Voiceover (00:00):

Welcome to the Taylor 10. A fast-paced, 10 minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead.

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Shan'T-Erica (00:17):

Hello, I'm Shan’T-Erica, and welcome to the Taylor Tin. I'm here with Xavier Hunter from Sports Business Journal to learn as much as I can about the shifting dynamics in women's sports in only 10 minutes. Xavier, thank you for joining me today. I know we've worked together for the past year on sports news and I've continued to follow your coverage in the women's sports space from women's basketball on a collegiate level to your content on A’ja Wilson’s exclusive early launch of her A’One Shoes, and you even dived into League One Volleyball, the NWSL space, and the list continues. So I really wanted your perspective here today, not just on the overall momentum in women's sports, but on what feels like one of the most pivotal moments everyone's watching closely, which is how the WNBA's negotiations could possibly reshape the future of women's sports.

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Shan'T-Erica (01:11):

So let's jump right in and set the scene. The WNBA season is quickly approaching, Unrivaled, just wrapped its inaugural season — to wide acclaim, might I add? And brand interest and investment in women's sports is booming right now, but it also feels like the stakes for the leads are just as high after Unrivaled’s first season. Its co-founder Napheesa Collier recently said she believes the league's growth can raise the ecosystem of not only women's basketball but women's sports in general. So I want to pick your brain here from your seat covering the industry and front office investments, is now the right time for brands to bet big on women athletes in leagues? And if so, what are some of the brands you think are actually getting it right in this space? Not just showing up, but showing up well.

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Xavier (02:02):

Yeah, so I would say first off, thank you Shan'T-Erica for having me here. It is always an honor and a pleasure. And just to answer your question, I would say now is the perfect time to invest with women’s sports. The time for brands is right now because I would say if you wait a year or two from now, you're a year or two too late. Definitely there are a lot of brands that are making a remark within the women's sports space. I definitely say Ally with their presence within both the WNBA and the NWSL. Also, Gainbridge for what they're doing with Caitlyn Clark and Indiana Fever. And I'd definitely say Sephora, I feel like that was just a give me with their partnership with Unrivaled, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Sephora tap into the other leagues as well.

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Shan'T-Erica  (02:41):

That's interesting. I love the brands that you mentioned because I forgot about Sephora and Unrivaled. That was actually pretty major. It was kind of under the radar for a lot of people, but that was major to me. And also Skims. Yeah, there's a lot of really big brands under some really big names, making really big investments. And speaking of investments, now I want to shift to the players themselves. So you have the Women's Basketball Players Association. They submitted a new proposal asking for higher pay, better retirement benefits, charter flights, and better practice conditions. At the same time though, we're seeing leads like Unrivaled offering salaries that outpace WNBA base pay, and that's seemingly starting to impact decisions at the college level where we've seen stars like Flau'Jae Johnson opt to stay in school instead of heading to the draft. Now, when you put all that alongside Napheesa’s assertion that everyone is benefiting from women's sports except the women playing, how do you see these dynamics shaping the future of this space?

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Xavier (03:52):

I would say right now what's going on with the CBA talks is definitely going to shape the league for the next 10 to 25 years and beyond right now. And the players, they're rightfully so in their argument where we want to have better facilities, we want to have higher pay wages because of the tension that we're getting. And I would say this is not just an issue within the WNBA, but just women's sports overall right now. And you're seeing these entities like the WNBA to NWSL, they're trying to implement ways. You see, for example, WNBA Portland and Portland Thorns, they are working together for a dedicated practice for both of their teams together. You're seeing more WNBA teams building out the practice facilities because they're losing players to teams that actually have facilities in place. So right now, everyone knows what they have to do. It's just now making sure they have the right investors and the right paperwork to make sure we have the things to get done here because it's only going to uplift the league overall once these things are in place and when the players are happy, they're going to play more, they're going to play better, and it's also going to drive the fans to come see them play.

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Shan'T-Erica (04:55):

And another thing, so we know Paige Becker's recently had a speech where she highlighted the importance of amplifying black athletes and coverage. And across the board we're seeing more women, especially women of color taking up space in sports media too. In your opinion, how are outlets and publications, how are they balancing the rise of women's sports with the responsibility to tell these stories the right way?

