Bank shot

The GIST: The WNBA and WNPBA reached a verbal agreement on their CBA yesterday, just 51 days before season tip-off. The news is considered a major win for both parties as well as W fans, but there are other players at stake with a lot pinned on the success of this deal: The W’s confirmed and prospective brand partners. Let’s explore what this new CBA means for everyone.

The details: Per ESPN, the salary cap now starts at $7M (up from $1.5M) with supermax deals starting at $1.4M (up from $249K). The average salary is now around $600K (up from $120K) and the minimum salary is above $300K (up from $66K). Plus, the average revenue share — a major sticking point for the union — is reported to be nearly 20% throughout the deal.

• The negotiations managed to avoid changes to the 2026 schedule, with training camp still set for April 19th, preseason games tipping off April 25th, and the regular season beginning on May 8th. But the delayed deal means it’s crunch time for other crucial offseason activities: The league must now hold a two-team expansion draft and free agency for over 100 players.

The brand impact: The stability is undoubtedly beneficial for the W’s burgeoning partnership portfolio. With uncertainty all these months, it was likely challenging for brands to confirm their plans around the W season, especially regarding the draft and tip-off.

• On the W’s website aggregating its partnerships news, there hasn’t been anything since last June, besides a State Street partnership in September. This means that through 2026 so far, no new league-level partners with the WNBA have been announced.

• With women’s March Madness increasingly becoming a connected storytelling opportunity to the WNBA Draft, brands have previously announced W partnerships within this timeframe to get attention. In early April 2025, the WNBA announced deals with Mielle Organics, Ally, and Coach, but with the CBA uncertainty, everything has been up in the air.

Zooming out: Getting this done ASAP was essential to the W, which is still scaling up and very much needs to remain a welcoming environment for sponsors, particularly with players wanting increased revenue sharing. Now everything can roll on according to schedule, and we should see some new sponsorships stream in. Welcome to the party, pal.

The GIST: This week, the Bank of America Institute — the bank’s internal think tank that analyzes consumer behaviors and trends from customer data — shared insights into how customers are engaging around women’s sports. The data supports trends we’ve seen, with these new numbers further strengthening the business case for women’s sports. Let’s dive in.

🚀 Women’s sports viewership in the U.S. has nearly tripled since 2020. Both traditional and social media outlets are increasingly catering to this audience that skews younger, affluent, and digitally native. It’s what happens when you put women’s sports on TV.

🥊 These engaged fans pack a punch. They’re driving greater live attendance, merch sales, and social media fandom, with surging interest in soccer, basketball, rugby, and cricket positioning the sector to grow at warp speed.

💰 These affluent, avid fans are pushing exponential revenue growth. The study projects more than 250% revenue growth across U.S. women’s sports by 2030, citing examples like soccer’s rapid influx of private equity investment.

🤝 And sponsors recognize the fiscal power of women in sports. Women are driving fandom growth across women’s sports and saw the wealth they control increase by 51% between 2018 and 2023. Their median deposit account balances are up 35% from the 2019 average, and according to Bank of America data, their discretionary spending growth outpaces male customers.

The takeaway: It’s no coincidence financial brands are branching out from golf and tennis to meet women’s sports fans: They’re proven to be brand-loyal, and are willing to spend on travel for their fandom. Ally’s been rewarded for its commitment in this space, making a strong case for what the financial sector can gain from broad women’s sports sponsorship. Deposit that in the memory bank.

⛳ LPGA season is in full swing, so we’re celebrating with a giveaway. One lucky GISTer (along with their chosen travel buddy) could spend five nights at two stunning five-star golf and spa resorts in Ireland.

• Also on the line: A complimentary round of golf at one of the most breathtaking courses in the world, Druids Heath. Ready to tee it up and get your travel on? Enter to win today.