Sitting courtside
From The GIST Sports Biz (hi@thegistsports.com)
Keeping California in our thoughts
It’s been a difficult week as the LA area continues to be devastated by destructive wildfires, which have scorched over 27K acres, forced the evacuation of around 200K residents, and claimed the lives of at least five people. The fires have also destroyed thousands of homes, including that of Angel City defender Ali Riley.
- Our thoughts are with the entire LA community as residents seek safety and first responders endeavor to contain the fires. For those who are able, here are a few ways to help.
WNBA
💄 Highs and glows
The GIST: Yesterday, the WNBA’s Toronto Tempo announced Sephora Canada as the team’s first founding partner and official beauty partner. It’s a major step forward for sports newcomer Sephora — which recently signed a multiyear U.S. partnership with Unrivaled — as it quickly covers ground in women’s basketball, where the next generation of beauty shoppers is sitting courtside.
The details: In addition to a team jersey patch, Sephora Canada will be present through community-driven campaigns, social media and retail promotions, and in-arena programming. According to the release, the partnership will center around their mutual desire to champion individuality, diversity, and belonging.
The beauty angle: As we covered earlier this week, beauty brands stand to benefit heavily from advertising in women’s sports. Not only do women athletes outperform other types of influencers, but fans of women’s sports are a demographic companies like E.l.f. Cosmetics and NYX are looking to win over.
The Canadian angle: Sephora is one of many global brands taking advantage of the U.S. exposure offered by some Canadian sports teams. Sponsoring a cross-border league has been a smart play for companies in the PWHL, where Canadian brands like Bravado and U.S. brands like Intuit are able to reach customers in both countries. Best of both worlds.
- And Canada is proving to be a welcome home for beauty brands. The country’s online beauty and personal care market is one of the fastest-growing in the world — it beats the U.S. in terms of annual traffic growth and was expected to generate $2.17B in revenue in 2024. Plus, Canada is the third-largest Sephora market globally.
What’s next: With its Unrivaled and Tempo partnerships, Sephora is showing women’s basketball can be a lucrative space for beauty brands and superstores. In 2024, Sephora barely surpassed Ulta as the leading beauty retailer for American teens, but locking down two sports partnerships should help give it an edge among Gen Z consumers big on the women’s game. Serving up facials.
Pro Volleyball Federation signs third major broadcast agreement in three-month span
The Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF)’s second season tipped off last night, a day after the women’s league announced a multiyear partnership with Roku. With an additional 20 matches being offered by Roku, PVF is boosting its broadcast coverage by 350% YoY.
- PVF has been on a media rights roll lately, announcing an expansion with CBS in November and signing FOX Sports in December. All hits, no misses.
📺 NWSL wraps third annual NWSL Broadcast Bootcamp in Fort Lauderdale
The two-day Broadcast Bootcamp trained 11 current NWSL players and alumni on best practices in live sports broadcasting, offering hands-on experiences, demo reel creation, and media training. Players-turned-analysts are in demand, with retired stars like Sam Mewis, Ali Krieger, and Darian Jenkins flourishing in broadcast roles. Golazo.
📉 Harris Poll find economics are a serious barrier to keeping kids in sports
Youth sports nonprofit Good Sports commissioned the Harris Poll to engage over 700 parents about the financial burden of sports participation. The survey found 75% of parents seriously contemplated withdrawing their child from sports due to cost, even though 95% agreed children benefit from playing in sports.
- This is especially concerning since girls in the U.S. and Canada already face declining participation rates as they enter adolescence.
💡 Sports Illustrated named NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman the magazine’s inaugural Innovator of The Year. Kick it.
🏟️ Vancouver’s Rogers Arena welcomed a sellout crowd of 19,038 during a PWHL Takeover Tour game between Montréal and Toronto, besting the Vancouver Canucks’ season high of 18.9K at the venue.
✨ Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese and Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas recently graced the cover of Vogue, along with men’s tennis star Frances Tiafoe.
📱 Unrivaled continues to land sponsorships prior to its inaugural tipoff, signing Samsung Electronics America as its presenting and official technology partner. At the buzzer.
⛳ ESPN drew an average of 919K viewers for its first TGL broadcast, a glowing debut for the tech-focused golf league looking to incorporate LPGA players in the future.
🤠 The NFL’s Christmas Day Beyoncé halftime show has been viewed by nearly 50M people on Netflix and featured in the streamer’s Top 10 most popular shows this week.
🚲 Nike inked an exclusive sponsorship deal with French pro women’s cycling team FDJ-Suez, marking the brand’s only active sponsorship deal with a pro cycling team.
🥒 Leading indoor pickleball franchise The Picklr announced a collaboration with three top pro pickleball athletes to create The Picklr Pro Team. In their prime brine.
Hi. It’s us. We’re the recommenders, it’s us.
😎 How to conquer Dry January
Try out Cycling Frog’s THC seltzers. They’re strong enough to take the edge off, but accessible for cannabis newbies and gurus alike, thanks to their range of potencies. Hello, Ruby Grapefruit.*
🏌️♂️ What to check out
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new golf league, TGL. It’s golf meets esports in a futuristic arena and with plenty of starpower.
🏃♀️ Who to know
Belgian ultramarathoner Hilde Dosogne, who ran a marathon every single day in 2024. Epic is an understatement.
*P.S. This is a sponsored post. Ribbit-ing.Today's email was brought to you by Aryanna Prasad and Briana Ekanem. Fact checking by Bonnie Lee. Editing by Dee Lab. Operations by Elisha Gunaratnam and Marga Sison. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster, Alessandra Puccio, and Lisa Minutillo. Managing edits by Molly Potter and Ellen Hyslop. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.