Raising the Game: the business and history behind women's sports
Raising the Game is a weekly women's sports podcast hosted by Caitlin Tripp and Alex Tripp. Some of our most-shared episodes have nothing to do with that week's scores. We've traced women's sports revenue past $3 billion, told the stories of the pioneers who built the leagues we cover every week, and dug into the broadcast and valuation decisions most recap shows skip entirely.
Deep dives whenever the story calls for one.
Watch the latest episode
What our business and history coverage actually includes
These are usually our least news-driven, most researched episodes. We've built full segments around Deloitte's annual industry report, traced the decades-long arc from Title IX to today's broadcast deals, and told the biographies of the athletes who forced the industry to take women's sports seriously in the first place.
We try to connect the numbers to the people behind them. A revenue projection means more once you understand the activism and infrastructure fights that built the pipeline generating that revenue — and the trailblazers we cover in "The Door" land differently once you've heard what the industry they built is now actually worth.
Who's behind this coverage
Caitlin Tripp
A senior chief of staff overseeing a $100 million book of business, with years of financial data analysis behind her. Before the corporate world she earned a kinesiology degree at Wisconsin and a master's at Minnesota, coached girls club soccer, and was an all-state high school goalkeeper. She reads women's sports the way she reads an organization: the athleticism was never the question, the investment and infrastructure around it are.
Alex Tripp
A technical program manager at a consulting startup who came to women's sports as an adult. He's the one asking how the systems actually work, from CBA revenue-sharing math to roster construction, and he pulls the data for our deep dives (and built this site).
How we source: revenue, viewership and valuation figures on this page and in our recaps come from the primary report or the outlet that published them, and we link to it. When we're giving an opinion, we say so. Spot an error? Here's how we handle corrections.
The $3 billion moment: what's actually driving the growth
We built a full episode around Deloitte's Game Changers report, which projects global women's sports revenue will exceed $3 billion in 2026. We broke down where that number actually comes from: commercial revenue climbing from $1.1 billion to a projected $1.4 billion (with sponsorships growing 12% year over year, nearly 50% faster than men's pro leagues), matchday revenue rising from $748 million to $911 million, and broadcast revenue projected to grow from $551 million to $765 million. The stat that stuck with us most: WNBA Changemaker sponsorship partners averaged a 286% return on investment, with one partner turning a $5 million investment into $18 million.
How women's sports got here: the real history
We also did a full historical walkthrough connecting the moments that built today's industry: Title IX in 1972 building the college pipeline, Billie Jean King founding the WTA, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics that launched the WNBA a year later, and the 1999 World Cup final that drew 90,000-plus fans and Brandi Chastain's iconic celebration. We covered the accelerants too — the 2020 "Wubble," where WNBA players used an empty-arena season to platform activism after George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis; the 2021 NCAA tournament photos that exposed a massive equipment gap between the men's and women's weight rooms and forced real structural change; and the Yates Report's reckoning with abuse in the NWSL. Every one of those moments connects directly to a league we cover every week now.
Broadcast deals and the valuation gap
We covered ESPN's decision to replace Sunday Night Baseball with a new "Women's Sports Sundays" programming block spotlighting the WNBA and NWSL — a signal, in the network's own words, that isn't "an experiment." We also flagged a stat that undersells how far women's college basketball has come: LSU, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Iowa were all outselling their men's programs on the secondary ticket market, with LSU women's tickets averaging $77 to the men's $16.
On the labor side, we covered the disconnect at the center of the 2026 WNBA CBA fight: the league telling investors that new franchises cost a quarter of a billion dollars — Sportico valued the Golden State Valkyries at $500 million and the New York Liberty at $420 million — while telling players there wasn't enough money to share. That gap between what the league says its business is worth and what it says it can afford to pay players was one of the more pointed business stories we covered all year.
The audience numbers keep backing the investment up. Nielsen found Americans watched 28.6 billion minutes of women's sports in the first half of 2026, up 18% year over year, and we dug into what that means for the facility boom in Episode 34.
"The Door": the trailblazers who built this
Our two-part series traces the athletes who forced women's sports into existence in the first place. Part one covers Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudolph, Patsy Mink, Billie Jean King, and Donna Lopiano. Part two picks up with Ann Meyers Drysdale and Lisa Leslie, then connects the thread to more recent figures like Megan Rapinoe, Simone Biles, and Caitlin Clark. No news roundup in either episode — just the stories behind the door every current player walked through.
Explore The Door series page for all eleven women and both episodes.
Guests on the history beat
Jeff Goldberg (Episode 36)
Covered UConn women's basketball for the Hartford Courant from 2001 to 2006 and wrote two books on the program: Bird at the Buzzer (2011), about the 2001 Big East final, and Unrivaled: UConn, Tennessee, and the Twelve Years that Transcended Women's Basketball (2015). Both became source material for Apple TV's The Dynasty: UConn Huskies. We talked about why women's basketball has been too busy fighting for its future to preserve its past.
Start with these episodes
Five entry points, depending on what you're most interested in:
The $3 billion moment (Episode 15)
Our deep dive on the Deloitte Game Changers report, plus a full historical walkthrough of how women's sports got to this point.
The Door, part one (Episode 13)
Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudolph, Patsy Mink, Billie Jean King, and Donna Lopiano. No news roundup, just the stories behind the door every current player walked through.
The Door, part two (Episode 26)
Ann Meyers Drysdale, Lisa Leslie, and a thread that runs through Megan Rapinoe, Simone Biles, and Caitlin Clark.
