Elite women’s sports will generate more than $1 billion in global revenue for the first time in 2024, thanks to growing interest (Deloitte). In April, the women’s basketball championship attracted 18. 9 million viewers, surpassing the men’s tournament (deadline). The 2023 Women’s World Cup final drew 13. 21 million viewers in the United Kingdom (FIFA). The annual expansion of the audience suggests that we are only scratching the surface of its potential.
The immediate progression of new leagues has made investment in women’s football attractive and full of opportunities. Now more than ever, women’s football is on investors’ radar, and its prestige as the fastest-growing industry makes the market particularly exciting.
Women’s sports are becoming more profitable. The 2023 Women’s World Cup is an example of this success, generating more than $570 million in revenue and breaking the stigma surrounding women in sport.
Earnings from women’s gambling come primarily from advertising channels, in addition to club sponsorships, partnerships, and product sales (Deloitte). This is in contrast to the men’s game, where the profits basically come from broadcast rights, highlighting a vital domain of expansion and economic outlook for the women’s game. .
The price of sponsorship in women’s football is skyrocketing. For every dollar spent through a sponsoring company on women’s matches, more than $7 is generated in “Change our Game” customer price. The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup generated $308 million in net sponsorship revenue, with sponsors of the Ladies Professional Golf Association reporting a return of up to 400% in the media value of their investment (LPGA). Brands that help the women’s game are related to women’s empowerment and gender parity, which leads to greater customer trust. (Women’s Sport Trust). As the visibility of women’s football increases, sponsorships become increasingly valuable and an interesting investment for brands.
This new era of women’s football is also generating investment in new leagues.
Many primary women’s leagues have sprung up over the past decade, and a few sports are still missing from the lineup. For example, the North American Women’s Hockey League hosted its inaugural season in 2023. Newcomers have tried to innovate in this area, such as Women’s Sports Network and Athletes Unlimited. Athletes Unlimited was created in 2020 with the purpose of creating a style of choice to the existing league formula by making it more player-centric. It operates four other sports leagues, each of which is managed through an executive committee of players and where athletes represent a percentage of the company’s profits.
Today, women’s sports are basically concentrated in football, basketball, and tennis. In addition, the United States leads the revenue-generating market, followed by Europe (Deloitte). There are still wonderful prospects for expansion in women’s sport, and many sports still want to be supported and established in new geographical areas.
New, cutting-edge tactics have been developed to structure groups to grow women’s football in a way that allows the market to in fact thrive. Sofia Jorgenson, Gunnercooke’s spouse, highlights that there are growing opportunities “for women’s gaming groups to discover a new paradigm of structures and models for their good fortune and expansion, challenging classic models of ownership and investment. Women’s groups, leagues, and their stakeholders understand this and are rewriting the narrative; seeking access to complex financial, legal and technical professionals to expand and offer a competitive advantage. “
Angel City FC was established in 2020 and has been the first women’s professional soccer team in Los Angeles since 2010. It is subsidized by notable investors such as Natalie Portman, Serena Williams, and Alexis Ohanian. Football League (NWSL) and set new standards in women’s professional football. Valued at more than $180 million in 2024, they are the most valuable team in the NWSL (Sports Pro). The team’s good fortune is due in part to their cutting-edge profit models. that come with exclusive sponsorship structures and a commitment to network investment.
In 2023, Michele Kang created the world’s first multi-club ownership style committed to women’s football by adding football club Olympique Lyonnais Féminin (France) and London City Lionesses (UK) to its portfolio along with Washington Spirit (United States). United) (Pro Sports). As in men’s football, the multi-club style not only promotes synergies between teams, but also allows investments across the ecosystem and supports the advertising progression of the women’s game in emerging markets, whether the quality and profit prospects of the women’s soccer.
With groups and leagues so strong employing cutting-edge approaches, the promotion of women’s football will skyrocket. The price tag for several groups is expected to exceed $100 million through 2024.
When pricing sports investments, the earnings method is used by calculating a club’s trading price (“EV”) as a proportion of its earnings (EV/Revenue).
The average earnings valuation of men’s football clubs through 2023 was 2. 01x (BDO). In 2024, the percentage for the top 10 clubs ranges between 4. 3x and 6. 5x, with Manchester United FC being the highest at 6. 5x (Football Benchmark).
In comparison, last year, the average NWSL team scored an average rating of 8. 1x (Sportico). Most recently, women’s club Chelsea Football Club was valued at $200 million, implying a valuation of 20 to 25 (Bloomberg).
Valuations of European men’s football groups tend to stabilize around multiples of five to 6. In contrast, women’s football groups, still in their initial expansion phase, offer another threat profile with real growth potential. broad. It is not surprising that several Premier League clubs are betting on personal equity investments in the Women’s Super League (Bloomberg).
Some investors have already begun to identify this expansion opportunity and have decided to bet on women’s sport in its early stages. Mark Affloter, a partner at Ares Management who co-leads the Sports, Media and Entertainment strategy, said that youth sports, amateur sports and women’s sports are sectors that “share some of the same exciting demands for drivers as professional and men’s sports, are experiencing a significant expansion in participation and a lack of correlation with the broader macroeconomic environment” (Business Insider).
Sixth Street, a leading personal equity firm, has acquired a majority stake in NSWL women’s football team Bay FC in 2023. The company has placed Bay FC in its successful portfolio that includes FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and the Spurs (NBA). Sixth Street’s decision to acquire an NWSL team is significant validation for both the league and the expansion prospects of women’s soccer in the United States. It also highlights the caliber of investors willing to invest in women’s sport.
Other significant investments come with Carlyle’s (PE company) recent investment in Seattle Reign FC in 2024 for approximately $58 million along with the organization that owns Seattle Sounders FC (Sounders FC), Levine’s acquisition of the San Diego Wave Leichtman sold for a record $113 million (making it the largest sale in NWSL history), as did Angel City FC co-founder Kara Nortman, who launched a personal equity company focused on women’s games, Monarch Collective, in 2023. The purpose of Monarch Collective is to be a catalyst to drive investment. in women’s football in the future.
These are not undeniable acquisitions; They marked the beginning of renewed financial interest in women’s sport. Deloitte predicts that as the market grows, it will not be unusual for institutional investors, private equity funds and high-net-worth Americans to invest in this space.
The most valuable asset of a team is its player. Groups will therefore increasingly invest in products and software to gain a competitive advantage. Startups will look to fill this gap and innovate in a market conducive to growth. Understanding this is very important to make an investment in one of the most successful and impactful emerging industries.
As the general spouse of Goddess Gaia Ventures, we have committed this fund to making an investment in startups that create answers to fitness disorders that uniquely, disproportionately, or differently affect women. We have made investing in women’s football a key focus of our fund because we understand that to make a real impact on women’s football, athletes will need to have the right equipment to optimise their functionality and improve their long-term wellbeing.
The long term of women’s football is brilliant. Although the market is still in its infancy, significant progress has been made and is yet to come. While the precise trajectory is uncertain, the game’s long-term is undeniably female.
#WomenInSports #SportsInnovation #EquityInSports #VentureCapital #Inclusión
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