Nike, RAJ Epicenter Week And The Business Of Women’s Sports

Nike Global Sport Summit Highlights The Business Of Women’s Sports During Epicenter Week

The Nike Global Sport Summit was less about answering whether women’s sports can grow and more about confronting what that growth demands next.

Throughout the summit, conversations among athletes, executives, creators, and industry leaders repeatedly returned to a common question: How does the sports industry build an ecosystem that is capable of matching the momentum behind women’s sports?

The answers varied across the room, but the themes were consistent. Investment has to extend beyond the field. Innovation has to account for women as athletes and consumers. And the industry has to think beyond short-term growth to build the infrastructure, opportunities and pathways that can sustain it.

Rather than a series of isolated conversations, the summit offered a broader snapshot of where the women’s sports industry stands today, past the point of proving its value, but still in the early stages of determining what a mature women’s sports economy should look like.

First, Dr. Stacy Sims’ keynote made clear that the next phase of women’s sports will require more than investment in teams and leagues. It will require funding and championing the science, data and performance systems designed specifically for women athletes.

Sims discussed the need to approach women’s peformance frameworks differently than that of men’s, which the industry still uses as the gold standard despite distinct differences in men and women’s performance and health.

Furthermore, Sims called for the continued pursuit of women-specific science and data to create more optimal outcomes for women athletes, but also advocated for care teams that are multi-faceted to provide this care.

Women’s Sports Leaders Say Infrastructure Is The Next Growth Challenge

If the keynote focused on what women athletes need to perform, the commissioners panel broadened the question to what the industry needs to grow. Across leagues, the answers repeatedly came back to infrastructure, whether that meant the stories being told, the venues being built, or the capital being committed.

For example, Craig Kessler explained that the LPGA lacks visibility and authentic storytelling to capture more fans, “If I could wave my magic wand, our wish is for somebody to step up and help us with third party content. We’d love our drive to survive or our version of full swing. And when it happens, people are going to fall in love with LPGA athletes.”

For others the emphasis was on buildings, stadiums, and designs built for women athletes. Kim Ng, AUSL Commissioner answered, “For us, it’s venues. We are not mini men. We can’t just play on baseball fields, so venues and softball fields. Purpose built softball stadiums.”

This sentiment was echoed by Sandra Idehen, Commissioner, LOVB, who pointed specifically to long-term and sustainable investment, “I think our biggest opportunity is really around investment. It’s about bringing in those team owners, those strategic partners, those brand partners who have a long-term investment mindset.”

She continued, “Being an emerging league, it takes time before unit economics catch up with the opportunity at hand. And obviously with volleyball, everything we’ discussed, we see the opportunity at hand. We need investors who are really in it for the long term and really patiently growing with us.”

In the next panel, centered on athlete peformance moderated by ESPN’s Andraya Carter, and panelists Sherri Privitera, Senior Principal, Populous; Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 8-Time Olympic Medalist, Entrepreneur & Philanthropist; Dr. Jacqueline Brady, M.D., Lead Portland Fire and Thorns Orthopedic Sports Surgeon; Bridget Munro, Director of Women’s Research, Nike Sports Research Lab, and Susan King Borchardt, Director, The Athlete Blueprint, the group reiterated Dr. Sims earlier address about prioritizing the athlete in the center of care and taking a holistic approach that encompasses the entire life cycle of the woman athlete.

Women Athletes Can Help Build The Next Sports Economy

The conversation shifted in the afternoon from what the industry needs to build, to who should have a greater role in building it. Panels increasingly centered athletes not simply as participants in women’s sports, but as storytellers, creators, and community builders with the ability to expand the value of the sport beyond the competition itself.

That athlete-led storytelling can help create a deeper connection between fans and the teams, leagues and brands surrounding them, while women athletes’ ability to cultivate community offers another largely untapped asset.

The opportunity, speakers suggested, is to turn those connections into a broader sports economy, one where the athlete’s voice and the communities they build become part of the value proposition rather than something that exists alongside it.

