Relo Metrics CEO Jay Prasad shares 2025 WNBA season insights on sponsorship media value

The GIST: Last year, Relo Metrics spoke with The GIST about its first year of tracking sponsor media value (SMV) in the WNBA. On Wednesday, we checked in with company CEO Jay Prasad on how the 2025 season so far compares with an explosive 2024 season that generated $136M in SMV for league sponsors. Take it to the bank.

The recap: Outside of Nike, which was overrepresented by its jersey patch sponsorship and thus excluded from the final data set, Michelob Ultra had the highest SMV ($5.5M) last July. Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark sponsors Eli Lilly, Gainbridge, and State Farm also outperformed thanks to the unparalleled national exposure and viewership of the star guard.

• By season end, the Fever accounted for 45% of total broadcast value, with venue sponsor Gainbridge blowing all other financial brands out of the water despite having less logo exposure than NY Liberty sponsor Barclays.

Michelob Ultra: At the season midpoint, Michelob Ultra is actually outperforming Nike in SMV with $19M in value accrued, with SMV per exposure up 6x YoY. Prasad said sponsors “rarely see that kind of jump” and credited the brand’s outsized presence in its efforts to win over women, a smart play in a category that has often overlooked them.

• After the beer brand ended last season with $9.3M in SMV, what changed? National broadcast exposure has skyrocketed YoY, meaning more fans are seeing Michelob Ultra’s league-wide floor court logo stamp on W floors.

• Prasad said that such a pervasive court sponsorship isn’t available in the NBA, making the WNBA uniquely able to offer this type of ad placement that evidently outperforms jersey patches, which usually receive unparalleled screen time.

The Indiana Fever: The Fever have only flourished in their second season with Clark, leading teams in SMV with $55.2M and in full media value with $233M. That puts the team far ahead of its WNBA counterparts: It’s banked nearly 5x more SMV than the next highest team, the NY Liberty ($12M), and its full media value accounts for 46% earned among the top 10 teams.

Lingering questions: The WNBA is still in its start-up era, which may have prompted unique openness to offering more-apparent floor court logos. Will this prompt other leagues to sell this prime real estate, which we’ve also seen in EuroLeague and Unrivaled? And is it something the NWSL might pick up the way MLS’ San Jose Earthquakes have? All it takes is the right pitch.