Women's elite sports revenues to surpass $2.35 billion globally, Deloitte reports, yet imbalances persist
Women's elite sports revenues are projected to reach a record $2.35 billion this year, according to Deloitte, more than triple the market size in 2022.
The consulting firm released its updated figures and projections for women's elite sports revenues across matchdays, broadcasts, and commercial deals this week, calling 2024 'a landmark year for women's sports, shattering expectations and exceeding Deloitte's initial projections.'
In the past year, major headlines included: women Olympians at the Paris Games generating over 50% of social media engagement despite their competitions being featured less than men, the WNBA securing a new broadcast deal amid record interest and viewership, NWSL players securing a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), and AC Milan becoming the first European soccer club to guarantee automatic contract renewals for players who become pregnant in the final year of their contract.
The underlying context of the report, though, was how disparities between sports, markets, and even within leagues persist.
Basketball and soccer are expected to remain the highest revenue-generating sports at 44% and 35%, respectively. While North America (59%) and Europe (18%) continue to top the list of global markets.
Even in one of those top earning sports, discrepancies remain. FIFA's annual Women's Football Benchmarking Report was also released this week and revealed the average women's soccer player makes $10,900 a year, but the number is skewed upwards by the 16 global clubs that paid an average salary of over $50,000. As a result, many of the world's women soccer players actually make far less than the $10,900 figure.
The implications go far beyond salary, too. Clubs that pay more than $5,000 were more likely to provide non-financial benefits – like health insurance, housing benefits, etc. – than those who do not.
Furthermore, clubs from FIFA-defined Tier 2 and 3 leagues – classified as 'aspiring' and 'emerging' leagues, respectively – were less likely to offer contracts a year or longer.
FIFA also found higher salaries were related to better performances on the pitch.
Deloitte Sports business group knowledge and insights lead Jennifer Haskel said while there have been positive signs in women's sport, there is still plenty more room for improvement.
'Women's sport is rewriting the playbook and challenging traditional norms to redefine the future of the industry. In 2025 and beyond, the challenge will be for the sports' industry, brand partners and investors to do things differently,' Haskel said in the report.
'Increasing strategic investment is more important than ever to drive a professional global landscape and create an engaging industry for generations to come.
'It is crucial for women's sport organisations to implement the right structures, develop a clear plan for investment, and define a long-term vision for their place within a rapidly evolving global industry.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Europe Builds AI Infrastructure With NVIDIA to Fuel Region's Next Industrial Transformation
Europe AI Infrastructure France, Italy and the United Kingdom Support Regional Technology and Cloud Providers Domyn, Mistral AI, Nebius and Nscale to Deploy More Than 3,000 Exaflops of NVIDIA Blackwell Systems for Sovereign AI NVIDIA to Build AI Factory in Germany to Accelerate Industrial Manufacturing Applications in Europe European Telcos Fastweb, Orange, Swisscom, Telefónica and Telenor Build AI Infrastructure With NVIDIA, Enabling Enterprises to Adopt and Build Agentic AI Applications European Enterprises, Startups and Public Sector to Harness Regional NVIDIA Infrastructure to Develop and Deploy Agentic and Physical AI NVIDIA Establishes AI Technology Centers Across Continent to Advance Research, Upskill Workforces and Accelerate Scientific Breakthroughs PARIS, June 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- —NVIDIA GTC Paris at VivaTech—NVIDIA today announced it is working with European nations, and technology and industry leaders, to build NVIDIA Blackwell AI infrastructure that will strengthen digital sovereignty, support economic growth and position the continent as a leader in the AI industrial revolution. France, Italy, Spain and the U.K. are among the nations building domestic AI infrastructure with an ecosystem of technology and cloud providers, including Domyn, Mistral AI, Nebius and Nscale, and telecommunications providers, including Orange, Swisscom, Telefónica and Telenor. These deployments will deliver more than 3,000 exaflops of NVIDIA Blackwell compute resources for sovereign AI, enabling European enterprises, startups and public sector organizations to securely develop, train and deploy agentic and physical AI applications. NVIDIA is establishing and expanding AI technology centers in Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and Finland. These centers build on NVIDIA's history of collaborating with academic institutions and industry through the NVIDIA AI Technology Center program and NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute to develop the AI workforce and scientific discovery throughout the regions. 