Brands believe in women’s sports. So why aren’t more of them investing? We pressure-tested the question with industry pros. What we came away with: we’re measuring the opportunity all wrong.
Key Takeaways
- Czarnowski Collective and BizBash surveyed 236 marketers. 87% think brands underestimate women’s sports, but only 29% say their organizations are actively involved. Czarnowski Collective calls this the "Conviction Gap."
- Women’s sports fans act on sponsorships. 60% have switched brands because of a company’s values or actions (Nielsen).
- To close the gap, Czarnowski Collective recommends making the business case for women’s sports on the value of the audience over the volume of impressions.
Brands investing in women’s sports: the Conviction Gap by the numbers
Here’s a math problem for you: 84% of marketers believe women’s sports have moved beyond the trend moment. 87% think brands are underestimating the commercial opportunity. And yet, just 29% say their organizations are actively involved.
Those numbers come from our recent research with BizBash, where we surveyed 236 marketers and discovered a rather inconvenient disconnect: plenty of belief, considerably less investment. We called it the Conviction Gap. We brought it to The Women’s Summit at Sports Innovation Forum, presented by BizBash/Informa, and asked a room full of brand, agency and event pros what it would take to close it. Nobody was short on opinions, and nearly everyone landed in the same place: we’re evaluating a new era of sports with a century-old measuring stick.
Why are brands hesitant to invest in women’s sports?
Women’s sports account for less than 2% of the U.S. sports market, according to McKinsey. If sheer scale is the deciding factor, established leagues win that comparison every time.
But a century-old head start is one hell of a benchmark.
Imagine launching a challenger brand, comparing its market share to a category leader that’s been around for a century, and declaring the challenger a bad investment. Congratulations. You’ve just made a compelling case for never investing in anything new. And yet, that’s essentially what happens when we evaluate women’s sports exclusively against the reach, viewership and impressions of men’s sports.
The NFL has had more than 100 years to build its commercial ecosystem.
The WNBA launched in 1997.
The NWSL kicked off in 2013.
Basic math says these audiences should look different.
And an emerging sports property deserves to have its commercial potential taken seriously long before it logs a century of history.
How should brands measure women’s sports sponsorship ROI?
The business case gets interesting when brands stop measuring how many fans see a sponsorship and start measuring what those fans actually do. That means treating impressions as a starting point and evaluating what they deliver for the business. It also means getting clear on what ROI looks like, especially when it comes to brand loyalty. Reach matters, but on its own it tells only part of the story.
The opportunity in women’s sports is to mean more to the people you reach.
The benefits of sponsorship to the sponsor in women’s sports
Brands that sponsor women’s sports gain:
- A growing audience
- Strong sponsor awareness
- Meaningful purchase behavior
- Serious spending power
There’s more to fandom than headcount. Women’s sports fans are invested in the outcome of the game and in the future of it. They notice sponsors, engage with brands, make purchases and reward companies that support the teams and athletes they love.
The numbers bear it out:
- 60% of women’s sports fans have switched brands because of a company’s values or actions, compared with 45% of sports fans overall. (Nielsen)
- 30%+ of NWSL fans have purchased a brand after seeing an in-game sponsorship. (Nielsen)
- 54% greater sponsor awareness and 45% greater likelihood to consider or buy compared with men’s sports fans. (RBC + The Collective at Wasserman)
And before anyone mistakes a more engaged audience for a smaller opportunity, consider this: approximately 123 million Americans identify as women’s sports fans. That’s nearly half of U.S. adults. In the first half of 2026 alone, Americans watched nearly 29 billion minutes of women’s sports. (Nielsen)
And we’re still asking whether there are enough people watching? Maybe the more important question is what those people are worth to your business.
Case in point: Czarnowski Collective helped Sequel, the Official Tampon Partner of the Indiana Fever, celebrate a fan-favorite athlete by recreating Aliyah Boston’s locker room on the Gainbridge Fieldhouse concourse. Fans noticed (200K social impressions), engaged (16% participation and 3.7K social engagements) and took the brand home: 5,000 Sequel boxes left the building in fans’ hands. See the full case study for yourself.
Building a women’s sports sponsorship strategy that leadership will back
It’s time to change what counts.
The assignment for marketers: challenge the old benchmarks, introduce the right metrics and make the business case in terms their organizations understand.
- Challenge the old benchmarks. Judge women’s sports on their own timeline. The NFL has had more than 100 years to build its commercial ecosystem. The WNBA launched in 1997, and the NWSL in 2013.
- Introduce the right metrics. Track what fans do after they see a sponsorship: brand switching, purchases, sponsor awareness and brand loyalty.
- Make the case in terms your organization understands. Pair reach with behavior. About 123 million Americans identify as women’s sports fans, and compared with men’s sports fans, they show 54% greater sponsor awareness and a 45% greater likelihood to consider or buy.
The Conviction Gap closes when marketers measure women’s sports by the value they actually deliver, with metrics built for this audience.
Women’s sports are moving fast, with or without the industry’s sign-off. At some point, the question stops being whether you can justify the investment and becomes whether you can justify sitting it out.
Get the stats. Make your case.
We’ve rounded up four compelling, research-backed reasons why women’s sports deserve a place in your marketing budget. All in one handy sheet, ready to share with the people writing the checks.
>> Download the Return on Fandom: The Investment Case for Women’s Sports
And if you’re ready to turn your ambitions into a game plan, see how Czarnowski Collective can help you build sports marketing and fan experiences that earn their place in the budget.