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Xavier (05:24):

I would say shout out to the big three over at ESPN because they're doing a tremendous job in highlighting these women athletes and showcasing their stories. You're seeing their backgrounds, you're seeing their elements, what makes them, but also they're talking about their game. They're comparing their styles to other players in a way to where, “Hey, I see a little bit of Diana Taurasi in this player. I see a little bit of A'ja Wilson in this player,” but you're not comparing them to, “oh, is this player better than them or can they play in this era?” And I feel like just treating them like athletes and treating them fairly in terms of just talking about the game overall, because that's all we're here for, it's only going to make everything better.

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Shan'T-Erica (06:00):

Just hearing you say that, it brought another question to mind, and it's basically the conversation about how with Caitlyn Clark coming into the league, basically coverage around women's sports and the WNBA, it just kind of skyrocketed. Do you believe that, I know you're a huge fan of women's sports way before the big boom, as some say. How did you see the media landscape shift when it came to women's sports?

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Xavier (06:29):

I would say it started shifting, at least to me, around 2020 where the WNBA was making headlines during the protests during that year and just the things that were going on. And then that just evolved over time to where people were diving into what's going on with the league themselves. Why is this happening? Why is this not happening? And then it just grew into what the players are doing overall now at this point where you're having Caitlin Clark coming in and the attention she has, I think it's both healthy and unhealthy, and we saw a lot of the unhealthy sides from it last season, but also we saw the great benefits of that. I think now with one year under our belt, the best way to move forward is to spread the wealth now because you saw the drop balls in viewership within the college basketball space.

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Xavier (07:14):

Now that Caitlyn's not there, but the media outlets, they have responsibility to pick up the stars that are there. Talk about Paige Bueckers, talk about JuJu Watkins, talk about Flau'jae Johnson, talk about Hannah Hidalgo just as much as you were talking about Caitlin Clark now, because they're just as good and possibly even better just speaking from a basketball standpoint. So I think continuing to spread the wealth across the board is going to make everyone better. It's going to make everything greater, and you're going to have more healthier conversations about basketball rather than just hot takes and just making headlines.

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Shan'T-Erica (07:46):

Any on court trends that you see happening in the WNBA or any storylines that you see happening in women's sports in general, that fans should be paying closer attention to this season and beyond

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Xavier (08:00):

Paying attention to how different teams are shifting their venues for certain games right now, there's about six teams that are changing their locations for when they play the Indiana Fever. And again, that speaks to the popularity and the hypes surrounding Caitlin Clark, which is absolutely amazing because you want to fill out these NHL arenas, the NBA arenas, these larger collegiate spaces because you want as much as possible, find ways to continue to do that for when you're not playing the Indiana Fever. I want to see the ACEs and the Liberty sell out an NBA arena. I know TheLiberty will play at Barclays, but what are some other spots you can sell out at? I think having the fandom spread out is going to increase. The attendance overall is going to increase the awareness and the attention throughout the league, and it is only going to make everything greater because as different cities and different markets are looking to get into the WNBA, they can use their venues as proof to say, “Hey, we have, for example Oracle Arena. We have Oracle here. Let's use Oracle for our arena, for our WAB team.” Let's use the Wells Fargo Center. If Philly gets a team for our arena, people want to see these players play, and we want to max out these seats and sell these tickets.

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Shan'T-Erica (09:09):

Why do you love women's sports and sports in general?

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Xavier (09:12):

I love women's sports because like you just said, it is sports in general. And I grew up watching sports across the entire board, whether it was soccer, football, basketball, baseball, et cetera. And I grew up watching the stars. I grew up watching me and him. I grew up watching Mia Hamm, Serena Williams, Candace Parker, Diana Taurasii, Maya Moore, and just that was just part of the fandom. I loved them just as much as watching Kobe, LeBron, KD, Steph, and everyone. And I want to continue to showcase my love and showcase my passion for women's sports because right now it's growing so much and you're seeing so many more stars come out of it from Sha'Carri Richardson and track from Simone Biles, and they're superstars in their own right, and I want to continue to shed their spotlight on them.

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Shan'T-Erica (09:54):

I do want to thank you for joining us today on Taylor 10. This was a great conversation. We'll see you next time.

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