Cleveland Professional Soccer’s Post

More good news for #womenssports and #womenssoccer!

Engaging in sports during youth significantly shapes the future landscape of sports consumption, and the outlook for women's sports is especially promising—a noteworthy addition to the narrative. Aspen Institute Sports & Society's recent annual analysis focused on the trends influencing sports engagement among youth aged 6-17, revealing a compelling development in 2023: The dynamics of sports participation are shifting, with an uptick among girls and a decline among boys. In 2022, boys (40%) continued to engage in sports more consistently than girls (35%), based on national data from the SFIA - Sports & Fitness Industry Association. However, the intriguing shift is evident: a decade ago, half of boys regularly participated in sports, while the current participation rate for girls marks the highest since 2013. Additionally, Deloitte predicts that women’s elite sports will generate global revenues of US$1.28 billion in 2024. This is the first time that annual global revenues for women’s sport will have surpassed US$1 billion. Commercial revenue, which includes club sponsorships, partnerships, and merchandising sales, currently represents the largest share of total revenue (US$696 M, 55%). This is followed by broadcast (US$340 M, 27%), and matchday revenues (US$240 M, 18%). The two most valuable women’s sports are projected to be football (US$555 M, 43%) and basketball (US$354 M, 28%), while the largest geographical markets in 2024 are forecast to be North America (US$670 M, 52%) and Europe (US$181 M, 14%). Anticipating positive prospects for the future of women's sports in the US!

Check out how we are changing the game for girls! Building confidence on and off the field.

Who's your female role model in sport? What change would you like to see in the sports industry? 🤔   Just some of the questions we put to Serena Lloyd-Smith, Director of Impact and Inclusion at IMG for our recent Diversity Series spotlight.   A timely conversation to be having on #IWD2024.

Remember that flag football ad during the Super Bowl this year? Probably not. We read an article from AdWeek today about the impact that commercial, which we've linked to below, has had on flag football, and particularly that of women's, as a whole. While women's flag football has been around for a while, the ad showed just how developed the sport already is, which in turn, along with other initiatives, has increased high school girls' participation 31% over 2022 levels. Here's a link to the ad: https://lnkd.in/gaWn5F-J