'Every industrial revolution begins with infrastructure. AI is the essential infrastructure of our time, just as electricity and the internet once were,' said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. 'With bold leadership from Europe's governments and industries, AI will drive transformative innovation and prosperity for generations to come.' 'France is committed to investing in AI to strengthen our economy, benefit our citizens and uphold our values,' said Emmanuel Macron, president of the French Republic. 'By working closely with our nation's leading technology innovators and NVIDIA, we are equipping researchers, entrepreneurs and public institutions with the tools they need to explore new ideas, tackle complex challenges and help shape the future of AI for France.' 'Just as coal and electricity once defined our past, AI is defining our future,' said U.K. Tech Secretary Peter Kyle. 'NVIDIA's expansion of its technology center here in the U.K. will be vital in helping us to deliver on our AI ambitions, and their partnership in building the capabilities that will transform our AI Growth Zones into engines of opportunity. This is our Plan for Change in action, bringing together leading innovators to build the compute infrastructure that will drive growth across every region and secure the U.K.'s place as a global AI leader in the age of AI.' 'This agreement represents a strategic step toward strengthening Italy's technological sovereignty and ensuring that our businesses have secure and competitive access to data management,' said Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso. 'The collaboration with top-tier partners such as NVIDIA and Domyn confirms the government's commitment in supporting high-level alliances to foster innovation and the competitiveness of the national production system.' Building Europe's Foundation for AI Infrastructure and InnovationBuilding AI infrastructure requires strategic investment in advanced systems, land and facilities, sustainable energy access, skilled experts and partnerships. To accelerate the development of these national resources, NVIDIA is working with leaders across France, the U.K., Germany and Italy. In France, Mistral AI is working with NVIDIA to build an end-to-end cloud platform powered by 18,000 NVIDIA Grace Blackwell systems in the first phase, with plans to expand across multiple sites in 2026. This infrastructure will enable organizations across Europe to quickly develop and deploy AI using optimized Mistral AI models and validated AI factory designs, accelerating the adoption of agentic AI applications. In the U.K., NVIDIA is collaborating with NVIDIA Cloud Partners Nebius and Nscale to unlock advanced AI capabilities for enterprises and businesses of all sizes. At London Tech Week, the cloud providers announced the first phase of their AI infrastructure development plans to deploy 14,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to power new data centers, making scalable, secure AI infrastructure widely accessible across the U.K. In Germany, NVIDIA and its partners are building the world's first industrial AI cloud for European manufacturers. This AI factory will be powered by NVIDIA DGX™ B200 systems and NVIDIA RTX PRO™ Servers featuring 10,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to enable Europe's industrial leaders to accelerate every manufacturing application, from design, engineering and simulation to factory digital twins and robotics. In Italy, NVIDIA is working with Domyn and the government to advance the nation's sovereign AI capabilities. Domyn is developing its Domyn Large Colosseum reasoning model on its supercomputer, Colosseum, with NVIDIA Grace Blackwell Superchips, in alignment with its mission to support regulated industries in adopting AI. European Telcos Build AI Infrastructure With NVIDIA for Regional EnterprisesNVIDIA is also working with leading European telecommunications providers — including Orange, Fastweb, Swisscom, Telefónica and Telenor — to develop secure, scalable sovereign AI infrastructure across the region. Orange is accelerating the development of enterprise-grade AI, including agentic AI, large language models and personal AI assistants, using Orange Business' Cloud Avenue, built on high-performance NVIDIA infrastructure. Fastweb introduced MIIA — an Italian language model to support generative AI applications — trained and running on its NVIDIA DGX AI supercomputer. Telenor is expanding its sovereign AI infrastructure in Norway with a new, renewable-powered data center, in addition to hosting a partner's multilingual AI translation service, available in over 100 languages. Swisscom is launching new AI services, including GenAI Studio and AI Workhub hosted