“Women are powerful” and “the future is female” are both encapsulating phrases that help empower women and their success. International Women's Day is approaching - March 8, 2022. This is the day for the world to celebrate women in all fields of work along with their accomplishments. One in particular is appreciating the influence women have had in the sports world, both as athletes and business women.
It is never an easy fight for women in sports - there is a constant need to prove and stand up for themselves in a male dominated world. But that has not stopped them; women are succeeding on every level of the sport industry. Check out this list of the top 10 most powerful women in the business of sports in 2021.
Being a female athlete is one battle, but the biggest war is fighting to show just how amazing the female athlete truly is. The best example of women empowering women is the WNBA.
The WNBA is a fantastic example of women fighting for their success every day as an association, not just as individual athletes. They are constantly competing against a billion dollar industry, the NBA, while trying to make a name for themselves, as well as create great opportunities for the women basketball players of the world. One area of distinction between the two leagues is the stark difference in player salaries - the average WNBA salary (less than $100,000) is only 1.5% of the average NBA salary (roughly $7 million). Draymond Green, NBA champion of the Warriors, has been known to support this crisis, and also states how important it is for them to target those who “say” they support equality for women, but do not take action to it. The answer to driving higher pay for WNBA players? Increasing revenues, which therefore would increase the salary pool . So how can that be accomplished?
Draymond also discusses how important marketing campaigns are for female athletes. It can help generate revenue and awareness for this specific industry of women. There are thousands of fashion, skincare, beauty, food, beverage, wellness, and fitness brands that want women as the face of their brand because women are what sells the most. But they do not want female athletes. So it is important to help understand and promote female athletes in the marketing industry because not only will it help them generate more revenue and awareness, but it will also help women based industries like the WNBA.
OpenSponsorship is the world's largest and smartest marketing platform. WIth over 11,000 athletes, 2,600 of them are females, we can help place the right athletes to the right brands. Opensponsorship can help influence brands to want to work with females athletes, even more specially WNBA players. Ishveen Jolly, our CEO, is a powerful woman in the business of sports. As a female herself she understands the importance of helping guarantee these female athletes what they deserve and not the bare minimum.
On the other hand, there is groundbreaking news for the WNBA. The WNBA recently had a huge breakthrough as they recently were able to raise $75 million from gaining a dozen of new investors. This revenue will be going towards revamping the association and giving what the player deserves in terms of expansions, salaries, and benefits. These investors include funding from Nike, Condoleezza Rice, Laurene Powell Jobs, Pau Gasol, N.B.A. and W.N.B.A. team owners, and other sports and business figures. This not only helps excel women's sports in general, not only the WNBA. It will help fans and investors around the world be able to take women and women in sports more seriously by showing their worth. It is a constant battle for women everyday they step out into the world, it is important that those who say they are advocating for women equality, really are.
Support female athlete, female leagues, and most importantly support women as gender.
Happy International Women's Day!