Women in sports: One step forward, three steps back

By Cassandra Ercoli, Assistant Sports Editor

There is no doubt that women’s sports have excelled in recent years. With professional women’s leagues expanding from year to year, and female collegiate athletes getting national recognition at the biggest stage, it is certainly fair to say that women’s sports are as strong as ever. However, while the athletes may be having their moment, women’s sports may be equally as fragile, as the global support of women in sports is not clear just yet. 

In the span of just three weeks, all the progress that has been made with women’s sports and women in the sporting industry has all but seemed to be irrelevant. Between the months of August and September, three companies managed to damage their reputation over two commercials: Novig, Good Good Golf and Callaway Golf. If either of their plans was to promote their product, they certainly left a lasting impression, but for all the wrong reasons. 

In late August, Good Good Golf partnered with the well-established Callaway Golf for the release of a co-branded driver. Naturally, to promote the brand, the two companies collaborated on a commercial, though what came to be was what neither side needed. 

The commercial included one of Good Good’s co-founders, Garrett Clark, shown charging at a female saying: “Do not touch my driver,” as the woman, who is dressed in proper golf attire attempts to grab the driver from the golf bag. In that moment, Clark is seen shoving the woman to the ground in a desperate act to “protect” the newly released driver. The commercial continues to allude to the fact that the driver changes its users into fanatic golfers.

Novig, an online prediction and trading market for sports, released another controversial ad in early September. In collaboration with Sydney Sweeney, who already has a controversial commercial under her belt with American Eagle in 2025, Novig produced a somewhat ominous commercial, with many consumers taking to social media to question what the product even is. 

With its catchphrase “Novig is just sports,” the ad portrays Sweeney nude in different types of athletic equipment, repeating “sports” at every new scene. It is clear that Novig had a very targeted market in mind, and to cut through the recently saturated sports betting industry, the company decided to cut through the market noise with provocative visuals to attract male sports bettors. 

Both ads come at a time when female athletes and women in sports have been making strides in the industry. The Women’s National Basketball Association reported an estimated $300 million in 2025, an increase of 60% from previous years. Similarly, the Professional Women’s Hockey League has also made increasing profits in the last year, including the announcement of the league’s first outside investment in June. The success of both these leagues is forthcoming, with two new franchises this season for the WNBA and the addition of four teams in the PWHL for its upcoming 2026-2027 season. 

In collegiate athletics, women’s sports are climbing new heights in national recognition and coverage, with volleyball, lacrosse and women’s basketball all surging in value. 

In last year’s women’s basketball March Madness, the tournament was valued at approximately $65 million a year under the current ESPN media rights contract. ESPN estimated that the women’s tournament averaged 1.3 million viewers across all 58 games, including the National Championship game peaking at 10.7 million viewers. 

In recent years, women’s volleyball has been known for its grandiose games and increased viewership come championship time. In 2023, the Nebraska Huskers women’s volleyball team hosted the Wisconsin Badgers at Memorial Stadium in Omaha, where the game broke the single-game attendance record with 92,003 fans. According to the Nebraska athletics website, the 92,000 benchmark was previously regarded as the world-record attendance for any women's sporting event. 

Just a few weekends ago, the Big Ten and Southeastern Conferences hosted a one-day double-header at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Though game two had to be cancelled due to moisture on the court, the event attracted just over 43,000 fans, proving that there really is a demand for women’s sports

Moreover, according to ESPN, the 2025 regular season viewership for women’s collegiate volleyball averaged 190,000 viewers, which is up 36% from 2024. The Championship match between Texas A&M and Kentucky averaged 1.4 million viewers (peaked at 1.7 million), which stands as the second-highest-watched championship battle behind the 2023 final between Texas and Nebraska, which peaked at 2.1 million viewers. 

Though it remains a niche sport compared to some mainstream sports like basketball, women’s lacrosse is also experiencing a surge in media and broadcasting exposure. The 2026 Championship Final between the sport’s two most dominant teams in recent years, Northwestern and the University of North Carolina, broke the 2022 viewership record with 470,000 average viewers, an increase of 83% from the previous year. This year’s tournament also saw a record in tournament-wide viewership with an average of 102,000 people tuning in. 

The founding of professional leagues in niche sports such as lacrosse and softball shows how prominent women’s sports have become since the turn of the century. However, with every step forward, the female athletes themselves, as well as female professionals in the industry, seem to always be taking three steps back. 

The problem with the Novig and Good Good commercials is not that women’s sports have not made meaningful strides, but that the conversation and position of women in sports have not changed. Despite the increased visibility, attention and investment, the idea of women and sports is still being argued. By using Sweeney’s physical characteristics as the center of the Novig commercial, the message about women in the sports industry is negative. It argues that their presence is merely a marketing tool to attract more males to sports betting or viewership, while the Good Good ad positions females as undesirable and unwanted in the landscape. 

On the leadership side of sports, according to United Nations Women, only 13% of coaching positions are held by women, while a 2026 survey identified that 32% of executive positions across international sports federations are occupied by a female. Leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Games, 85% of online abuse was targeted towards women, with another survey by the BBC revealing that over 30% of female athletes had experienced serious abuse online.

Perhaps the most notable indicator of inequality is the pay gap between female and male sports, though that could be its own article entirely. Even though the 2023 Women’s World Cup increased its earnings to $150 million, it is merely a slice of the men’s take-home prize of $440 million. In 2024, the average NBA player earned around 80 times more than the average WNBA player, who is taking home an average salary of $127,000 to the men’s $11 million.

While yes, neither of the ads was targeting women consumers, it undermines much of what millions of female athletes and professionals spend doing their entire lives. Even with countless hours in the weight room or studying for their sport management degree, they are ultimately limited to what they can do for male consumers - that is, attract engagement by selling their bodies. Gold medal? Athletic trainer? Owner? Does not matter - they are merely reduced to an object of desire. 

Despite all the hurdles, there is still a sentiment of fight from all the women who make professional sports possible. Tennis has become one of the leading sports to take action on the pay gap, offering equal prize money at all four major championships. Additionally, in response to the Novig and Good Good commercials, a community of support from female athletes and professionals has evolved across all social media platforms, fighting for proper recognition and perspective on their role in the industry. 

If there is a will, there is a way.