We are at a watershed moment for professional women’s sports in the United States, with more successes this past year than ever before. However, women’s sports leagues in the U.S. have had a rocky history of unsustainable teams, lack of interest and financial woes. We can either fall back into this pattern or push the momentum to set U.S. women’s sports leagues into stone.
The WNBA has had an explosive year, especially after NCAA stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were drafted in 2024. The league is taking advantage of this recent interest by expanding into three new markets and are looking to add a 16th team by 2028. San Francisco will welcome the Golden State Valkyries in 2025, while Toronto and Portland will each have a team in the 2026 season.
The 2024 season ended with astonishing records across the board. It was the most watched regular season in 24 years, and the most watched WNBA season in history on ESPN, a 170% increase from 2023. Game 5 of the WNBA Championship peaked at 3.3 million viewers, the most watched game in 25 years despite being played at the same time as Sunday Night Football and NLCS Game 6.
The league set the single-game attendance record of 20,711 and there were 154 sold-out games compared to 2023’s 45 games. Fans repped new merch — sales on the WNBA’s website and at their flagship New York store went up 601%, and Dick’s Sporting Goods sales went up 233%. The WNBA totaled a single-season record of 2 billion video views across social media, up from 378 million in 2023. These stats reflect what the average American has noticed: the WNBA has become a giant in the world of sports.
The National Women’s Soccer League has flown somewhat under the radar compared to the WNBA, but has still seen substantial engagement this year. The NWSL surpassed 2 million in regular season attendance for the first time in history, up from 792,409 in 2019. 89 matches saw over 10,000 attendees, 34 more than in 2023, when the NWSL became the world’s first women’s soccer league to have a regular season attendance average of more than 10,000 fans per game. There were 14 million regular season viewers, expected to rise by 24% over the next three years. Team valuations jumped by 57% this year, with the average team now worth $104 million.
The Professional Women's Hockey League entered its second season on Nov. 30 after a successful inaugural season that broke six different attendance records for women’s hockey. The league was first announced in August 2023, with six franchises and a 24-game regular season. The inaugural season ran from January to late May, with the first Walter Cup going to Minnesota.
On April 20, 21,105 fans set the global record for women’s pro-hockey attendance, and the PWHL welcomed 392,259 attendees over the season. The second season will add nine neutral site games, dubbed “Takeover Tour.” Notably, many of these locations are candidates for expansion teams such as Seattle, Denver and Buffalo.
The inaugural season featured generic uniforms and city names as the team names. However, the PWHL revealed a massive rebranding prior to its second season, with new team identities, logos and jerseys. The design and name choices connect the teams to the cities through history and culture in hopes of building a long-lasting fanbase.
The Women’s Pro Baseball League plans to begin play in 2026. With just under two years to go, team locations have yet to be announced, but the league’s Instagram page has been taking suggestions through post comments. The inaugural season will play around 40 games from May to August, mainly in college or minor league stadiums.
However, the biggest question when the news broke was about the pool of potential players. There are no women’s baseball programs at any NCAA schools or at the state-approved high school level. Eight women played on a college baseball team in 2023, only one of whom played D1. The questionable choice of baseball over softball, an ambitious timeline and limited serious media coverage may turn out to be a washout.
The Premier Lacrosse League announced the creation of the Women’s Lacrosse League on Nov. 13 with a strong media launch. The league plans for four teams set to debut in February 2025 at the PLL championship series with the sixes format.
The announcement comes after lacrosse was announced for the 2028 LA Olympics. NCAA stars such as Charlotte North and Izzy Scane have already committed to the league and have been involved in the rollout. The locations of the four teams will be announced by the end of the year, most likely in states with the highest concentration of D1 women’s lacrosse participation like New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
As we look to the future of women’s sports, we can’t overlook the economic impact. Consulting firm Deloitte forecasted that women’s sports will bring in more than $1 billion in revenue worldwide in 2024. This is a 300% increase from the 2021 estimate, reflecting the incredibly rapid growth of women’s sports. More than half of that predicted $1 billion will come from North America alone.
Wasserman’s The Collective released a report on Nov. 20 that estimated the NWSL and WNBA will increase in value by $1.6 billion in the next three years from $2.6 billion to $4.3 billion. The report also said that coverage jumped from 4% to 16% in 2022 and will increase to close to 20% by 2025.
Give women’s leagues the same energy you give men’s leagues for the same sport. Watch broadcasts, follow their social media, go to the games and buy merch. Choose a favorite team, even if your city doesn’t have one yet, pick a favorite player, follow the storylines. Keep the momentum rolling for the existing and future leagues, and don’t let this inflection point turn into a breaking point.
