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National

Media Trends

Axios Media Trends

Willow Bay, dean of the USC Annenberg School, and her husband, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger, have agreed to acquire Angel City Football Club (ACFC) in a deal valuing the club at $250 million. 

Why it matters: The deal marks the highest valuation ever for a women's professional sports team.

Zoom in: Bay and Iger will become the new controlling owners of the team following the close of the transaction, the club said in a statement announcing the deal. 

The pair is investing an undisclosed sum to take control of the team, of which $50 million will be used to support the club's future growth.

NWSL league rules warrant that a controlling team owner must own at least 35% of a team, which would mean that Bay and Iger would have had to invest at least $87.5 million in the deal. 

Bay will serve on and have full control of the club's board. She will also become the controlling owner for the league's purposes and will represent the club on the NWSL's board. 

The deal is subject to closing conditions, including the approval of the NWSL.

Between the lines: Bay and Iger are buying in on an already successful venture. 

Angel City generated the highest revenue of any women's team in the world, the team noted in a statement.  

The club topped all other NWSL teams in attendance, sponsorship revenue and total revenue last year, and has the largest season ticket membership, it added.

What they're saying: "Willow and Bob bring unparalleled operational experience, expertise, and passion to ACFC and to the NWSL," the ACFC board said in a statement. 

"With this investment of resources and capital, we hope to accelerate the growth of the Club and the NWSL," Bay said. "Working with the team and Board, and the incredible community of ACFC fans, we are committed to advancing the Club's mission of driving equity on and off the field."

Catch up quick: ACFC was founded in 2020 by a group of prominent actors and investors, including Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, and entrepreneur Julie Uhrman. 

Reddit founder and investor Alexis Ohanian was the Club's founding controlling owner. Other early investors, such as David Nathanson, Brian Weinstein, and Gillian Berry, also played a key role in the club's growth and sat on the team's board. 

Behind the scenes: Portman, Uhrman, Ohanian and Berry will continue to serve on the club's board, alongside Bay, following the close of the deal. 

Members of the club's ownership group include a huge array of sports stars and celebrities, including Billie Jean King, Lindsey Vonn, Ilana Kloss, Becky G, Uzo Aduba, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria and Lilly Singh, Candace Parker, Lindsey Vonn, 13 former players from the United States Women's National Team, and many more. 

The big picture: The deal marks a new era for investment in women's sports, following a landmark year for the industry, especially women's soccer. 

The NWSL signed a four-year $240 million TV rights deal last November. 

U.S. women's soccer team sales are surging, which is helping to bolster team valuations across women's sports broadly. 

What's next: The transaction was unanimously approved by Angel City's board and is expected to close in the next 30-60 days, the team said. 

Willow Bay and Bob Iger agree to acquire Angel City FC in landmark women's sports deal

Willow Bay and Bob Iger will buy the team in a deal that values it at $250 million.

Bob Iger, chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Co., and his wife Willow Bay attend the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 11, 2024, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

TN50-Feature

Media

Dealmaking

Latest news on Wall Street, Corporate America and financial regulation.

Business

The Athletic, a subscription sports news site owned by The New York Times, and Yahoo Sports are teaming up to launch a new hub for women's sports coverage on Yahoo Sports' website and app. 

Why it matters: "While we can create all the best stuff in the world, it's only as important as the audience we can get to it," The Athletic's chief commercial officer Sebastian Tomich told Axios. 

With women's sports, "there's a ton of attention, but there's still room to grow in terms of distribution and audience," he added. 

Zoom in: The new hub will be free on Yahoo Sports' website beginning Thursday and available on its app in the coming months.

It will house written, audio, and video content from both outlets, including The Athletic's popular audio and video shows, "The Athletic Women's Basketball Show" and "Full Time with Meg Linehan," as well as original coverage from Yahoo Sports' reporters and analysts. 

In the future, the hub could also house co-produced content from both newsrooms, Tomich said. Major moments, like championship games, are ripe for co-production opportunities, especially in video. 

How it works: Sales teams from both outlets can jointly sell advertising packages that include shares of inventory across the entire joint platform.

While The Athletic's website and app are paywalled, the new destination will not require a subscription. 

