The Athena Pledge hopes to increase brands’ women’s sports spend

The GIST: The Athena Pledge, a first-of-its-kind, collaborative project between AT&T, Capital One, Cisco, and Deloitte, was announced last week with the aim to rally other brands to increase their women’s sports spend as well as to prioritize women’s sports in their own strategic planning. The more the merrier.

The context: Women’s elite sports will generate more than $1.28B global revenue in 2024, representing 300% growth in just three years. Despite this unprecedented growth, there’s still an investment gap between women’s and men’s sports. Women’s sports receive 10% of all sponsorship dollars, 15% of media coverage, and a fraction of media rights fees compared to men’s sports.

• However, C-suite perceptions are shifting: According to a survey released alongside the Athena Pledge announcement, 93% of surveyed brand decision-makers are optimistic about the future of women’s sports. It also found survey respondents are hoping to target women (88%), diverse audiences (62%), and Gen Z (57%) with their investment dollars.

The why: Even with women’s sports seeing significant revenue, viewership, and popularity increases, some brands are still hesitant to invest. Thirty-two percent of survey respondents said they have faced internal resistance, while 57% expressed ROI–related concerns.

• And that’s where the Athena Pledge comes in: It plans to unite brands with the common goal of enhancing the women’s sports ecosystem, while also providing insights to help maximize ROI and opportunities for collaboration with industry stakeholders.

Looking ahead: Other brands, like banking company Ally, have made concerted efforts to increase their own women’s sports spend, but this unique collaboration brings together four founding members from diverse industries. It’ll be interesting to see how this foursome can leverage their individual strengths to help transform women’s sports. Teamwork always makes the dream work.