In September 2025, Nicole Brachetti Peretti, the Founder of NJF Holdings, wrote an opinion piece for City A.M outlining how women’s sports leagues represent a new investment frontier following years of being dismissed as offering little or no financial return. The commercial gap between men and women’s sport is closing rapidly after experiencing an unprecedented level of commercial growth, with record breaking crowds and rising broadcast deals. However, despite growing revenues, women’s sport still represents less that 2% of the $75bn US sports market – presenting a significant growth opportunity for patient capital.
The Opportunity
Nicole highlights that younger audiences are viewing and engaging with sport differently, following athletes stories and personalities over what can be deemed traditional hierarchies. The audience foundation has been established with around 18% of US adults now following women’s sport, almost 3/4 of whom watch more than six leagues. Social media’s global reach also means that sponsors are seeking access to this fast-growing audience, with media coverage of women’s sport almost tripling since 2019.
The Innovation Advantage
Nicole outlines that Women’s sport has the distinct advantage of not being held back by legacy systems. This means that the sector can build from scratch, leveraging modern formats, flexible scheduling and consumer focused models including, dynamic ticket pricing, personalised content and direct-to-consumer subscriptions. There are examples of this across the globe, for example, in the 2023–24 season Italy’s women’s volleyball league (LVF) attracted 10.6m TV viewers – an 83 per cent rise in two years – with 215m digital video views and 517,000 in-venue spectators. Moreover, the NCAA women’s basketball’s interactive “Megacast” demonstrates the commercial potential when innovation meets audience demand.
The Investment Case
“The next decade”, Nicole writes, “will decide whether women’s leagues become mainstream global properties or remain underexploited.” She notes that the fundamentals favour growth but it is not a quick trade. Nicole calls for patient capital willing to invest in infrastructure, youth systems, coaching, and governance over years. Investors who move early and stay the course will help define the next era of global sport, and benefit substantially when women’s leagues become mainstream.