TOGETHXR: Hi, Erin! Congratulations on your recent win at the Tahiti Pro. You’ve won before, but this win is historic because you were the youngest person, male or female, to win. Obviously every win feels great, but how does it feel to know that you’re adding a historic milestone win to your resume?

Erin Brooks (EB): It honestly feels amazing. Teahupo’o is a wave that I wanted to win at so bad. The style of the waves really suits my surfing. I feel like every time I’ve competed there, I’ve always been a favorite. So, performing well was awesome, and being the youngest to ever win was crazy too. We got amazing waves the whole time. I was there with all my friends and family, and I was just having fun the whole time. I think that really showed throughout my performance.

TOGETHXR: You’re already in Fiji for the next event. How long can you ride the high of a win like that? Are you able to enjoy it, or do you have to move on immediately and get into a different mindset?

EB: Honestly, I was thinking about that yesterday — how fast we had to switch from one stop to the next. I think this is our closest one we’ve had on the tour, but I feel like it definitely gives you a lot of confidence, getting in the win. The field is so strong. Everyone’s been surfing really well this year, and honestly, I haven’t had my best season. Going into the back half of the season really flipped my emotions. I feel more confident in myself and my surfing — and I feel more ready to go than ever.

TOGETHXR: Surfing is a sport that has a lot of young talent, but at the same time, you’re competing with some legends who have had so much longevity in surfing. What’s it like to learn from different athletes at all different ages?

EB: It’s so amazing. Our tour honestly feels like a family. Everyone’s always helping each other out, and I’m so lucky that Stephanie Gilmore and Carissa Moore came back this year. Carissa had her baby, and Steph took a break, but in my opinion, those two are the GOATs of women’s surfing. I actually get to be with Steph a lot because we have the same coach. I’m always learning from them and seeing how they prep for events. I feel like it’s really good for me to learn that because, growing up, I didn’t do much competitive surfing. I did more free surfing and then went into competition when I was a bit older. To see how a GOAT practices for an event is honestly amazing. The guys, too, they’re so helpful. They always give me great tips, and I love watching them, too.

TOGETHXR: Do you feel like you gain more from them in terms of the actual practical side of surfing, or do you think that the biggest lessons that you’ve learned have come from seeing their mentality?

EB: A lot of it is mentality. This year, Steph got a win at Snapper Rocks, and she hadn’t made a heat all year. She was getting a bit bummed, but seeing her throw that in the back of her mind and focus on herself was super inspiring. She took it all the way.

TOGETHXR: It’s really cool to see what your evolution in surfing has been. You were born in a landlocked state. Your family moved to Hawaii when you were 9. Can you tell me a little bit more about your surf origin story and what made you realize that this is what you’re going to pursue professionally?

EB: I grew up in Texas and lived there until I was nine. I didn’t know anything about surfing. When we moved to Hawaii, a friend invited me, and I picked it up super quick. I loved it and didn’t want to go a day without surfing. I’m super competitive, and one of the first days that we were walking around behind Maui, I saw these kids doing a surf contest. I wanted to be a part of it, but I was still a beginner. That was what I was working toward at the beginning, so I felt like it helped me get better really fast. Hawaii’s such a good place to grow as a surfer. You get to surf waves like Pipeline and be in a heavy ocean. I feel like that’s helped me too.

TOGETHXR: Do you feel like there was a moment where you knew that this is what you want your life to be?

EB: I think it was honestly from my first wave. I wanted to surf for the rest of my life.

TOGETHXR: That’s so romantic, we love it. Speaking of Pipeline, you’ve mentioned that you burned a guy before Pipeline Masters. Do you think that you could explain to us what that is and what surf etiquette is for people who don’t understand that there is a way that things happen in the water?

EB: What I did is a big no-no. There’s a really big local family who lives around that spot, and I went in front of him on the wave and burned his wave. He was super cool about it. Mostly, surf etiquette is being really respectful in the water, making sure you’re taking turns and not lapping everyone. Being safe is really important, knowing your limits too. You don’t wanna go out there on a big day when you’re not comfortable, because you may hesitate and could injure someone else.

TOGETHXR: You’re in Fiji right now, and that was actually one of the first places that you’ve won a CT event. Knowing that you get to ride this momentum of coming off of a win, what are you looking forward to in this next stop on the tour?

EB: I’m just looking forward to being here. We all get to stay on the same island. It’s called Tavarua, and it feels like a summer camp. We play games. We obviously surf together, but then you have to take that away and focus on the competition. Cloudbreak is how we surf. It’s one of my favorites in the world, and I feel so confident out there. It looks like we’re gonna have some really fun waves. I’m just excited for it to start.

TOGETHXR: Do you have a routine or a superstition that you feel you have to follow every time you’re in a competition, or is it always changing?

EB: I feel like it changes a bit because we’re on boats every time we’re out there. It’s a bit harder to prep. You kind of have to do it on land, and you’re going out there at least an hour before you compete. So, that’s a bit tricky. At other places, I’ll make sure I do a good warm-up, pay attention to the waves, and talk to my coach. I always have a snack and a little sip of Red Bull. Then, I say a quick prayer with my dad, wax my board, and head out there.

TOGETHXR: I’d love some travel tips if you have any. What do you feel like you’ve figured out about travel? What’s something that could help someone that’s stressing out and packing last minute?

