The Business of Women's Sports: Cultivating Younger Fans

Wednesday, May 6 | 12:30 PM ET

The Business of Women's Sports

Cultivating Younger Fans

Women’s sports are increasingly resonating with younger audiences, from fans engaging through social platforms to first‑time fans arriving in record numbers for live events. At the same time, capturing — and retaining — those fans requires new approaches to content, community, and commercial strategy. This SBJ Live episode will examine how leagues, teams, media partners, and brands are rethinking fan development to build durable relationships with the next generation of women’s sports fans.

What We Will Discuss:

• How younger audiences are finding women’s sports across social, streaming, and short‑form platforms
• The role of athletes, creators, and direct‑to‑fan storytelling in shaping fandom
• Live experience strategies that convert casual interest into repeat attendance
• What younger fan behaviors mean for sponsorship, merchandise, and long‑term monetization

Who Should Attend:

• Women’s sports team and league executives
• Media, content, and distribution leaders
• Brand, marketing, and sponsorship professionals
• Agencies and strategists focused on women’s sports

Featured Speakers

Laura Correnti, an award-winning media executive with numerous Cannes Lions, Clios, Webbys, Media Plan of the Year honors, is known for ‘firsts.’ 

In December 2023, Laura founded Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, a firm dedicated to bringing more commercial investment and business opportunities to women's sports. The firm provides strategic consulting and agency services that support brand media investment, creative platform development, and partnership activations in the space, positioning women’s sports as an impactful component to brands’ overall marketing strategies. Under Laura’s leadership, Deep Blue has secured high-profile clients, such as Ally Financial, Bumble, GEICO, JCPenney, JPMorgan Chase, MassMutual, and USL Super League.  

In addition, Deep Blue is also working with the broader marketplace to create women's sports IP and new media models to scale visibility and access to women's sports stories, including launching the Women's Sports Audio Network in partnership with iHeartMedia and Deep Blue’s annual Business of Women’s Sports Summit, developed to connect business stakeholders across the advertising, media, and marketing communities, as well as policymakers and leaders in sports & business, to uncover insights and propose solutions to increase investment and develop infrastructure in the women's sports marketplace and adjacent industries. 

Before founding Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, Laura was the first partner of integrated advertising agency Giant Spoon and built its award-winning media practice. Correnti was named a Champion of Change (formerly Most Powerful Women in Sports) and a Media All-Star by Adweek, inducted into the AAF Hall of Achievement, and has led media across a variety of brands including GE, MassMutual, Synchrony Financial, Cole Haan, NY Mets, and more. 

Kat Marquez leads TikTok’s partnerships with North American sports leagues, including the NFL and WNBA. In her 5 years with the company, she has been instrumental in bringing major sports moments to life on the platform, such as the NFL Super Bowl and The Masters. A San Francisco Bay Area native, Kat is a proud alum of University of Southern California.

Jon Patricof is CEO and Co-Founder of Athletes Unlimited, a network of professional women’s softball, basketball and volleyball leagues featuring the world’s best professional athletes in those fast-growing sports. Athletes Unlimited stands out as an organization driven by the athletes that play in the leagues, with athlete representation on the company’s board of directors, each league led by a Player Executive Committee, and players sharing in long-term profits of the company. Athletes Unlimited is also the first professional sports league to be organized as a Public Benefit Corporation, was the first U.S. based pro sports league to be committed to carbon-neutrality, and has been proactive in shaping policies supporting the mothers that play in the league. Athletes Unlimited was named one of the Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, while Patricof and co-founder Jonathan Soros were awarded The Champion for Equality Award by the Women’s Sports Foundation. Prior to Athletes Unlimited, Patricof was President of Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club, co-owned by City Football Group and the New York Yankees, where he currently serves on the Board of Directors. Patricof also spent 11 years as President and COO of Tribeca Enterprises, the owner and operator of the Tribeca Film Festival and related business ventures. Jon received an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College where he was a member of the baseball team.

Jes Wolfe is the CEO and Chairwoman of Rebel Girls, and Co-founder, Chairwoman & Owner of LOVB San Francisco, the pro women’s indoor volleyball team coming to the Bay Area in January 2027.

Rebel Girls is a certified B Corporation and global empowerment brand dedicated to helping raise the most inspired and confident generation of girls. The multi-channel media brand has reached more than 48 million girls through content, experiences, products, and events. She launched Rebel Girls Sport in 2025 to celebrate women and girl athletes, spark lifelong fandom, and encourage girls to play and stay in sports.

The mission of League One Volleyball (LOVB) is to create better life outcomes for women through the sport of volleyball. The only league in the country with a youth-to-pro ecosystem, LOVB is the largest brand in youth volleyball and launched its pro league in January 2025, featuring some of the best players in the world.

Jes is an active angel investor and advisor to a number of startups - all of which include women on the founding team. She holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from University of California, Berkeley. She has appeared on MSNBC, Bloomberg and other media programs as well as engagements including Female Factor’s Global Leaders Summit, and YPO’s Global Business Summit amongst others. She is an avid skier, surfer, and passionate women’s sports fan.

Registration is free. All registrants will receive a recording of the webinar following the event.

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