The big cheese

The GIST: On Wednesday, Athletes Unlimited (AU) announced it’s indefinitely suspending its AU Pro Lacrosse league. After jumpstarting opportunities in four sports — softball, basketball, lacrosse, and volleyball — within the past four years, this is the first time the company has suspended operations for one of its leagues. Let’s dive in.

The company: Launched in 2020, AU has focused exclusively on creating women’s sports opportunities, namely in popular collegiate sports lacking pro leagues. It has focused on niche sports and utilized a condensed, fantasy-style competition format, something investors sought to cash in on following a $30M capital raise in 2022.

The wins: AU has won over athletes like Cat Osterman, a 2020 AU Softball champ who now sits on its advisory board and is a general manager in its new, longer-format softball league. It’s become a network staple with ESPN, CBS Sports, and Fox all showcasing games, and that’s because fans are tuned in: AU Pro Lacrosse and AU Pro Softball viewership rose across ESPN networks in 2023.

• AU Pro Lacrosse has touted its 2023 engagement metrics to prove rising interest in the game, with live viewership rising 25% YoY that season. Additionally, attendance rose 41%, social media engagement went up 22%, and merch sales skyrocketed 63%.

The why: Despite this increased interest, AU cited “the international competition schedule” and athlete availability during summer months as reasons for shuttering the league. However, the company pledged to remain involved in developing the sport, stating athletes will benefit from its innovative profit participation plan for the next 20 years.

• The news comes one month after the men’s Premier Lacrosse League announced a women’s league, which begins next February and features former AU lax stars Charlotte North and Izzy Scane.

Lingering questions: The decision underscores a continued conversation in women’s sports: Is there enough room for all the leagues being launched, or will some lose out? Will AU run into competitive issues with volleyball’s PVF and LOVB, or basketball’s Unrivaled in the future?

• It also begs the question if AU’s fantasy-based, individual score format makes sense for sports. While AU steps back from lacrosse, it’s looking to lean further into softball by developing a full league. If this goes well, will we see AU narrow its focus on softball or more traditional formats? Only time will tell.

The GIST: In recent years, sponsors have talked a big game about increasing their investment in women’s sports, and in 2024, many stepped up. According to Sports Innovation Lab (SIL) survey results released yesterday, brands are boosting women’s sports budgets for 2025 and reallocating sponsorship dollars from men’s sports to women’s. Spreading the wealth.

The data: Per SIL’s report, the average brand earmarked 20% of its total sports media budget for women’s sports in 2024, up 9% YoY. Nearly a third of brands spent more than 20% on women’s sports, and while 82% of companies will boost their women’s sports budget in 2025, 34% plan to do so by over 10%.

• Ally’s 50/50 Pledge was a gamechanger when it went public in 2022, but the idea of more equal spending is slowly catching on. Although women’s sports sponsorship has long been an afterthought for many brands, the average company plans to reallocate 7% of its sports media budget from men’s to women’s sports in 2025. Starting somewhere.

The growth: It sometimes seems like only the same few players step up in women’s sports, but both the PWHL and LOVB stood out in 2024 as leagues that recruited newcomers. The PWHL signed close to 50 corporate partners by its second season, with many of them green to sports sponsorship — take Canadian intimates brand Bravado Designs or smart appliance brand Midea, for example.

• On the volleyball side, LOVB has won over sports sponsorship rookies like Revolve and Rebel Girls with its strong Gen Z and Gen Alpha audience and engagement, something these brands are looking to capitalize on.

Looking ahead: While 20% of Fortune 500 companies boast sport sponsorships in the NBA, MLS, or NHL, only 6% of them (33 companies) have equivalent WNBA, NWSL, or PWHL deals. To bolster this number, folks in the industry should leverage data on women’s sports fans and women athletes to make the business case for women’s sports in the boardroom.

• Early December data from UK–based charity Women’s Sports Trust found that 21% of brand decision-makers believed communicating sponsorship value in women’s sports was their second-biggest challenge when it came to closing a deal, even though most of these companies either met or exceeded ROI expectations. It just makes cents.

The GIST: Twelve teams will compete in the College Football Playoff (CFP), but you can get in the game by choosing your winner and making a free bracket (March Madness style) with The GIST.

What’s on the line: The top three brackets will win Ticketmaster gift cards: $300 for first, $200 for second, and $100 for third — perfect for snagging seats at a sporting event or concert.

How to play: Sign up for free and we’ll remind you to lock in your picks before the CFP officially begins tonight. Touchdown, call the amateurs.