Case File #212: Fluid Fandom

Yeah, get into that a little

bit

because it

is, you know, people, it's not just the tickets, it's not just showing up.

It's the merchandise.

It's maybe online communities.

You follow players.

You travel for players.

I mean, so many of these things that just weren't happening to the degree they are now when I was certainly a younger fan.

For

sure.

What's really interesting is that traditionally in women's sports, there has been three main pillars of revenue, right? So there's been merchandise, ticket sales, and sponsorships.

That's kind of been the three pillars.

If you look at the men's side, the revenue streams go way beyond that.

They have properties where they can rent out.

They have players that they can buy and sell.

Those fees on players and developmental fees are actually something that is worth the club or the organization.

You don't have those historically in women's sides.

You've really had to lean on those three pillars to make your revenue.

Merch has kind of been a secondary thought because it was kind of like, well, we don't have high attendance.

So where are we going to get merch sales from? And we don't have media rights deals that are really large.

And now we're seeing all of those things change where you're seeing like that WNBA just finalized their the most lucrative media rights deal in women's sports history ever, which is super exciting.

So now you have fans who can access it more easily.

They're excited about a team that maybe is not in their city because they're We're not in every city still, right? The WNBA is not there.

And so they're willing to go buy an Indiana Fever jersey, you know, even though they don't live in Indiana.