The Masters Says It Will Allow LIV Golfers to Compete in 2023 (Wall Street Journal) Augusta National Golf Club, the famous institution that hosts the Masters, said Tuesday it would allow any eligible golfers to compete—ending speculation that those who have bolted from the PGA Tour to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf could be banned. 

11/23/2022 |  The Athletic teams up with Google to expand women’s sport coverage (SportsPro Insider)

•     The Athletic will create more news and in-depth features
•     The New York Times acquired publication for US$550m in January

Digital sports publication The Athletic is partnering with Google on a multiplatform project to support and expand its coverage of women’s sport through additional resources and technology.

Google will provide The Athletic with the financial support to hire more journalists, allowing the media organisation to increase the volume and variety of its professional women’s basketball and soccer coverage.

11/23/2022 |  The Athletic and Google are officially partners for women’s sports (Gist Sports, The)

The Athletic and Google are officially partners on the women’s sports beat. The publication unveiled a multiplatform project yesterday to expand its newsroom and double its coverage of professional women’s sports. The initiative is backed by a multiyear agreement with Google.

The details: Thanks to the tech giant’s support, The Athletic will begin posting job listings this week. The outlet is seeking journalists to cover basketball and soccer, with some roles focused on the business of basketball and the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup. It also plans to expand podcast and newsletter offerings.

• The New York Times–owned publication aims to launch verticals dedicated to women’s golf, hockey and tennis as part of the collab. Google will also utilize paid media campaigns, with promotions mostly occurring on The Athletic and the NYT’s platforms.

The trend: Google isn’t the only brand influencing the women’s sports media landscape. Visa backed The Guardian’s digital, print and audio coverage of July’s Women’s Euro, and went on to be a launch partner of the publication’s women’s soccer podcast.

• For their part, Google is no stranger to women’s sports or media. The company recently inked deals with the WNBA and FIBA, and supported The New York Times’ expansion into virtual reality journalism in 2015.

Zooming out: After using its leverage to improve broadcast arrangements for professional women’s basketball, Google’s support for women’s sports is evolving through one of media’s most traditional (but cash-strapped) categories — journalism. Astute spending from brands could, in turn, help publications capitalize on the women’s sports boom.

• Focusing on women’s sports is also a wise business move for The Athletic — it gained over 3.2K subscribers following an investigative report on NWSL abuse last year. Perhaps more coverage will help the outlet finally become profitable.