Netflix pulled off quite the heist on Friday by acquiring the U.S. media rights for the 2027 and 2031 editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC). It will be Netflix’s first time covering an entire sports tournament and marks FIFA’s biggest deal with a streamer, not to mention it’s the first time the WWC’s U.S. rights were sold separately from the men’s FIFA World Cup.

On Wednesday, Athletes Unlimited (AU) announced it’s indefinitely suspending its AU Pro Lacrosse league. After jumpstarting opportunities in four sports — softball, basketball, lacrosse, and volleyball — within the past four years, this is the first time the company has suspended operations for one of its leagues.

In recent years, sponsors have talked a big game about increasing their investment in women’s sports, and in 2024, many stepped up. According to Sports Innovation Lab (SIL) survey results released yesterday, brands are boosting women’s sports budgets for 2025 and reallocating sponsorship dollars from men’s sports to women’s.

In addition to sweetening the pot for Europe’s national teams, UEFA has been committed to creating a holistic ecosystem for women’s soccer at the club level. On Monday, the organization shared details around the Women’s Europa Cup, a second-tier club competition hoping to drive domestic investment in the women’s game across Europe.

In a recent SB Nation interview, Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell confirmed the new 3v3 pro women’s basketball league boasts a salary pool exceeding $8M. That’s a $242K average salary for the league’s 33 players (and $222K if all 36 spots are filled), exceeding the WNBA’s current $214K max salary. This doesn’t consider player equity or revenue sharing, which is worth millions.

Rugby star Ilona Maher has steadily built a social media following, and when her talents — and persona — were on full display at the 2024 Paris Olympics, her rising star turned supernova. Since then, Maher’s golden touch has brought increased attention to Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) and, most recently, U.K. rugby’s Bristol Bears.

Last week, UK–based charity Women’s Sports Trust (WST) found at least 80% of UK brands involved in sports sponsorship are likely to continue investing in the women’s game in the next three years, among other key findings. To collect data, WST spoke to 49 brand decision-makers about their sponsorship plans, with 69% being existing women’s sports partners.

Hockey is huge in Canada, so naturally, the PWHL’s popularity is growing fast among Canadian fans and sponsors. After tipping off its second season with nearly 50 corporate partnerships, the league inked three more Canadian-based deals this week, demonstrating its interest in reaching women’s sports fans on both sides of the border.

Yesterday, Rebel Girls (RG) — a digital media company created to inspire Gen Alpha girls — announced two major partnerships with emerging pro women’s sports leagues: League One Volleyball (LOVB) and Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL).

LSU basketball star and Puma athlete Flau’jae Johnson announced a player exclusive shoe deal on Friday, shortly after UConn phenom Paige Bueckers’ historic player edition shoe with Nike last week. These moves are the new normal in college basketball, where women are outperforming men in terms of NIL and shoe deals.

EA Sports’ annual hockey video game NHL 25 launched an update last Thursday that included PWHL players for the first time. The GIST spoke with EA sports brand general manager and SVP Andrea Hopelain last week to gain insight on the company’s success incorporating women athletes in its games, a strategy that resonates strongly with its Gen Z players.

As discussed on yesterday’s episode of The GIST of It, the WNBA is hosting its first expansion draft since 2008 today as the Golden State Valkyries post up to join the league. With today’s draft seeing historic interest from media and sponsors, the W is primed for the big leagues.