Women's sports are poised to hit new revenue records in 2025, after surpassing more than a billion dollars in revenue for the first time in 2024.
According to a new report from Deloitte, a financial services and consulting firm, women's sports are projected to earn $2.35 billion globally in 2025, a 25% increase over a record $1.88 billion produced last year.
"We don't see that growth slowing down anytime soon," Peter Giorgio, head of Deloitte's global sports group, told ESPN. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it accelerated here in the coming years."
The consulting behemoth, which serves as an advisor to the WNBA and the NWSL, identified basketball as a major driver for growth, with the sport predicted to surpass soccer in 2025 as the top-earning women's sport. Deloitte's report projects women's basketball revenues alone to top $1 billion in 2025, a marked jump from $710 million last year, as star players such as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese boost ticket and merchandise sales and spur more investment in WNBA franchise facilities.
"The stars are a part of it, [and] I think you're also seeing a maturation of the industry itself to sort of support those stars, and to drive a lot of that growth alongside of it," Giorgio said.
The Indiana Fever are one of several teams to announce plans to build dedicated practice facilities. The Fever's new $78 million facility is set to open in time for the 2027 season. Meanwhile, the expansion Golden State Valkyries unveiled a newly renovated practice facility in Oakland last month.
"We say we want to be the best. We say we want to attract the best talent. We say that we care about the outcomes and leveling this league up," Valkyries president Jess Smith told ESPN last month. "Well, what does that mean? Having the conversation about facilities was really a showing to me of this ownership group's commitment."
The Valkyries are owned by Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, who also own the NBA's Golden State Warriors.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said the 12-team league is aiming to expand to 16 clubs by 2028 and has already committed to new franchises in San Francisco, Portland and Toronto. Robust growth is attracting several prospective ownership groups for the WNBA's 16th franchise with bidders surfacing in Detroit, Cleveland and Nashville -- the cities vying to be home to the 16th franchise.
"We have known that [women's sports] was an undervalued asset, right?" Giorgio said. "And that markets, that investors, that brands were going to wake up to that. And I think that's what we're seeing right now, people waking up to it. The percentage increase in value of women's teams will continue to outpace men's...the men's [teams] are on a much bigger base at this point, women's will catch up."
Deloitte's projections were based on three categories of revenue: game-day, media rights and commercial revenues, such as sponsorships and merchandise sales. In 2025, Deloitte expects commercial revenues to realize the greatest gains of all three categories, as some brands that haven't previously sponsored sports are attracted to a differentiated audience in women's sports.
"Women's sport provides another opportunity for these brands to engage in what we think is a pretty untapped market at this point," said Jennifer Haskel, a co-author of Deloitte's report.
While investments continue to be made, there remain significant discrepancies in access to resources. A recent study from FIFA showed that the average global gross salary for a woman professional soccer player is just $10,900, a number weighed down by the lower-tier soccer leagues. Salaries are expected to be a major issue in WNBA players' talks with the league over a new collective bargaining agreement. Clark, for example, is scheduled to make just over $78,000 in 2025 -- less than half what the average professional pickleball player can make on tour.
The WNBA players' association opted out of the current CBA last October, two years ahead of its scheduled expiration, to negotiate a new agreement that is reflective of the league's growth.