Bar down
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Hello there!
F1 fandom is surging at the track, on TV, and now at the box office. F1, Apple’s big-budget drama starring Brad Pitt, generated $55.6M domestically and $144M globally during its opening weekend. It’s something to contemplate since ESPN’s F1 rights expire this year, with Apple TV+ considered a frontrunner for landing its next U.S. media rights deal. Vroom vroom.
Women's sports
🍺 Bar down
The GIST: Last week, 3XBA — a professional touring FIBA 3x3 women’s basketball league — announced a unique partnership with Seattle’s Rough & Tumble Pub, the second-ever women’s sports bar. Through their new agreement, the two entities will promote one another through activations at live events.
- The deal illustrates a trend of how brands — including women’s sports leagues — are looking to activate around local women’s sports bars to reach avid fans directly. Buzzworthy.
The details: The collab began with Rough & Tumble’s presence at Spokane Hoopfest, the world’s largest outdoor 3x3 tournament that featured a 3XBA pro tournament. As 3XBA tours, the sports bar will promote the league through storytelling, event promotion, and engagement with fans.
- Before this partnership tipped off, the two entities also worked together in March to support women’s and youth sports in Spokane, Washington.
The landscape: While the concept of a women’s sports bar has been around since 2022, brands have only begun to explore how to monetize it in the past year. VC firms are investing in nationwide franchising, Togethxr created an informational hub to document the movement, and sponsors are embracing the sports bar ethos with sponsored watch parties, trivia nights, and even DJ sets.
- While sponsors are getting creative in reaching fans, it seems like a layup for sports leagues to partner directly with bars to ensure their content is shown. For example, AUSL is the first pro women’s sports league to secure a formal partnership with women’s sports bars through its Women’s Sports Bar Alliance.
Lingering questions: It makes sense for smaller leagues looking to get footing — like 3XBA, AUSL, and Unrivaled — to look at these bars as an authentic and organic way of reaching fans. But when will bigger sports leagues like the WNBA and NWSL harness the power of these gathering places beyond informal watch parties?
- Maybe they’re waiting to see which ones they should partner with — despite the rise, not all are guaranteed to survive. Still, there’s a general increase in demand for women’s sports across the country, so leagues and teams should take a proactive approach, especially in markets that lack pro women’s sports teams. It’s a movement, not a moment.
Tennis
🎾 The grass is always greener
The GIST: With Wimbledon coming up, SponsorPulse followed up 2024 data insights on Wimbledon fandom in the U.S., illustrating the fan profile and opportunity for brands to engage as the British Grand Slam faces growth challenges. Let’s dive in.
U.S. Wimbledon fan data:
- 🏟️ Nearly 81M Americans aged 13 to 64 engage with Wimbledon annually, with U.S. engagement reaching an all-time high in 2024 at 45%.
- 💰 About 22% of these fans are “genuinely excited” about the tournament, and 8% feel that tournament sponsorships influence their purchasing decisions.
- 🎾 According to SponsorPulse data, the UK–based tourney resonates most with tennis players, women, people over 40, and foreign-born Americans. Fans that engage intensely with the tournament are actively spending in categories like luxury and electric vehicles, dating apps, telecommunications and business consulting.
Wimbledon’s challenges: Although the tournament is offering a record $73M prize pot this year and drew millions of viewers globally last year (including historic U.S. numbers), Wimbledon and its sponsors still serve a niche luxury crowd, while U.S.–based sponsors are opening the field and making the sport more accessible.
- And while Grand Slams clearly have potential — the French Open just posted improved numbers on TNT — the decentralized nature of the sport is a challenge to building fandom. Tennis is trying to address this in myriad ways: The WTA just made the Tennis Channel its new home in the U.S., ATP/WTA merger talks are heating up, and Wimbledon is pushing for key renovations. Game, set, match.
Together With The GIST
💅 The GIST’s Pride Collection is here
Pride Month is almost over, but creating merch that feels real and not rainbow-washed takes time — and we’re in a better-late-than-never state of mind. Without further ado…
🧢 The iconic She’s Gay, Marcus hat
👜 And the Sports are for the Girls, Gays, and Theys tote.
10% of proceeds from this collection will benefit You Can Play, a nonprofit working to make sports more inclusive for LGBTQIA+ fans and athletes. Supplies are limited, so shop now.
📱 Ad revenue from content creators will top traditional media for the first time in 2025
According to a new report from WPP Media, creator-powered social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok will generate more than traditional media platforms like TV, print, and radio are expected to bank this year for the first time ever, with advertisers expected to drop $235B on creator-driven content.
- While this is great for brands looking to harness the marketing power of women athletes, it’s also great for creators themselves, who stand to pocket $185B in revenue. Do it for the ‘gram.
📺 Spectrum customers benefit from Disney-owned platforms thanks to new deal
Following a new agreement between Disney and Charter, Spectrum customers can now watch eight Disney-owned cable networks and an ad-supported version of Hulu, and have access to Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu bundles for cable customers. The move comes as cable distributors have pressed channels to focus on linear offerings despite a concentration on developing streaming platforms.
🎟️ SponsorUnited shares new insights into opportunity in ticketing industry
SponsorUnited released a report last week on sponsorship spend in the ticketing category. Overall, industry spend came out to $361M from 23 brands actively investing, although Ticketmaster and SeatGeek topped the leaderboard in terms of spending with 107 and 83 deals, respectively.
- On average, deals were worth $1.49M, 65% which was spent on property rights, like the NWSL’s SeatGeek Stadium, as well as deals offering exposure, such as Ticketmaster’s status as an official WNBA ticketing partner.
🏀 WNBA Portland sees executive shift amid strong fan support
Last Friday, Portland’s WNBA expansion team parted ways with team president Inky Son, who was hired as the team’s first employee only two months ago. The Oregonian reports that Son was fired, which complicates the team’s impending brand launch in two weeks, and that the team has struggled to hire its first general manager.
- While the organization is facing challenges, fans are already invested in the team with a reported 10K season ticket deposits reached earlier this week. Feelin’ the heat.
🏐 According to Deep Blue, LOVB garnered over 1M views during its finals with digital engagement rates exceeding industry averages. A nice bump.
👀 Ahead of impending CBA negotiations, WNBA rookie Paige Bueckers is leading a conversation about extending the WNBA season to give players more rest time.
🎽 W legend Candace Parker had her jersey number retired in Los Angeles with another ceremony to follow in Chicago.
🎥 NBC confirmed that veteran broadcaster Maria Taylor will lead NBA and WNBA studio coverage beginning next year.
👟 Nike stock jumped 15% for its biggest one-day gain since 2021, despite a 10% revenue decline. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
🃏 The 2024 Rookie Royalty WNBA trading card set was recently released as autographed cards from Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are expected to break records.
🌊 USA Surfing received a multimillion dollar investment to become recertified as the sport’s national governing body ahead of LA28. Surf’s up.
Here’s what has The GIST team currently hyped:
👕 What to check out
The Football x Football collab. NFL meets soccer jersey aesthetic in this new Fanatics drop. Need is an understatement.
🏀 Who to follow
NBA Research & Development Department. The “official unofficial” NBA lab is testing everything from superstition to swagger.
📚 What to look forward to reading
"Better Than a Touchdown." Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is adding author to his résumé with a children's book about community, teamwork, and chasing your dreams. What can’t he do?
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