By Paige Albright
Boston University News Service
The notion “everyone watches women’s sports” is now more true than ever. With both the WNBA and the NWSL rapidly expanding faster than their male counterparts, what is the exact data behind the growth in female sports?
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has set out to grow the league to 16 teams by 2028. The league has confirmed three new teams thus far: The Golden State Valkyries, who are set to begin play this coming season, as well as the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, who are starting up next year. These expansion team announcements come after the WNBA’s best year in league history, in terms of both viewership and revenue.
Cities are submitting bids to house a franchise with Detroit, Kansas City, Boston, Nashville and others looking for a team. The top contender seems to be Nashville, who has the support of the chairman of Nashville’s NHL team and Cadance Parker, a three-time WNBA champion and two-time NCAA champion. The competition for the remaining bid is unheard of in the WNBA, as historically the league struggled to sustain its teams. However, after a season of sold out games and new media deals, owning a WNBA team is profitable and more cities want in.
The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is also expanding, adding two more teams by 2026. The new franchises are in Boston and Denver. Denver’s agreement price of $110 million marks the most expensive professional women’s deal in North America.
The NWSL, like the WNBA, had a record-breaking season, with the title match bringing in the largest viewership in league history with over 18.7 million viewers. Many barriers were broken within the NWSL league last season, such as the opening of Kansas City Current’s new stadium, which is the first-ever sporting venue that houses only a women’s team.
The Paris Olympics in 2024 were the first-ever Olympic Games with equal representation of athletes. An increase in female participation and interest in female sports was apparent. The U.N. reported that 73% of people watched female sporting events during the Olympics, which is close behind the 81% of people that reported watching male sporting events.
Many are hopeful for a strong future in women’s athletics, with recognition, revenue and participation on the rise. However, with a shaking history of keeping women’s professional teams active, leagues must approach expansion carefully and use their platform to help address inequalities embedded in the sporting world.
