Staying in touch
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Leveling The Playing Field
Time to party!
The Flavor Flav social media campaign for US women’s hockey continues: After the rapper pledged to send the entire team to the ESPYs, hotel heiress Paris Hilton (who played the sport in high school) gave the team 2.5M Hilton points to cover their stay.
- As a reminder, SHE Weekend takes place in Las Vegas this weekend, where The GIST is an official media partner and co-party planner. Any reason to party in Vegas, right?
NWSL
📱 Staying in touch
The GIST: This summer, AT&T featured Angel City FC captain Sarah Gorden and Texas Tech soccer standout Kylie Bahr in its popular “She’s Connected” campaign, which the telecomms brand launched in 2020 to spotlight women athlete entrepreneurs.
- Last week, we spoke with AT&T assistant vice president, sponsorships & experiential Sabina Ahmed about the success it’s seen by investing in women athletes.
- “Supporting women's sports is a core part of AT&T's sponsorship strategy,” Ahmed told us. She shared campaign stats from the past six years, as well as the brand’s broader wins following deeper women’s sports investments. Let’s dive in.
🚀 Since launching in 2020, “She’s Connected” content has generated over 160M video views. That includes 2.2K YouTube views from Gorden and Bahr’s recent episode after three weeks and 5.9M views for a teaser dropped three weeks ago.
🏀 AT&T’s consistent presence as a WNBA Changemaker has made a difference. Ahmed said because of it, the brand has driven 8M engagements across its digital and onsite integrations, along with partnerships from league stars like A'ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu.
💰 AT&T has seen “tremendous momentum” in women's basketball. Here, audience growth translates into “meaningful business impact,” added Ahmed. Investing in women’s college basketball spurred record fan engagement, which converted to YoY growth in positive brand perception.
⚽ But it’s not just basketball. In the first year of its multiyear deal with the NWSL, AT&T’s partnership drove 69% brand consideration and perception among fans, showing that soccer can draw crowds and keep them engaged.
The why: Ahmed gives a simple reason for why investing in women’s sports is good for business — its fans represent “one of the most engaged and fastest-growing audiences.” AT&T sees the same opportunity in soccer, where longstanding deals across U.S. Soccer and MLS see “brand association, consideration, and perception consistently perform above portfolio average.”
- “Women's soccer helps us connect with young, tech-savvy fans who overindex in their passion for the sport,” Ahmed said. Like Parity said, women’s soccer really does scream in the data.
🏟️ WNBA teams draw massive crowds after flexing to bigger venues
Last Friday, the Toronto Tempo played its first game in Montréal — and the first in its Cross-Canada Series, which is bringing Canada’s only WNBA team to adoring fans across the country. Its game at Bell Centre was an overwhelming success, drawing almost 21K fans for a new WNBA regular-season record.
- Meanwhile, the Dallas Wings flexed up from its usual 7K-seat venue at UT–Arlington’s College Park Center to American Airlines Center on Sunday, almost doubling the crowd to 13.2K.
🥎 MLB continues AUSL integration with All-Star Weekend festivities
When MLB made a strategic investment in AUSL last year, the baseball league promised “joint sales and marketing efforts” and “extensive promotional support.” That meant inclusion on its platforms and integration into its All-Star Weekend, something we’ve already seen work in the NBA and NHL.
- This weekend, four AUSL players competed in MLB’s inaugural MLBx All-Star 3-on-3 event, while the AUSL’s Command the Circle activation introduced thousands of fans to the league. The softball league said these efforts generated “strong social engagement and additional national visibility.” Shine bright like a diamond.
🥔 Brands flock to activate around Gotham FC’s Queens Classic
Gotham FC’s Queens Classic is attempting to break an NYC women’s sports record by drawing 40K fans tomorrow, so brands are lining up to make their mark on the occasion. Gotham FC partner CarMax is hosting a pregame fan fest spotlighting Sam Kerr’s return as well as a free parking pass giveaway.
- Meanwhile, Khloé Kardashian's protein snack brand Khloud is kicking off its Gotham collab with a multilevel activation, including Summer of Soccer watch party kits sent to NWSL and World Cup creators watching at home. And on the ground, Khloud will host a creator suite featuring other influencer brands and give away 5K bags of popcorn following the match.
📈 USA Sports shared that average viewership for July 8th’s Indiana Fever–LA Sparks matchup was 1.04M, making it the network’s most-watched WNBA game. So worth it.
🚀 After record fan engagement, All-Star Weekend fan festival WNBA Live is expanding to cover three days and includes 34 WNBA partners.
✨ ESPN announced it will debut Life In The W, a six-part docuseries starring A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, and DeWanna Bonner, during WNBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago.
🏛️ Eleven Republican representatives sent a letter demanding the WNBA take “accountability” for what they perceive to be racially-motivated attacks against Caitlin Clark during W games.
💜 In a recent San Francisco Chronicle interview, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert singled out the Golden State Valkyries for showing how to on develop a winning culture and a packed sponsorship portfolio. Raising the bar.
⚖️ Stephen F. Austin State University — which was hit with a Title IX lawsuit after cutting its women’s beach volleyball team — is facing another suit after two players alleged they were cut from the roster in retaliation for the initial lawsuit.
📸 Trend alert: Fashion and culture publications are betting on sports, in part because it involves continued, live content that engages readers. Never go out of style.
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