on its sovereign AI NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD™-based infrastructure, empowering Swiss enterprises to rapidly build and scale AI applications. Telefónica is piloting a distributed edge AI fabric across Spain with hundreds of NVIDIA GPUs to deliver low-latency, privacy-focused AI services. These collaborations enable enterprises to develop and deploy customized AI models and agentic applications at scale, tapping into telcos' extensive networks and trusted role as critical infrastructure providers. NVIDIA AI Technology Centers Fuel Research, Upskilling and Scientific ProgressNVIDIA is establishing and expanding technology centers in Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and Finland to accelerate AI skills development, research and infrastructure for the continent's enterprises and startups. The Bavarian AI center in Germany, intended to be established in collaboration with the Bayern KI consortium, will advance research in fields including digital medicine, stable diffusion AI and open-source robotics platforms to foster global collaboration. The Sweden AI center will advance world-class AI research with support from NVIDIA experts and hands-on NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute training to help with upskilling. The Italy AI center will expand to include new AI factory deployments with the CINECA consortium. The Spain AI center will expand to include a new AI factory with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. The U.K. AI center will accelerate the U.K.'s most groundbreaking research in embodied AI, materials science and Earth systems modeling. The Finland AI center enables researchers to accelerate AI research and applications for computer vision, machine learning and AI for science. These strategic initiatives across Europe build on NVIDIA investments in building AI infrastructure worldwide, including in Taiwan and the Middle East. Watch the NVIDIA GTC Paris keynote from Huang at VivaTech, and explore GTC Paris sessions. About NVIDIANVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing. For further information, contact: Corporate CommunicationsNVIDIA Corporationpress@ Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: with bold leadership from Europe's governments and industries, AI driving transformative innovation and prosperity for generations to come; technology development in European nations; the benefits, impact, performance, and availability of NVIDIA's products, services, and technologies; expectations with respect to NVIDIA's third party arrangements, including with its collaborators and partners; expectations with respect to technology developments; and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are subject to the 'safe harbor' created by those sections based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic and political conditions; NVIDIA's reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test NVIDIA's products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to NVIDIA's existing product and technologies; market acceptance of NVIDIA's products or NVIDIA's partners' products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of NVIDIA's products or technologies when integrated into systems; and changes in applicable laws and regulations, as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company's website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, DGX, NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD and NVIDIA RTX PRO are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sciortino: Proxima Fusion Is Like a European Treasure
It's time for the German government to go big on nuclear fusion, says Francesco Sciortino, CEO of Proxima Fusion. The German nuclear fusion energy startup has just raised 130 million as it seeks to build a demonstration version of its pioneering fusion power plant by 2031. "The company should feel like a European treasure," says Sciortino. He spoke to Bloomberg's Tom Mackenzie on "Daybreak: Europe." Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
26 minutes ago
- Forbes
From Sports Bars To Big Deals, Women Athletes Are Winning—Yet Pay Gaps Persist
The WNBA's New York Liberty was recently estimated to be valued at $450 million. Summer 2025 is signaling a remarkable wave of milestones in women's sports. After a strong-performing 2024 that saw equal representation between women and men at the Olympics for the first time in history as well as standout college stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese making their much-anticipated WNBA debuts, women athletes have only continued to build on their momentum. In fact, this year, the growth potential for women athletes is expected to be even more impressive. According to reporting from Axios, there are now eleven women's sports bars across the U.S., a significant feat considering there was only one just three years ago. More locations may be on the horizon, as The Sports Bra, the world's first sports bar dedicated