Sports Innovation Lab Expands Women’s Sports Club Roster, Announces Plans to Shake Up IAB NewFronts
The curated network enters year two with its continued mission to drive more backing and resources into women’s sports through media and sponsorship investment
PRESS RELEASE - WEDNESDAY APRIL 3RD 2024
The preeminent network for women’s sports media and sponsorship advocacy will enter its second year of operation, receiving a major boost: an expanded partner roster of top-tier brands. Following a successful inaugural year, Sports Innovation Lab announced today its Women’s Sports Club will once again be powered by Ally Financial, and they are thrilled to announce EA SPORTS, Google, Morgan Stanley Global Sports & Entertainment, Scripps Sports, and Trailblazing Sports Group have joined as official “powered by” partners for 2024.
The Women’s Sports Club, a curated network formed by the Sports Innovation Lab, officially launched at South by Southwest in March 2023 with a mainstage panel held in front of a maximum-capacity crowd. In the year since its inception, the Women’s Sports Club has helped facilitate impactful brand collaborations, innovations, and groundbreaking initiatives through its calculated networking events, strategic communications, and curated introductions in support of women’s sports.
Women’s sports fans spend more per fan than general sports fans on the brands that sponsor the sports they love. Yet, women's sports receive only a fraction of sponsorship and media investments. The ‘Club’ has been intentional in identifying the right stakeholders and forums to address and offer solutions to the lack of investment in women’s sports media and sponsorship.
The Club’s efforts have been directly attributed to more discussion and financial support of women’s sports and its growing ecosystem in the past year. In 2023, the Club witnessed and helped spark collaborations between its members, including PrizePicks and the NWSL’s North Carolina Courage, NYX Professional Makeup and Octagon’s sponsorship of the WNBA’s New York Liberty, and more.
In 2024, the goal is simple: Scale.
“Billions of media dollars are spent to reach decision-making Gen Z sports fans every year,” said Gina Waldhorn, Chief Marketing Officer at Sports Innovation Lab. “Women’s sports owns that audience, and it is time women’s sports showed up with the data and the media scale that justifies a bigger portion of that pie. That’s the Club’s focus for 2024.”
To achieve that scale, one of the upcoming key initiatives that the Sports Innovation Lab will spearhead, with the Club as a focal point, is the Sports Innovation Lab's Women's Sports Club NewFront, the first-ever digital media buying event designed to propel the selling of women’s sports inventory to participating media channels and affiliated brands during the event. The event will take place in May during the IAB’s NewFront Week in New York. This event will aim to accelerate the commercialization of women’s sports. Select members of the Club and Sports Innovation Lab’s leadership team will co-build and offer a series of unique women’s sports media packages, powered by Trailblazing Sports Group, which will aim to offer extensive levels of scale, and showcase women’s sports media inventory to participating brands and media representatives in an exciting, engaging new format. The Women’s Sports Club NewFront is set to take place on May 2nd, and more information can be found here.
“EA SPORTS is thrilled to be among the global brands supporting Sports Innovation Lab’s Women’s Sports Club as they work to accelerate investment and opportunity in and around women’s sports,” said Andrea Hopelain, GM and SVP of Publishing at EA SPORTS. “Our commitment to women’s sports extends from our interactive experiences like EA SPORTS FC 24 where representation and inclusion are top priorities to the community and ecosystem at large as we seek to create more opportunities for women as interest and engagement in women’s sports continues to grow.”
With major brands supporting the Women’s Sports Club in 2024, a significant presence during the upcoming IAB’s NewFront Week, and the momentum from generating over 100 million PR impressions in 2023, the Sports Innovation Lab’s Women’s Sports Club will be a force to reckon with in 2024, positioned as the leading conduit for brands and media properties convening to support one of the fastest growing and impactful entities in sports, media and entertainment: women’s sports.
About Sports Innovation Lab
Sports Innovation Lab’s Sports Data Cloud enables brands and sports properties to build more effective sponsorships, improve targeted advertising, and enhance fan experiences. Built on observational, transactional, and deterministic fan data, the Sports Data Cloud is evolving how organizations use data to understand their customers and acquire more of them - starting with sports & entertainment. Learn how global brands including the NFL, Nike, NHL, Ally Financial, WNBA, and NASCAR use Sports Innovation Lab’s data, audiences, and strategic advisory to drive revenue by visiting sportsilab.com or following on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
PR Contact
Anthony Baldini - Athlete Strategies
anthony@athletestrategies.com
408-506-5975