The goal is to leverage Yahoo Sports' reach to scale The Athletic's audience around women's sports coverage, not necessarily to drive traffic back to The Athletic's site, which has a dynamic paywall, Tomich said, 

Any opportunity to serve fans better will boost business opportunities, Yahoo Sports president Ryan Spoon noted. 

Zoom out: Amid a surge in popularity, both outlets have significantly increased their coverage of women's sports. 

The Athletic now has more than 15 full-time writers, editors and producers covering women's sports, a spokesperson said. The site has more than doubled its coverage of professional women's sports over the past two years with support from Google.

Yahoo has a stable of full and part-time women's sports writers and contributors covering the topic. This past year, it tapped former Olympic athletes to cover the Paris Games, including Allyson Felix and Shawn Johnson East.

The big picture: News outlets are doubling down on women's sports coverage as audience and marketer interest in the topic soars. Tomich and Spoon believe that together, they can provide marketers with unprecedented reach of women's sports fans.

A spokesperson for The Athletic said the outlet's seen a 226% year-over-year growth in traffic to its women's sports content through the first half of 2024. A spokesperson for Yahoo Sports said views of women's sports articles are up 253% over the last 12 months.

"Seven of the top 10 most-viewed articles on Yahoo Sports in August were about female athletes," Spoon said. 

What to watch: This is the first time The Athletic has partnered externally with another outlet to scale its journalism. Tomich said these types of deals, which offer scale without compromising editorial credibility, are rare. 

Yahoo Sports has begun to experiment more with these types of partnerships. It inked a deal with One Football to offer credible soccer coverage at scale in March. 

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

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

Exclusive: The Athletic, Yahoo Sports partner on new women's sports content hub

"While we can create all the best stuff in the world, it's only as important as the audience we can get to it."

a photo illustration of coco gauff, simone biles, caitlin clark and Reese Atwood on a colorful striped background

Photo illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios. Photos: Tim Clayton/Getty Images; Clive Brunskill/Getty Images; Ron Hoskins/NBAE/Getty Images; David Buono/Getty Images

Media trends

TN50

Atlanta

Axios Atlanta

The WNBA is in full swing after a break for the Olympics, and Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray is feeling good about the team's outlook for the season.

Driving the news: The Sandersville, Georgia, native spoke with Axios about the WNBA, its rise in popularity and how she spends her downtime.

What they're saying: Gray, who is in her second season with the team, said "coming to Atlanta has been great," particularly after she was named a 2024 WNBA All-Star for the second consecutive year in July.

The WNBA's rising popularity means more eyes are on the games and more fans are being introduced to the league, said Gray, the 29-year-old guard.

"I think the viewership has been great because… more and more people find out how cool and special the W is," she said.

The big picture: The WNBA has been making "different adjustments" to improve players' salaries, grow the sport and increase viewership, including a new TV deal and different sponsorships, Gray told Axios.

"I think the W is trending in the right direction to allow us… to make more money," she said.

Flashback: Gray played basketball at Washington County High School before she enrolled at the University of North Carolina in 2013. 

She played for the Tar Heels before transferring to the University of South Carolina where she played under head coach Dawn Staley, according to ESPN.  

She was drafted into the WNBA for the Dallas Wings in 2017 and was named Rookie of the Year that same year.

She won a gold medal in women's 3x3 basketball in the 2020 Olympics and joined the Atlanta Dream in 2023.

Fun fact: Gray co-owns a WNB Factory restaurant in Milledgeville (about two hours southeast of Atlanta) with her brother, A.J. Gray and partner, Tim Magnum Jr.

In the weeds: When she's not playing or practicing, Gray says she's more of a "homebody."

DoorDash is her go-to app for ordering food, with American Deli, Cook Out and (of course) WNB Factory being her three favorite restaurants.

She also likes Waffle House where her go-to order is the All-Star Special.

Gray is also a big-time gamer and likes to stream on Twitch.

What we're watching: Gray said the Dream is making a turnaround and things are looking up for the rest of the season. 

"Now that we are all healthy with Rhyne [Howard] and Jordin [Canada] back, you just see a complete 360 of our team," she said, referring to her teammates who returned to the court after suffering injuries.

What's next: The Dream plays Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday at 10pm Eastern in Arizona.

They'll return to the Gateway Center in College Park this Friday when they take on the Dallas Wings at 7:30pm. Get tickets.

