Today, Black Star — ForSoccer’s media and events brand cultivating Black soccer culture — announced the player lineup and an exclusive capsule collection for the Allstate Next Wave National Showcase, the first national showcase displaying the skills of the top-ranked Black women soccer players in the U.S.

Last week, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift confirmed its 2026 route, which will be the race’s longest course in its four-year history. And rather than beginning immediately after the men’s Tour de France, the women’s race will now begin one week later, with the push for a longer course and a separate schedule fueled by explosive interest in the women’s race.

This week, prominent sports sponsor Ally released survey data on 3K Gen Z, millennial, Gen X, and Boomer sports fans to understand how and where sports fans spend their money. The study illustrates spending differences by generation and gender, including details on the spending profile of women sports fans.

Yesterday, legendary Olympic alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin announced her new personal brand and logo as she prepares to win over fans with her persona. And the timing couldn’t be better: The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup and Milano Cortina 2026 are just around the corner.

The Northern Super League (NSL) ended its inaugural season yesterday with a Fan Appreciation Match for its popular club, AFC Toronto, which finished with the most regular-season points. Because of that, the NSL used the appreciation night to also award the Supporters’ Shield, a trophy that rewards the winningest team while also acknowledging the value of its fans.

Yesterday, tech giant Apple announced an extensive partnership with the Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s Super League 2 (WSL 2), the top two tiers of women's pro soccer in the U.K. Through the deal, each team will utilize the latest Apple products to capture and analyze game footage in real time.

On Saturday, the aforementioned Ohanian’s Athlos held Athlos NYC, its second annual track tournament in the iconic culture capital. The event welcomed several key wins that helped build the case for sustainable growth ahead of its 2026 expansion, from viewership increases to creative partner activations.

Today, New Balance (NB) announced NIL deals for several women athletes, namely from developing spaces in basketball and soccer and emerging sports like softball. The sponsorships are a response to how high school and collegiate pipelines are building across all women’s sports — and so are the marketing opportunities.

Yesterday, USC Annenberg published a first-of-its-kind report on the athlete-owned media economy. It identifies movers and shakers in the space, but also notes the gap between men and women athletes — women were featured in only 22% of the athlete-owned podcasts analyzed.

Last week, Snapchat teamed up with marketing agency Dentsu and research firm Ipsos to publish insights on the consumption of women’s sports, especially among frequent Snapchat users. The app surveyed over 13K sports fans across seven countries, including India and Australia, and uncovered what daily Snapchat users had to say about women’s sports.

Today, girls empowerment platform Rebel Girls (RG) announced a new partnership with Swerve Sports, a FAST channel dedicated to women’s sports that’s available in 80% of U.S. and Canadian households. Together, the partnership will create Rebel Girl Sports Hour, a first-of-its-kind kids and family program for women’s sports that will air under its Rebel Girls Sport vertical.

Despite his global appeal and 12 (!!!) Latin Grammy nominations, there’s continued cultural and political controversy over Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl LX halftime performance, with much of the criticism centering around the singer’s set being entirely in Spanish.