Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is stepping up its golf investment on the women’s side. The PIF was announced yesterday as the new title partner of the Saudi Ladies International event, which will feature a $5M prize pool — one of the largest in women’s pro golf outside of the LPGA’s five majors and a few other LPGA Tour events.

In the wake of Super Bowl Sunday, the symbiotic relationship between sports and music has become more evident than ever as it continues to create opportunities to reach new fans. Here are a few examples of how brands have utilized the connection between these two industries.

Unrivaled is leaning into its name with its inaugural 1v1 tournament, an uncommon format in pro basketball leagues like the WNBA and NBA. Although the idea of an in-season tournament and a casual 1v1 knockout tourney isn’t new, capitalizing on both concepts in a professional league is.

Last week, UK research group Women’s Sports Trust published a report illustrating how 2024 interest in women’s sports UK audiences has grown for both domestic and international properties. In an increasingly intertwined sports landscape — especially in women’s soccer — these insights are meaningful for marketers at home and abroad.

Yesterday, Front Office Sports confirmed a women’s sports first: Two pro women’s teams from different leagues will share a new multimillion practice facility in Portland, Oregon. While six other cities have both WNBA and NWSL teams like Portland will in 2026, only PDX boasts both teams under the same ownership umbrella.

Yesterday, sports data platform Relo Metrics released a report on 2024 sponsorship across six major American sports leagues, including the WNBA. The leagues generated over $11B in sponsor media value (SMV) amid a 15% jump YoY in sports sponsorship, meaning this space is more profitable than ever — especially in rising leagues like the WNBA.

Birth control company Opill leveled up its WNBA partnership yesterday by increasing its collegiate campus presence. The two brands teamed up with the Black Women’s Health Imperative for IRL activations designed to inform Black women about their reproductive health and improve health equity while reaching another crucial demographic: college students.

This week, Google released its January Google Trends data report on search engine insights across sports. The data reflected key topics driving the conversation across women’s sports, including Unrivaled’s launch, NWSL expansion, and unexpected Australian Open winner Madison Keys.

Global interest in women’s soccer is rising, making for an increasingly competitive international market. And as covered in last week’s episode of The GIST of It, the women’s side differs from the men’s: The NWSL has historically had top billing when it comes to developing and recruiting talent.

Sportico shared insights yesterday about U.S. insurance giants backing away from advertising in the big game. While insurers aren’t activating around the (very expensive) Super Bowl as much as they used to, companies like State Farm are stepping up spend in a low cost, high ROI space: women’s basketball.

Another group has entered the WNBA expansion chat. Yesterday, the NHL’s Nashville Predators’ chairman and former Tennessee state governor Bill Haslam and wife Crissy announced a bid to bring the W’s 16th team to Nashville, Tennessee.

A new Nielsen report illustrates how Black Americans are “power TV viewers” who consume video content at a higher rate than the general population and are loyal women’s sports fans. In fact, they have been a critical demographic in driving the growth of women’s basketball over time and have favored committed advertisers in the space.