• 50 years of historic parity created a critical mass of athletes and leadership. The enactment of title IX in 1972 drove a wave of investment in training, scholarships and facilities for female athletes-over time this developed a pipeline of talent, fans and key institutional advocates.

• Women’s league attendance has been surging in recent years. Established and emerging professional women’s leagues have seen significant attendance gains since the pandemic – from 2022-2025, women’s leagues have generated four consecutive years of record attendance.

• Rising commercialization of women’s leagues is driving real estate demand. Since 2020, professional women’s sports organizations have secured over 1 million s.f. of dedicated practice facilities, and dedicated stadiums have begun to emerge for some teams.

• Supportive real estate demand will grow as leagues continue to expand. Attendance levels are expected to double in the next five to ten years as leagues continue to expand and improve marketing efforts. By 2030, dedicated front offices and practice facilities will be commonplace for women’s sports organizations and more teams will pursue development of dedicated venues.

The current surge in commercialization of women’s professional sports leagues would not have been possible without the historic equity established in 1972 with the passage of Title IX. The new legislation drove a wave of new investment in women’s sports programs, facilities, equipment and scholarships. Over multiple generations, this produced an increasing volume of highly skilled athletes and former athletes who would go on to fill coaching positions, establish youth programs or become ambassadors for the growth of women’s sports from a media or financial standpoint. The critical mass of athletes and supportive professionals today enables professional women’s leagues to generate millions of annual attendees across multiple leagues. 

Private equity momentum and celebrity brand-building have also been key contributors to the recent momentum. Institutional capital sources have increasingly recognized the growth potential of women’s leagues and have injected capital in multiple franchises to fund growth strategies. The New York Liberty of the WNBA recently sold a minority interest at a $450 million valuation, with proceeds funding a new dedicated practice facility. Celebrity investors and advocates have also been important in driving cultural adoption of women’s leagues, with female celebrities and former athletes using their platform or financial resources to build credibility for emerging organizations. The Angel City FC of the NWSL was originally founded by a group including Natalie Portman, Serena Williams and Billie Jean King, and later sold for a record valuation in 2024.

Since 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak drove many professional sports leagues to significantly or entirely eliminate spectators in efforts to mitigate the pandemic, the experiential economy has recovered quickly. From 2023 onwards, professional sports attendance has returned to 2019 levels and is now beginning to exceed those benchmarks in the last two years. But while most leagues have nearly returned or are just marginally exceeding pre-pandemic attendance, women’s leagues have been the primary engine for that growth. The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWSL) collectively generated 2.1 million spectators in 2019. In 2022 that grew to 2.3 million, in 2023 it reached 3.0 million, 5.0 million in 2024 and 5.6 million attendance in 2025 – accounting for all net growth in professional sports attendance since 2020.

Attendance numbers give the most accurate look at demand momentum for professional leagues and correlate strongly with other revenue streams including television viewership and merchandise sales. Viewership for WNBA games in the 2025 season was up 6% year-over-year for games broadcast on ESPN/ABC^SOURCE, and some reports have shown a 500-1000% year-over-year increase in overall league merchandising^SOURCE. The PWHL similarly reported a 100% increase in merchandise sales between its first and second season^SOURCE. Franchise valuations in the WNBA grew by ~180% in 2025^SOURCE, and team valuations rose by 57% between 2023-2024 in the NWSL (the last year this data was publicized)^SOURCE.

Surging revenue and valuations are giving women’s franchises the opportunity to invest in their brand and talent development, and a large segment of that investment has been allocated to new facilities. Practice facilities and front office locations for WNBA, NWSL and PWHL teams have grown exponentially since 2020, with more than 1 million s.f. of net expansion.

This momentum has occurred across all major women’s leagues:

WNBA: Since 2024, most teams in the WNBA have broken ground on new dedicated front offices or practice facilities.

NWSL: Six teams have announced new practice facilities or offices since 2024. The Kansas City Current opened a dedicated venue in 2024 (CPKC Stadium) which was the first stadium built exclusively for a professional women’s soccer team.

PWHL: In November 2023 the PWHL announced six partnerships for shared training facilities for the league’s inaugural 2024 season.

The continued expansion of women’s professional leagues will continue to generate new development of facilities and expanded commercial real estate footprints. The WNBA is expanding to 18 teams (from 12 teams as of 2023) which will sequentially join the league through 2030. The Golden State Valkyries joined the league in 2025, and new franchises will be established in Portland, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia in the coming years. The NWSL has added new expansion teams in Boston and Denver, which will join the league in the 2026 season. The PWHL expanded from four teams in its inaugural season to six in 2025, with expansion teams in Vancouver and Seattle, and up to four additional expansion teams are planned as early as the 2026-2027 season. Also announced in 2025, the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) will begin play in the 2026 season with four teams in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In contrast to the major men’s sports leagues in the U.S., where the domestic market is largely saturated and gains in viewership and attendance are more incremental, women’s leagues have been on an aggressive growth trajectory—which is likely to continue as leagues expand, franchises gain brand recognition, and fan culture matures. Growth projections carry inherent uncertainty—if leagues and franchises fail to cultivate dedicated fan bases, maintain steady improvements to infrastructure, improve the fan experience, and develop the entertainment value of the on-field product, viewership and attendance numbers could begin to plateau after expansion strategies play out.

Under baseline assumptions, continued aggressive growth to 10 million annual ticket sales in 2030, and concurrent improvements to viewership, merchandising and franchise valuations would drive most existing franchises to secure 100,000+ s.f. of dedicated practice facilities and front office facilities. In this scenario we would expect facilities procurement by women’s leagues to increase by an additional 400%, to over 5 million s.f. by 2030, and likely see at least one additional dedicated women’s venue developed or announced over that time period. Continuous improvements to brand appeal and marketing over the coming decades could drive attendance to over 20 million annual visitors by 2043, by that point we would expect to see more than 10 million s.f. of supportive real estate across leagues, and the proliferation of several dedicated venues, many of which will densify to anchor compact mixed-use entertainment districts.

As women’s leagues scale from an emerging novelty to an institutional entertainment product, their facility needs will grow in tandem and come to resemble major men’s leagues in terms of size and complexity. Organizations and developers that thoughtfully curate venues and facilities within a walkable, Lifestyle Market ecosystem that translates fandom into foot traffic will cultivate experiential demand that can be an accelerant to that growth.