This paper is the first part of a two-part series which focuses on women at the Olympics, in US basketball, and in European and US football (soccer), all marked by a shift toward audience and business interest catching up with women's impressive performance in the sports world.

Access the second part of the series, "Turning Moments into Movements: Women's Sports Olympics Momentum and the Opportunities for Investors and Sponsors," here.

Although women's sports are generating more buzz recently, their success is not a new story. For at least well over a century, the genre has abounded in pioneers who have inspired progress and cleared the way for other women athletes.

Gender parity in sports has had a long way to go since the 1900 Olympics, when only 22 women took part in the Games. Women athletes' gradual strides since then will be reflected in the upcoming Paris Olympics' 50-50 split between men and women competitors, with media rights holders such as NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery committed to providing extensive coverage of women's events at the Games.

The greater gender balance in Olympics coverage corresponds to the recent overall jump in popularity for women's sports, which has led to heightened interest from media rights bidders and sponsors. US women's basketball and European and US women's football are seeing some of the top activity. In the US, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) have experienced surges driven by celebrity athletes like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. The leagues are expanding their media coverage, with more games being televised nationally. Women's football attendance, revenues and media rights fees have also soared.

Meanwhile, women's basketball and football have achieved highs in attendance and viewership, with new records set by the NCAA, WNBA, Women's World Cup, European Finals, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League and more. Such popularity is expected to continue to grow as talented players emerge and build strong followings, with positive ripple effects for viewership of women participants in special events like the Olympics.

The equal number of competitors aside, 28 of the 32 Olympics sports will be fully gender-equal. Moreover, equality is drawing closer relative to medal events, with the Paris schedule featuring 20 mixed-gender competitions, 157 men's events and 152 women's events.

In the UK, viewing and attendance for women's football matches have maintained similar trends to those in US basketball. Women's Euro and World Cup TV viewing has grown substantially in recent years, with England's victory in 2022 setting British Broadcasting Company (BBC) audience records.

Meanwhile, attendance for the UK's Women's Super League (WSL) has grown exponentially in the last few years. The WSL was established in 2010 and turned fully professional in 2018 with 12 teams. From the 2021/22 to 2022/23 season, crowds at the leading WSL clubs' live matches increased threefold, while the current 2023/24 season has seen stadiums selling out, with record attendance.

The WSL teams are part of clubs that have existing, successful men's teams, with the majority playing in the English Premier League (EPL). The current most successful WSL teams include Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United, part of the corresponding EPL "Big 6” teams.

Although WSL women's teams generally start out playing at smaller stadiums than their men's team counterparts, women's team Arsenal has been selling out its club's home stadium, the Emirates, just as the club's men's team does. That appeal led the women's Arsenal team to decide to play all its matches at the Emirates in the 2024-25 season. The WSL and football have a unique opportunity to build on such successes to advance the women's game.

Although US basketball and European and US National Women's Football League (NWSL) football have captured major attention for women's sports, there are opportunities around nascent circuits. A variety of women's sports have seen record audience growth, showcasing their potential. In tennis, Coco Gauff's 2023 US Open win became the most-viewed Major Women's Championship ever, delivering 3.4 million viewers on ESPN, up 92% versus the prior year's championship.​ In golf, the 2023 US Women's Open average viewership rose to 895,000 across 20 hours of coverage, a 118% increase from the previous year, which had an average viewership of 410,000. In volleyball, a world record for attendance at a women's sporting event was set by 92,003 fans packed into Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, for the 2023 match between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the University of Nebraska at Omaha Mavericks. In women's football, the Kansas City Current are setting a pioneering precedent with this year's opening of their new CPKC Stadium, the world's first stadium specifically built for a women's pro sports team.

The boom in US women's basketball and US and UK football leagues is characteristic of broader trends of increased women's sports audience engagement and commercial opportunities, which women's high profile at the 2024 Paris Olympics should amplify. Media coverage plans for women's events at the Olympics show that major media companies are recognizing and seeking to leverage potential synergies between the Games and the rising profile of women's sports as a whole.

Record-high women's sports viewership should further encourage media stakeholders, league and event sponsors, and investors to make the most of their mandate to play an even more active part in the global shift toward recognizing and responding to women's athletic excellence. In part two of this report, S&P Global will look at the media rights, sponsorship and investment opportunities arising as a result of the current women's sports renaissance.