Investing in Sports: Women’s Sports and the Future

When Willow Bay considered investing in a women's soccer team earlier this year, the decision was easy to make. From

serious to purchase was like a blink of an eye.

The team in question was the Los Angeles club of the National Women's Soccer League or NWSL, Angel City FC. As a longtime LA resident, Bey and her family had followed the team since it was formed in 2020. Bey is dean of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School For Communication and Journalism and had even taken students from her sports media industries class to see Angel City play. We

were such fans and friends of the team and kind of understood them and understood this moment.

This moment being the groundswell of enthusiasm for women's sports across college and professional leagues, record attendance at live matches, unprecedented viewership for televised games, and more capital flowing into media rights, corporate sponsorships, and brand endorsements.

There have been other movements in women's sports, certainly, but I'm not sure we've seen the audience excitement, the audience demand driving this across so many sports, across so many communities, and across so many cultures.

This is investing in sports, a 4 part series from the Goldman Sachs Exchanges podcast about the changing dynamics at the intersection of sports and finance. I'm Nicole Polan Ross. I lead the private wealth management business for the New York region at Goldman Sachs, and I also head our sports and entertainment offering for Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management. In our final episode, we're covering the business forces driving growth in women's sports and what all of it means for investors. Later in the show, I'll be speaking with Willow Bay about becoming the controlling owner of a team with

you for having me. So

let's set the scene a little bit. I recently attended a New York Liberty game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Not sure the last time you were there, but it was filled. I'm not sure if everyone there came to see their mascot, Ellie, the elephant, who is something to see, But it really underscored what is happening in women's sports, and something big is happening. The crowd really was not that different than a Nets game in Brooklyn. It was really diverse. There were probably a few more women and girls, but it was pretty extraordinary. To what do you attribute the current momentum we're seei