exclusively to women's sports, plans to expand into four more U.S. cities. In addition to being a popular place to watch women's games, many women's sports bars have developed into robust community hubs that welcome sports fans from all backgrounds. ROSEMONT, ILLINOIS - SEPTEMBER 28: Haylie McCleney #28 of Team Piancastelli hits a home run in the ... More sixth inning against Team Ocasio during the final weekend of the Athletes Unlimited softball league at Parkway Bank Sports Complex on September 28, 2020 in Rosemont, Illinois. (Photo by) MLB also recently announced in a press release plans to invest in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL). MLB commissioner Robert D. Manfred called the investment 'an opportunity to support softball's long-term growth and expand our engagement with these outstanding athletes and their fans.' This marks MLB's first-ever partnership with a women's professional sports league and is expected to accelerate the AUSL's growth by helping cover operational costs and broadcasting AUSL games on MLB Network. And just last month, sources told The Athletic that the WNBA's New York Liberty was estimated to be valued at $450 million, a record-valuation in women's sports and well over double its estimated valuation just a year ago. Only a few days prior, Chelsea FC Women announced that Alex Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and husband of Serena Williams, bought a minority stake in the club at a price that would value the team at $326 million. In an interview with the BBC, Ohanian stated that the treble-winning club will one day be a 'billion-dollar franchise' (Chelsea FC Women is fresh off an undefeated season in the Women's Super League, won the Women's League Cup earlier this year, and recently lifted the FA Cup trophy after a 3-0 victory against Manchester United). Women are also excelling on the international sports stage. In March, Kirsty Coventry was elected as the first woman president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and FIFA just confirmed the expansion of the Women's World Cup from 32 to 48 teams for 2031. These achievements only scratch the surface of the many ways women's sports are poised to thrive in summer 2025. It's no surprise, then, that Deloitte has projected the global value of women's sports to exceed $2 billion this year. However, unlocking this industry's full potential will require addressing significant gaps in pay equity. Despite countless strides forward, women athletes remain severely underpaid, often requiring them to take on outside jobs that limit their time to train and focus on their sport. In its report titled, 'Beyond the Game: Exposing the Economic Realities of Professional Women Athletes,' sports marketing and sponsorship platform Parity found that over half of women athletes earn no net income after accounting for sports-related costs, and 74% hold other jobs in addition to having intense training schedules. Gender pay disparities even exist among the highest-paid athletes. Forbes reports that Coco Gauff, the highest-paid woman athlete, falls nearly $20 million short of making its list of the 50 highest-paid athletes for 2025 (a list currently composed entirely of men). From local women's sports bars to growth on the global stage, the appetite for women's sports is clear. Unfortunately, much like when this author covered the business wins of women's sports in 2024, to meet that demand and achieve true pay equity requires increased investment, brand partnerships, and media engagement. Men's professional sports have had a century-and-a-half-long head start, so naturally, women's sports have a lot of catching up to do, and while each step forward matters, slowing down isn't an option. To reach the full potential of women's sports, we'll have to pick up the pace. The good news is, progress is continuing to be made. In addition to the MLB's investment in the AUSL, others are seizing the opportunity to invest in women's sports and are cashing in. New ventures, like Ariel Investments' Project Level, are being created specifically to fund women's sports initiatives. Brands are also beginning to forge partnerships with men's and women's leagues, such as Airbnb's partnership with both the men's and women's Tour de France for the next three years. And CBS Sports recently announced that it has acquired the rights to the UEFA Women's Champions League, with all matches for this year's season streaming on Paramount+. With rising investment, growing fan enthusiasm, and heightened global visibility, the foundation is being laid for a future where women are fully supported both on and off the field. Still, empowering women athletes to reach their full potential depends on closing persistent gaps in pay, media coverage and funding. If this summer is any indication, the world is ready not just to celebrate women's sports, but to take the next step to ensure women athletes receive the level of recognition, resources, and compensation they have earned.
