Tough but sweet
From The GIST Sports Biz (hi@thegistsports.com)
Leveling The Playing Field
It's Friday!
And that means it’s time to sit back, relax, and count stacks…if you’re the USTA. The tennis governing body announced Wednesday it banked $17M from the US Open’s signature Honey Deuce cocktail, the pop culture staple costing $23. It sold over 738K of them during the tournament, up 32% YoY thanks to a boost in main draw attendance and Fan Week sellouts. Pairs well with caviar.
NWSL
🚀 New news
The GIST: As the NWSL builds toward its future (one commissioner Jessica Berman plans to lead), the league is making key decisions to level up its on-field product, including through its recent digital media partnership with The GIST. Let’s review a few of the NWSL’s moves announced this week, and what they might mean for the league and interested sponsors. Eye on the ball.
📺 NWSL media rights expansion: Two years into its multiplatform, four-year media rights agreement, the NWSL expanded its deals with ESPN and CBS while also adding MLB and NHL sports streamer Victory+ to the mix. ESPN channels will air an additional 16 games annually, CBS will show another 17 each year, and Victory+ will air at least 57 matches in 2026 and 2027.
⚽ NWSL combine: On Wednesday, the NWSL announced it will launch two combines, one for college-aged athletes and one for youth players, starting this December. The NWSL is in a unique position to capitalize on gaps in the youth-to-pro pipeline as the combine will funnel talent straight into the league.
- It’s a page out of the NFL’s playbook, which has turned its combine into a media and marketing opportunity. The 2025 NFL Combine reached over 5.1M viewers, its most-watched edition since 2017. While combine coverage typically attracts avid fans, it also provides opportunities for sponsors like Microsoft and New Era to activate.
♥️ NWSL sponsor wins: Speaking of sponsors, the league added camera giant Canon as its official imaging partner on Wednesday. The partnership will include an original content series, behind-the-scenes footage shot exclusively with Canon equipment, and interactive fan contests like the one NWSL beauty partner E.l.f. Cosmetics announced earlier this week.
- Then there are wins as consumer data rolls in from sponsors like Tylenol, which recently shared new insights on its NWSL and Gotham FC deals with Morning Brew. Only a few months into these agreements, Tylenol is already being exposed to new audiences, ones that the brand identified as primed for pain relievers earlier this season.
What’s next: The NWSL is still scaling up — Berman said it's looking to expand beyond 16 clubs in a “rolling process,” as many cities have expressed interest — but there’s still a lot the league has to figure out before it expands further.
- Part of that is staying competitive with talent: The NWSL has fielded criticism for losing some of its top players, and that’s what makes the combine particularly interesting. The U.S. is only beginning to tap into the power of domestic talent and fandom, and building out a pipeline like LOVB would bode well for the league and its sponsors.
- Staying at the top of the game also means fans must be tuned in. While ESPN viewership is up 72% YoY, CBS ratings fell 13% YoY in July, showing network fluctuation. And with newcomers like Victory+, viewership becomes more fragmented, a problem that’s driven women’s sports fans to opt for men’s sports when they’re more accessible. So much in play.
🚫 Jimmy Kimmel taken off air as media companies leverage censorship in major acquisitions
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is the latest late-night casualty of the Trump administration and the media titans looking to score points amid major mergers. Media conglomerate Nextstar — currently seeking approval from Trump-appointed FCC president Brendan Carr for its $6.2B Tegna acquisition — suspended Kimmel’s show across its ABC affiliates, which ABC followed with its own suspension.
- This comes two months after CBS parent Paramount pulled the plug on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, with the president warning Kimmel was “next.” Like Kimmel, Colbert was a frequent critic of the Trump administration, and some believe Paramount’s move was meant to appease the president after his administration approved its $8.4B merger with Skydance.
- Trump’s war against late night is far from over with his sights now set on NBC, which is out of the merger conversation (for now). However, these concerns aren’t limited to late night: Mergers threaten to upend existing anti-trust policies, which have kept sports power players in check from monopolizing the marketplace. A dangerous game.
💸 Sports Innovation Lab acquired by Genius Sports
Data, tech, and broadcast platform Genius Sports acquired sports fan data leader Sports Innovation Lab (SIL) yesterday. Genius doubled down on its NFL partnership earlier this summer as its exclusive distributor of real-time play-by-play and betting data, and with its SIL pickup, now believes its platforms can build “the richest view of sports fans possible.”
- Per SIL, this means that Genius can integrate its live game data with SIL’s fan behavior tracking to give advertisers the unique ability to target sports fans in real time and assess the efficacy of their campaigns.
🗽 The NY Liberty won an Emmy for its campaign, “New York Ain’t for Everybody,” which was narrated by Manhattan native Alicia Keys. Only in New York.
🏟️ NWSL team Boston Legacy secured a $100M loan to revitalize White Stadium before the club takes the field in 2027.
🌴 Iconic Bahamian resort Atlantis Paradise Island announced it will host a women’s and men’s college basketball tournament in late November. Having a (beach) ball.
🍺 Three more women’s sports bars have opened across the U.S. — Marsha’s in Philadelphia, Chapstick in Nashville, and Wilka’s in NYC.
👕 The Portland Thorns will retire Christine Sinclair’s jersey during her Thorns Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony next month following similar celebrations for fellow retired stars Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan.
🍭 Candy company Ferrara struck a multiyear sponsorship with the U.S. Soccer Federation to become its official candy partner. Tough but sweet.
Together With The GIST
👕 Wear your heart on your sleeve
Want to show off your support for women in sports? We thought so. And with The GIST’s capsule collection, you can. The pieces are sporty, bold, and playful…just like our GIST community.
Speaking of, this collection truly has something for everyone: Basketball-specific threads for hoops fans, “leveling the playing field” looks if you love making a statement, and tennis tees if you want to, ahem, serve.
But don’t just take our word for it, check it out for yourself. Happy shopping!
Here’s what has GIST HQ buzzing:
🥳 What to listen to
Welcome to the Party. Hosted by soccer legends Abby Wambach and Julie Foudy and featuring special appearances by Billie Jean King, this is the ultimate women’s sports party. Queue it up.
📰 What to read
This column on why you should be a football fan. In an essay for TIME, Todd Rogers and Audrey Feldman argue that the NFL is one of the country's last truly unifying institutions, and that fandom is a surprisingly promising path to social connection.
🏓 What to check out
These photos illustrating how pickleball took over thousands of tennis courts. A New York Times analysis shows that thousands of outdoor pickleball courts have been created over the last seven years, primarily at the expense of once-exclusive tennis spaces.
Today's email was brought to you by Aryanna Prasad Bhullar and Briana Ekanem. Fact checking by Bonnie Lee. 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.