Allisha Gray shares positive outlook for Atlanta Dream's season

Gray says the WNBA's rising popularity means more eyes are on the games and more fans are being introduced to the league.

Allisha Gray shoots the ball during an WNBA game

Allisha Gray during a game against the Seattle Storm last week. Photo: Mollie Handkins/NBAE via Getty Images

Sports

Axios AI+

Two recent deals highlight the contrast between the wave of interest in professional women's sports and women athletes' harsh economic realities.

Why it matters: Despite an influx of attention and investment in their leagues, many athletes are still struggling to make a decent living.

"We've come a long way, and we got a long way to go," soccer legend and Bay FC co-owner Brandi Chastain told Axios, noting that many women soccer players need income beyond what their salary provides. "We still have women who need support."

State of play: A new program, details of which were shared first with Axios, will see sponsor Visa helping all members of BayFC — The San Francisco Bay Area's professional women's soccer team — to earn the maximum amount of appearance fee money available under the league's contract with players.

Historically, such appearances have been time-consuming, in-person affairs with not enough time or opportunities for most players to earn the  maximum allowed under league rules. 

Visa's deal will allow players to earn the maximum amount, should they wish, through social media appearances that can help the athletes elevate their personal brands.

The National Women's Soccer League and its players union have separately announced a new collective bargaining agreement that will offer players higher pay and more say in which teams they play for. 

However, the higher salaries phase in over time and the appearance fee money, still available under the new deal, remains a much-needed way for players to increase their compensation.

Between the lines: The total dollar amounts involved may not sound like a ton of money — it's on the order of $15,000 or so per player, according to a source. But that's a pretty big deal for non-star players in the NWSL, some of whom make as little as $37,000 in salary. 

That's not enough to get by in the Bay Area, which has some of the highest housing costs in the nation.

The new deal between the league and its players will see minimum salaries rise to $48,500 in 2025 and eventually to $82,500 by 2030.

The big picture: Professional women's sports in the U.S. — especially soccer and basketball — have seen a surge of people wanting to invest their time and money.

Angel City, Los Angeles' NWSL franchise, was sold earlier this year to USC dean Willow Bay and her husband, Disney CEO Bob Iger, in a deal that valued the club at $250 million, a record for a women's sports team.

Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark has helped usher in a new wave of popularity for women's basketball, with a rise in games that sell-out and a trend of moving key matchups to larger arenas.

"I'm glad they're getting the exposure. They definitely deserve it. Now we just gotta get 'em similar contracts as what some of these NBA guys are making," former NBA star Shaquille O'Neil said last week.

Between the lines: The NWSL's new bargaining agreement is truly a landmark deal. Most notably, the league is eliminating the draft, allowing any player to sign with any team. 

While drafts are the norm in most U.S. pro sports, soccer's global nature mean that many players consider a range of leagues around the world and might opt to sign with a particular European team rather than take a chance on which NWSL team they might end up on. 

"That could be a new example for all the other leagues," Chastain said. "I feel that women's soccer has been that example. We have pushed the envelope. We have we have made people uncomfortable — for good reasons, in good ways." 

Yes, but: The gains for women's sports have been uneven. 

Bay FC defender Emily Menges told Axios that what makes the Visa deal exciting "is it gives everybody on the team an opportunity to use their platform and make some extra money."

"Some teams, you'll get the highest profile players, they're all over the social media," Menges said. "They're the ones who get the sponsorship deals. They're also the ones making the highest salaries. And so it kind of leaves everybody behind."

What's next: Visa and BayFC are working on a separate program that will help foster the professional women's soccer players of the future. 

Visa has a long history supporting women's soccer, notably having insisted in 2023 that at least half the proceeds from their renewed sponsorship of the U.S. national soccer teams go to the women's program.

It's about "making small steps that we can to address the systematic challenges that that female athletes have," says Mary Ann Reilly, Visa's chief marketing officer for North America.

Bay FC CEO Brady Stewart said it is all about building the world you want to see exist.

"We spend a lot of our time thinking about, how can we change the world by changing the business model of women's soccer?" she said. "And truly, I think we can change the world by changing the business model of women's soccer."

San Francisco

Women athletes aren't earning enough, even as fan interest surges

"We've come a long way, and we got a long way to go."