For example, Thayer Laville, Managing Director, The Collective at The Team posited, “I’m a really avid and passionate voice around the fact that teams and leagues need to do a better job at catering to women fans.”

She continued, “I would urge teams, leagues and brands that can play a huge role in this to really step up and create better fan engagement companies while also putting great product on the court or the field of play. And that is ultimately what will drive more and more sales because the minute you let us relax into that experience and take away those friction points, 86% of us will spend more money.”

Head Coach of South Carolina Women’s Basketball, Dawn Staley specifically spoke about former athletes investing back into women’s sports and the significance of the athlete perspective. She stated, “When you give a player or a woman ownership, because a lot of times there aren’t women at the table when we’re talking ownership, right? Perspective. I’m not necessarily saying that you need to actually act on my perspective, but listen, because sometimes having a different perspective may increase the value of a franchise.”

Lastly, the day ended with a call to action for those inside and outside of the room to invest boldly in women’s sports from former USWNT players Lauren Holiday and Tobin Heath. Both athletes called for creative approaches that see women’s sports as a testing ground to improve, change, and deliver new concepts that are outside the norm of the sport business model.

Epicenter Week Shows The Business Of Women’s Sports Extends Beyond The Game

The economic potential of women’s sports isn’t limited to what happens inside a stadium or arena. Epicenter Week demonstrated how the attention surrounding women’s sports can also be converted into investment in the communities where those teams, athletes, and fans live.

According to Karina LeBlanc, Executive Vice President of Strategic Growth at RAJ Sports, community investment was paramount for RAJ Sports and Epicenter week, “Everything is starting with the community because we are not here without them. And that’s the power of sport. We have the ability to unite, inspire, and do differently in the city where you’ll see it.”

During Epicenter Week, a girls middle school soccer field and basketball court were refurbished by the Portland Thorns, Fire, and RAJ Sports. Through the gala event more than $700,000 was raised for local non-profits in Portland. The EmpowerHer Awards recognized change makers in Portland’s own community programs.

Programs concentrated on creating safe, inclusive spaces for all to experience sport, to impacting children and education, combating and providing services for homlessness, to health research and innovation.

The week also included a tribute to former Portland Thorn Heath who signed a one-day contract for her retirement ceremony. Heath took a bow in front of 22,017 fans at Providence Park, the Thorns’ highest attendance since 2024.

At the Fire game, in front of nearly 15,000 fans, the glitter dragon mascot Rose was revealed, demonstrating the emergence of a fresh identity and pulse on the new consumers and fans in the WNBA.

Thus, the business of women’s sports isn’t confined to ticket sales, sponsorships and broadcast rights. It increasingly touches philanthropy, entrepreneurship, community development and leadership.

Furthermore, the intentional community-building extended beyond philanthropy. Events such as The Collective brunch and the EmpowerHer Awards brought together women entrepreneurs, executives, athletes, creators and community leaders, creating another form of infrastructure for the industry, relationships.

Relationships are a powerful currency to move women’s sports forward, and research has found that women lack the same diversity and depth in their professional networks to those of men. This signals again, why Epicenter Week will have ripples beyond the programming, the network effects have economic value for Portland and beyond.

Epicenter Week Is Betting On An Ecosystem, Not Just An Event

Epicenter Week offered a glimpse of what the next phase of women’s sports can look like when the industry stops treating growth as the finish line and starts building for what comes next.

From Nike’s Global Sport Summit conversations around science, infrastructure, storytelling and investment, to the $700,000 raised for Portland community partners and the connections forged among athletes, business leaders and changemakers, the week underscored the expanding economic ecosystem forming around women’s sports, where athletes, brands, investors, teams and communities increasingly intersect.

That may be the significance of Epicenter’s broader vision. Women’s sports is no longer simply looking for a seat at the table. It is building its own tables, networks and economic opportunities around a rapidly expanding audience.

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