The disparity in the valuation of men's and women's sports media rights is significant. A research by Ampere Analysis of the top U.S. sports media rights deals revealed that, based on cost per game day per engaged fan, women's sports such as the Women's March Madness, the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the WNBA, and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) have achieved lower values compared to their male counterparts. Specifically, March Madness shows the highest disparity, with the cost per game day per engaged fan being $4.96 for men compared to just $0.67 for women. The NBA and WNBA follow, with $1.97 for men versus $0.34 for women, and the FIFA World Cup with $1.98 for men versus $0.81 for women. Major League Soccer (MLS) and the NWSL also display a gap, with $0.75 for men and $0.40 for women.
If the Women's March Madness tournament were valued at the same cost per game day per engaged fan as the men's competition, it could potentially generate roughly 3.6 times its current broadcasting revenue. Although various factors will influence the actual value of the event, this figure highlights a significant opportunity for increased rights revenue in the next media cycle, especially as interest in women's basketball continues to grow.
Additionally, the structure of rights bundles, where women's events are often packaged with other competitions' rights, along with the lengthy U.S. media rights cycles, suggests that many key women's competitions could unlock higher revenue with shorter rights cycles. Currently, the Women's March Madness deal extends until 2032, indicating that there is a long-term potential for growth in media rights valuation as interest and engagement in women's sports continue to rise.
Unlocking the value of women’s sports media rights involves strategic approaches to selling and packaging these rights. Fans of women’s competitions often also follow the men’s equivalent, presenting an opportunity to sell the rights independently and attract more potential buyers, which could help women’s competitions generate higher rights fees. Broadcasters who do not own the rights to the men’s version of a sport might be willing to pay more for the women’s equivalent, as this could bring in additional unique viewers—fans of the sport who are not already on their platform. Conversely, platforms that hold rights to both men’s and women’s competitions can leverage their existing audience base, potentially boosting engagement and driving advertising revenue.
As interest, engagement, and support from advertisers for women’s sports continue to grow, shorter rights deals would allow leagues to capitalize on increasing popularity through earlier renewals. This strategy minimizes the ‘lag effect’ of the media rights cycle, enabling leagues to benefit more promptly from the growing interest of fans, advertisers, and potential subscribers. Investment in women’s sports can further enhance broadcasts and related content, which, in turn, drives additional traction. A notable example is the recent NWSL deal, where the annual rights revenue increased from $1.5 million to $60 million, with a significant portion allocated to improving broadcast production quality.
Star power is another critical factor for the continued growth of women’s leagues. Popular, local athletes drive viewership, making it essential for women’s leagues to develop new stars, similar to the WNBA’s Caitlin Clark, to advance to the next level of rights revenue.
There are notable differences when comparing mixed-gender competitions and women-only events. Mixed-gender competitions like tennis’s Wimbledon, and the French and US Opens have achieved greater value on a cost per fan per game day basis compared to key women-only events, despite their shorter duration, which limits monetization opportunities. An exception is the Olympics, which stands out as the most valuable sport on a cost-per-fan per game day basis according to the latest U.S. deal. The Summer Olympics, in particular, is by far the most expensive competition on this metric, largely due to the low number of competition days compared to leagues that span several months.
However, the 329 events at the Paris Olympics provided NBC ample opportunity to utilize its subscription video-on-demand platform, Peacock, and drove new subscribers to the service. The high price tag for the Olympics has yielded significant results; NBCUniversal reported an average viewership of 30.6 million for their primetime Olympics programming throughout the competition.
Sam Nursall, Senior Analyst at Ampere Analysis said: “The numbers show that women’s sports have huge upside potential come the next round of rights deals and suggest there is currently a lag between interest and engagement with women’s sports and the buy-in from broadcasters. While multiple factors influence value, it’s clear that women’s sports have a growing loyal and engaged fan base, the value of which is likely to become clear as broadcasters, advertisers and platforms witness the return on their current investments and contribute themselves to growing the profile of key women’s competitions.”
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