As the WNBA’s stratospheric ascent continues—the 2024 regular season saw record viewership and its highest game attendance in 22 years—sponsorships in the league are also expanding at lightning speed. Let’s take a closer look at the dynamic partnership landscape in this red-hot arena of women’s pro sports. 

The league averaged 42 sponsorship deals per team thus far in 2024, which is an 8% increase YoY and 43% rise since 2022. This growth propels the WNBA past other women’s pro leagues: the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) averaged 35 deals per team this year (a 22% increase YoY), while Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournaments average 20 partnerships per event (a 4% decline since 2023).

The Indiana Fever and Washington Mystics emerged as partnership powerhouses this season with 65 sponsorships each—reflecting dazzling YoY growth of 71% and 51%, respectively. The Chicago Sky follows closely with 59 deals, a 23% increase YoY.

WNBA sponsors totaled 460 brands this year, with 155 brands (34%) new to the league from 27 different categories. With 14 new deals, media brands led this influx. Beverage brands have also expanded their partnership footprint, with Casamigos Tequila (3 deals), Dark Horse Wine (2 deals), and Modelo Especial (1 deal) adding sponsorships in 2024.

American Dairy Association NE, Bumble, Planet Fitness, Protiviti, Raising Cane's, and Snapchat entered into multiple team partnerships in 2024, and cosmetics and skin care sponsorships increased a staggering 70%. Meanwhile, QSR brands doubled their presence—from 9 sponsorships in 2023 to 18 in 2024—and Subway sponsored the WNBA Canada Game last March. Healthy fast food chains like Rush Bowls and Crisp & Green have also inked team deals, partnering with the Indiana Fever and Minnesota Lynx, respectively. The diversity of brands and categories showcase the WNBA’s broadening appeal across industries.

Social media has been a key driver of the WNBA’s burgeoning visibility and fan engagement, with a league-wide average social following increase of 71% this year. Teams are thriving on social media: the Indiana Fever leads the charge with astonishing growth of 356% YoY (driven by rising superstar Caitlin Clark), the Chicago Sky follows with 151% (thanks in large part to Angel Reece), and the Las Vegas Aces—the defending back-to-back league champions—grew the team’s social following by 110%.

WNBA teams average a total following of 770K—more than twice the NWSL's 350K average per team. Notably, WNBA teams’ social media presence eclipses those of its individual athletes, with a median of 602K followers per team versus athletes' median of 88K.

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