SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL | NFL, The GIST deepen female fan push with multiyear extension
The NFL and women-led sports media company The GIST are making a longer-term bet on female football fandom, having agreed to a multiyear extension of their content partnership after initially teaming up under a one-year deal during the 2025 season.
The deal will continue giving The GIST, founded in 2018, access to NFL marks and logos for officially branded content and engagement products, including its weekly NFL Pick’em game and postseason bracket.
The agreement also provides The GIST with access at league tentpole events such as the Super Bowl and NFL Draft and allows the company to work directly with the NFL’s official marketing partners on content designed to reach female fans.
The sides began working together midway through last season. While the scope of the partnership will remain relatively similar, The GIST co-founder Jacie deHoop said the new agreement gives the company a full season and an extended runway to plan larger activations and build on its abbreviated first season with the NFL.
DeHoop noted the league has always been popular within The GIST’s community, but the company has tracked a steady increase in positive sentiment toward the NFL over the past several years. She attributed that shift in part to the league’s efforts to diversify its fan base and engage women and other nontraditional fans.
“The fact that the NFL is renewing with us for multi-year shows female fandom is not a flash in the pan kind of test,” deHoop said. “It wasn’t just a reaction to Taylor Swift going to a bunch of Chiefs games and what have you.”
The GIST also plans to produce more in-depth content throughout the regular season and return to the Super Bowl media center. The first year included work with NFL official partners Toyota and Invisalign focused on the growth of flag football, as well as a partnership with Adobe around NFL fandom and content creation.
The extension comes as women continue to comprise a substantial portion of the NFL’s audience, accounting for 47% of the league’s U.S. fan base, according to the 2025 SSRS Sports Poll.
The GIST’s audience research found that the NFL rose from No. 2 in 2025 to No. 1 in 2026 among leagues its U.S. respondents expressed interest in. Additional audience research from the company found that 35% of U.S. respondents said they subscribe to The GIST because they want a female perspective on sports.
DeHoop said female sports fans have historically been treated as an afterthought or “lumped in” with their male counterparts, even though they often gravitate toward different storylines and content. When sports organizations have marketed specifically to women, she said, the efforts have sometimes fallen into a “shrink it and pink it” approach that can feel condescending rather than authentic.
“When something, a piece of content or a partnership doesn’t feel like it’s made with them in mind, they can tell and it can be quite polarizing,” deHoop said.
