"Prime of popularity": WNBA expects deals with Disney and other top brands

• "We are in our prime of popularity right now. The growth has been spectacular, but this is not an accident. We have been investing in our infrastructure to be prepared for this for a long time," Edison said.

State of play: "The brands that get it, get it," Edison said Wednesday at Women's Sports House, hosted by Axios and Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, in Cannes. "And we have a lot of work to still do."

• "With our next media rights negotiations, we're partnered with the NBA going in," Edison said.
• "We anticipate continuing working with Disney who has been a great partner to us, but there's still work to do with more brands."
• Edison declined to comment on the size of the overall media rights agreement.
• Disney's president of global advertising Rita Ferro spoke at Women's Sports House on Tuesday about its longstanding relationship with the WNBA.

Zoom in: Edison said the WNBA is prepared to support a growth in brands during a conversation with Axios' Sara Fischer alongside executives of other women's sports leagues.

• She noted the WNBA's capital raise of $75 million in 2022 helped the league hire more employees and grow other functions to better support its sponsorships.
• "I don't want to just take the dollars. I want to put your dollars to work, and I think that's going to be the big difference," Edison said.

• "As far as sponsors are concerned, the new media rights deal will help their brands be seen by more people," she added.

The intrigue: NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said the fanbase of women's soccer aligns with brands' desire to reach people who are younger, tech savvy and multicultural.

• "[Gen Z] is in our stands every single week," Berman said.

The big picture: Women's sports leagues are vying for more brand dollars as attention and engagement — plus an explosion in teams —  grows.

• League One Volleyball, a professional volleyball league founded in 2020, has been securing more sponsors following the recent news of its media rights deal with ESPN. Just this week, it announced partnerships with Spanx and Adidas.

Go deeper: Women's pro sports teams surge across the U.S.