JohnWallStreet Female Front Office Forum

Adam and Caroline take ROAR on the road to the JohnWallStreet Female Front Office Forum in New York City for a short on-location episode. One theme kept coming up all day, and it doesn’t get enough attention: institutional capital, and why it sees women’s sports as such an attractive asset class.

Adam and Caroline unpack the debate over whether women’s sports fans are net-new fans or existing sports fans who haven’t been reached yet, and why either answer is an opportunity to monetize. They cover the sellout crowds and energy at games like the Washington Spirit, and the gap in merchandise designed for women. Then they turn to real estate: purpose-built stadiums and mixed-use districts, family-friendly programming as an anchor, and why women’s sports is a “doing well by doing good” case where returns and community benefit can go together.

This is the first in a new series of shorter ROAR episodes recorded on the ground at industry events. Tell us what you think!

→ Speakers at the forum, including former ROAR guest Jason Wright, kept coming back to institutional capital’s interest in women’s sports
→ The fan-overlap debate: net-new fans vs. sports fans who haven’t been tapped yet. Both can be true, and both are monetizable
→ Sellouts, attendance, viewership and merchandise sales show the demand, and so does energy in the building that’s hard to put a number on
→ Merchandise should be purpose-built for women: fit, design, and women designers behind it
→ Stadiums and mixed-use districts need large amounts of capital, which is where institutional investors come in
→ Family-friendly experiences in and around the venue appeal to mothers, fathers, and fans with daughters alike
→ Accessibility and the youth-to-pro pipeline

00:00 Live from the JohnWallStreet Female Front Office Forum

00:35 Why institutional capital sees women's sports as an asset class 01:15 The fan-overlap debate: net-new fans vs. untapped fans

02:25 Why both can be right, and what the data shows

03:20 Sellouts, energy, and the Washington Spirit

04:05 The women's merchandise gap

04:48 Purpose-built merch for women fans

06:05 Real estate, stadiums, and mixed-use districts

06:50 Gensler research: what fans want from districts

07:10 Family experiences as district anchors

08:15 Doing well by doing good

08:50 Accessibility, youth sports, and the LOVB model

09:34 The double bottom line, plus a new on-location format