Très bien

The GIST: The Northern Super League (NSL), Canada's new professional women’s soccer league, is coming in hot. Yesterday, it announced a multiyear media partnership with Bell Media’s TSN/RDS and CBC/Radio-Canada, the nation’s top English and French networks, making the league accessible across Canada in its two official languages. Très bien.

The details: The networks will begin broadcasting play when the league kicks off in April 2025, with NSL founder Diana Matheson noting that nationwide accessibility is “key to the long-term growth and viability of professional women’s soccer.” In addition to live game coverage, the NSL plans to engage fans by sharing the stories of the players and their clubs.

The networks: Bell Canada is the country’s largest telecomms company, while CBC is a public radio and TV broadcaster akin to the UK’s BBC. ESPN equivalent TSN (which counts ESPN as a 30% minority owner) has been Canada’s most-watched specialty network for years. Meanwhile, CBC has faced dramatic ratings drops, despite being home to Olympic and Paralympic coverage.

• While both companies have expressed commitment to women’s sports, this is a key way to grow their audience of women’s sports fans, especially among younger generations. Only 25% of TSN’s web audience is women, while 27% are under the age of 34.

The precedent: The PWHL’s inaugural season showed how media partner investment early on can encourage growth for a women’s sports league. Canadian networks TSN, CBC, and Sportsnet bought the rights to broadcast games, and it was worth it — the Jan. 1 season opener drew 2.9M total viewers, beating out the NHL Winter Classic that day.

Zooming out: According to the NSL, women’s soccer is the fastest-growing area of sport globally, with its commercial value expected to increase 6X in the next decade. Plus, recent data has revealed a hunger for more women’s sports in Canada.

• WNBA fans in Canada grew from one in 10 to one in five after the first WNBA Canada game last May, setting things in motion for the WNBA Toronto franchise announced last month. And considering how WNBA and PWHL popularity skyrocketed once Canadians could access these leagues, an NSL broadcasting deal seems like easy money. In her pocket.

The GIST: Business is booming through the first month of the WNBA’s 2024 season. On yesterday’s episode of The GIST of It, co-host Ellen Hyslop put its early wins into perspective of how long the league has been here and where it’s headed next. Here are a few key metrics released by the league that prove the W has entered a whole new era.

🏟️ The WNBA’s first month attendance of over 400K marked its highest in 26 years. So far, more than half of W games have been sellouts, including a 20K crowd at Capital One Arena that was the biggest WNBA game turnout since 2007. WNBA arenas have also been filled to 94% capacity, up 17% YoY.

• The WNBA has actually seen a steady decline of in-person attendance since 1998, making the current jump in crowd size all the more remarkable.

📺 Through the first month, the 2024 season has been the most-watched ever on every channel airing W games. This includes ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and CBS, where games averaged 1.32M viewers, nearly triple last season’s average of 462K. And during its most-viewed first week in history, four of the top five social moments featured a first-year player. The rooks won this round.

• The increasing numbers aren’t just limited to linear platforms. Digital channels have seen all-time growth — May WNBA League Pass subscriptions are up 335% YoY and WNBA App monthly active users jumped 613% YoY.

🌐 The WNBA’s audience is diversifying. Viewership is up 60% YoY among POC, with Hispanic fans increasing 96% YoY and Black viewers growing 67% YoY. Tip-off week saw a 124% YoY increase from people under 35 and a 139% viewership growth among young girls.

🎽 The league’s merchandise sales experienced a 236% YoY increase. Rookies Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink ranked among the top five in jersey sales during the first week of the season…although they won’t enjoy revenue share from merch sales under their current CBA, unlike NBA players. A technical foul.

Whether you’re gearing up for a game or prepping for a big boardroom meeting, a clear mind is key — just ask Kate Scott, the Philadelphia 76ers play-by-play announcer.

• The last thing Kate wants to worry about is her ’fit, which is why she partners with Armoire, the clothing rental service for hustling, bustling women.

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