ESPN's Women's Sports Sundays and the valuation disconnect (Episode 8)
A new broadcast block replacing Sunday Night Baseball, LSU outselling its men's program on tickets, and the WNBA's franchise valuation numbers landing right in the middle of a labor fight.
Marketing women's sports and the fluid fan (Episode 24)
Why women's sports fans behave differently from what the industry expects, and why the category still gets only about 15% of TV sports coverage despite the growth.
Never Miss an Episode
Subscribe to Raising the Game wherever you listen.
If you'd rather read, the blog has written recaps of every show, including the episodes above.
Latest business & history episodes
Episode 40 - The College Sports Bill's Title IX Loophole, Angel Reese's DPOY, WNBA Semis
The Protect College Sports Act cleared the Senate with a Title IX workaround buried in its language, Angel Reese won Defensive Player of the Year, and the WNBA semifinals delivered the best basketball of the season.
Episode 38 - WNBA Seeding Chaos, Records Falling, and a Report the NWSL Can't Wave Off
The WNBA regular season ends with five teams fighting over four seeds, records fall everywhere, and a Defector report on how the NWSL handles misconduct.
Episode 35 - We Did the Me-Bounds Math, and the NWSL Playoff Line Keeps Moving
We ran the numbers on the Angel Reese me-bounds argument, walked through a WNBA playoff field that's set but not seeded, and five NWSL teams chasing one spot.
Episode 34 - The Facility Boom, the Playoff Logjam, and Getting the Clowns Out
About $240 million in NWSL training facilities, a four-team scrap for the last NWSL playoff spots, our WNBA bracket picks, and the men disrupting W games.
Episode 32 - Women's Pro Baseball Is Back After 70 Years, Plus the Playoff Races Get Real
A history lesson on women's professional baseball from 1866 to the WPBL's first pitch, plus a look at who grabs the last two playoff spots in the NWSL and WNBA.
Episode 31 - FIFA's $20 Billion World Cup Plan Collapses in Three Days
FIFA's $20 billion plan to sell a stake in the World Cup died in three days. Plus WAFCON's visibility problem, the WNBA trade deadline, and Lynx vs. Fever.
Episode 30 - Record Crowds and a Messy All-Star Game, Plus the Fight Over Title IX
WNBA All-Star Weekend set an attendance record, then a game nobody wanted to defend. Plus the Heritage Foundation's Title IX report and what the numbers say.
Episode 28 - Is It Still Fair to Assume the USWNT Wins? Pay-to-Play, Global Parity, and a WNBA Roundup
Is it still fair to assume the USWNT wins? Pay-to-play, global parity, NWSL parity, and a full WNBA roundup.
More business & history episodes
- The Door Part Two: Ann Meyers Drysdale, Lisa Leslie, and the Doors They Kicked Open
- Episode 24 - Marketing Women's Sports and the New Fan Economy
- Episode 22 - Dense Week: Transfers, Transparency, and the Fever's Cracks
- Episode 15 - The $3 Billion Moment: Women's Sports Is No Longer a Bet, It's a Buy
- Episode 13 - The Door, Part 1: Pioneers of Women's Sports
- Episode 10: NWSL Season Preview, She Believes Cup, and a Whole Lot of Soccer
- Episode 8 Recap: USA Olympic Hockey Gold, She Believes Cup Roster & WNBA CBA Drama
- Episode 3 Recap: NWSL "Rodman Rule," WNBA Moratorium & 2026 Winter Olympics Preview
Frequently asked questions
Is there a podcast dedicated to the business of women's sports?
Raising the Game isn't exclusively a business podcast — we're primarily a weekly recap show covering the WNBA, NWSL, PWHL, and more — but we treat the business and history of the industry as seriously as the games. Our deepest episodes cover valuations, broadcast deals, and the trailblazers who built the sport we cover today.
Do you cover industry revenue and valuations?
Yes. We dug into Deloitte's Game Changers report projecting women's sports revenue would top $3 billion in 2026, broken down by commercial, matchday, and broadcast revenue, and we've covered specific WNBA franchise valuations — like the Golden State Valkyries at half a billion dollars — in the context of CBA negotiations.
Do you cover the history of women's sports?
In depth. Our two-part series 'The Door' told the stories of pioneers like Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudolph, Patsy Mink, Billie Jean King, and Donna Lopiano, then connected them to modern trailblazers like Ann Meyers Drysdale and Lisa Leslie. We've also traced the industry's more recent history, from Title IX through the 2020 'Wubble' and the 2021 NCAA weight room scandal that exposed real inequity on camera.
Do you cover broadcast deals and media coverage?
Yes. We covered ESPN's decision to replace Sunday Night Baseball with a new Women's Sports Sundays programming block, and data points like LSU women's basketball tickets outselling the men's program on the secondary market, $77 to $16.
How often do new business and history episodes come out?
These are usually our deepest, least news-driven episodes, so they come out periodically rather than every week — but when we do one, we go all the way in.
Where can I listen to your business and history episodes?
Full video episodes are on YouTube. Audio is on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and every major podcast app. Every episode also gets a written recap on our blog.
What makes your business and history coverage different?
We connect the numbers to the people. A revenue projection means more once you know it's built on the same activism and infrastructure fights we cover in our history episodes — and the trailblazers we cover in 'The Door' feel more relevant once you've heard the valuation numbers those same fights eventually produced.
How do I suggest a business or history topic?
Email us at raisingthegamepod@gmail.com or reach out on Instagram. 'The Door' series started as exactly this kind of listener conversation.