Be that as it may, women’s sport will be the sector that will benefit most from growth in the near future as sport and media are severely disrupted by the shift to digital streaming and on-demand platforms.

This year’s miracle season for women’s sports, fueled by the excitement of the spring’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament, has set the stage for a new generation of stars and fans who are embracing female athletes and leagues like never before.

The advantages and disadvantages of cultural and technological changes in sport were discussed in detail during diversity and Sporticos Sports and Entertainment Summit presented by City National Bank. The July 12 gathering at the Beverly Hilton brought together key figures from sports, television, marketing and advertising for lively conversations about the future of live game broadcasting, attracting fans and building franchises. Highlights from two panel discussions – one on the rise of women’s sports, the other on the future of live game broadcasting – will be featured in this week’s episode of diversity Strictly Business Podcast.

“There’s a perception that the blueprint for men’s sports has already been set,” said Michelle Haines, vice president of marketing for the National Women’s Soccer League. “Even though you can attest to the data and the performance and the continued success and growth that we’re all seeing, that this is not only a great opportunity, but a bigger voice for a new, emerging company. And that there’s an opportunity to look at it from a different angle or with other partners that we have access to that can tell stories and create activities for both our fans and our players that wouldn’t make sense for men’s sports,” Haines said. “There’s an exciting new moment that you’re witnessing in real time, so to speak.”

Also participating in the discussion are Diana Flores, quarterback of the Mexican women’s flag football team and sports analyst; Nastia Liukin, five-time Olympic medalist and entrepreneur; Constance Schwartz-Morini, co-founder and CEO of SMAC Entertainment; and Ashlyn Watkins, member of the reigning NCAA women’s basketball champion team, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

The dynamics of women’s sports were also a topic of discussion about the state of the art of live game broadcasting. The conversation quickly turned to the need to balance the art of appealing to “the passionate fans” – the rabid fans who never miss a game – and “the casual fans.” As Burke Magnus, ESPN’s president of content, explained, the casual fans are the ones that the leagues and their TV partners focus on for the action.

“You win with casual fans,” Magnus told the crowd. “The fans will be there. It’s obviously a question of balance in your presentation, how you appeal to both groups. But the business boils down to casual fans – that’s the whole advantage, isn’t it?”

Magnus and others pointed to the momentum in women’s sports that has benefited established leagues, most notably the WNBA.

“What happens in the WNBA, where new superstars come into the league and we’ve seen their rise in women’s college basketball, it’s kind of a seamless transition,” Magnus said. “Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were in the Final Four and literally three weeks later they’re playing in the WNBA. There was almost no gap. And that was a huge opportunity. And they obviously got the crowd excited.”

Also participating in the discussion are Craig Barry, Executive VP and Chief Content Officer for TNT Sports;
Lori Conkling, global head of TV, film and sports partnerships at YouTube; David Eilenberg, head of content at Roku Media; Stacey Rosenson, head of U.S. sports marketing at Amazon Prime Video; and Shannon Willett, CMO of NBCUniversal’s Peacock.

“Strictly Business” is diversity‘s weekly podcast features conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes are released every Wednesday and are available to download on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud, and more.

(Pictured above: Constance Schwartz-Morini, Diana Flores, Nastia Liukin, Michelle Haines and Ashlyn Watkins)

Jack Dunn and Selena Kuznikov contributed to this report.