EB: I always make sure to bring stuff that makes me feel like I’m at home. For me, that’s good snacks. I have my alarm clock. I have my little stuffy. Being on the plane a lot, you get really dehydrated, so I always stay hydrated — like electrolytes and water. Also, good skincare because your skin can get really dry and cracked. I have been traveling with an eye mask, and it’s been a game changer on planes— along with comfortable shoes. Thank goodness I have Nike because they got me covered.

TOGETHXR: Surfing produces the most unreal photos and videos. Do you have a favorite photo or video of yourself?

EB: A couple of years ago, I was surfing Teahupo’o, and it was absolutely huge. You couldn’t even paddle into the wave. You had to get towed in by a jet ski. It was probably about 30 ft. It’s a very scary wave when it gets that big. You’re surfing over an incredibly shallow reef, and I was trying not to think about that. A local towed me in, and we got one wave in at the beginning. I had fallen and got so pounded. I was asked if I wanted to go again. I wasn’t too sure, but I gave it a go. We waited for about 45 minutes, and he towed me into the most perfect barrel I’ve ever seen in my whole life. It was so big, it made me look like a little ant. That’s probably my favorite wave.

TOGETHXR: It is really interesting to acknowledge that there is an element of danger in what you guys do. How do you figure out how to pivot quickly from those moments of doubt or fear?

EB: I really do my best not to let fear and doubt come into my head. I try to kick it in the butt as fast as I can and focus on the prep and the work I’ve done beforehand. I know how good of a surfer I am, and I believe in my ability.

TOGETHXR: We saw a TikTok video where you did a goofy spin in a gym so that you can do an aerial. Do you ever have moments when you’re doing a workout on land and you feel like it’s ridiculous and silly?

EB: I know the video you’re talking about. He does so much off-access, spinning, and landing on unstable surfaces. When you’re in the ocean, it’s so unpredictable. I’m not the best spotter. I just hope that my balance is good enough and I’ll land the trick. That’s what he’s working on when he’s doing those things — spotting. We do a lot of work on the trampoline, too. I love going to the gym and working on the trampoline. It’s probably one of my favorite parts of the workout, because we’re almost done. We do strength work first, then a little agility, and then we go on the trampoline. I used to be a gymnast, so that’s my favorite part. I also skate a lot. We have a skate park right next to our house, so when the waves aren’t too good, I can just practice rotations or turns to work on my fundamentals when I’m out of the water. You may not be guaranteed a perfect air section or a great turn wave. You have to search for it, and sometimes you don’t get it. Those are the little things that I do on land. We do a lot of breath-hold training in the pool with weights, and we run around underwater to get comfortable holding our breath. That helps in bigger waves.

TOGETHXR: The fact that you’re doing this all at just 19 years old is impressive. Knowing that you’re getting ready to enter your twenties, is there something that you’re looking forward to?

EB: I really can’t wait for the next Olympics. I’m so excited for LA. We actually have a spot on tour, Lower Trestles. I feel super confident at that wave, and I haven’t competed in the Olympics yet, so that’s something I really have my sights on. I also want to get my driver’s license. I don’t have that yet. I’m really scared of driving.

TOGETHXR: You just told me that you surf waves that are so big that a jet ski has to tow you in. I think you’re gonna be okay in a car.

EB: I don’t know. I swear on land I’m pretty cautious. At our place, we have to drive around in a golf cart, and the girls I’m with wanted me to try. I was going so slow, so they called me grandma.

TOGETHXR: Who’s the fastest golf cart driver?

EB: Probably my dad. He’s really scary. We had to go up and down all these crazy roads, and it’s been raining a lot, so it’s pretty muddy, and we’ve had some off-roading on the golf cart. I’m in the back just trying to hold on.

TOGETHXR: You guys are in the craziest elements. With how much your hair is in the water, what do you do to keep it from just falling off?

EB: This has been a work in progress. When I was younger, my hair was so crispy. You could brush it and just watch it break. I’ve had my little routine down for a while. I always try to get it wet before I get in the water and put in a little leave-in conditioner to protect it from the saltwater as much as I can. When we’re out there for hours and hours, it doesn’t even matter. In my head, it’s working. I just try to get fresh water on it and more leave-in conditioner until I can take a shower. Then I use lots of hydrating products and good oils, and I go to my hairdresser so often just to get my ends cleaned up because they definitely get crispy. I have such light hair. I’ve never dyed my hair. This is all natural from the sun.

RAPID FIRE

Shout out another woman in sports that you think is killing the game right now: Caitlin Clark is absolutely killing her game. She is so impressive to watch. I don’t know how she does it. It’s so amazing. My dad is super into basketball, and he used to play, so he’s obsessed too. We love watching her together.

Your biggest pet peeve: My biggest pet peeve is slow walkers. My dad is super tall, and I normally walk with him, so I’m a pretty fast walker.

Your number one recommendation right now: I feel like I’ve been really falling into Korean skincare. We’re in the sun for four to six hours every day, so I’m trying to stay youthful and hydrated. Also, the pink Red Bull because pink is my favorite color and it’s so cute.

A snack that we absolutely have to have on deck if Erin is coming over: My favorite is probably those Perfect Bars. I’m obsessed with anything peanut butter flavored, and any little fruit snack is so yummy. That’s always in my bag.

One piece of advice that you would give to other women in sport: Always keep it fun, because if you’re going to have a long career, there will be ups and downs. So, make sure you’re doing it for the love of your sport — that’s the most important thing.

Written by TOGETHXR Co-Founder Jessica Robertson

I grew up in a small town in western Kentucky that exists, geographically, as a kind of hinge. A few hours one way and you’re in Sevierville, in the Appalachian foothills where Dolly Parton was born the fourth of twelve children in a one-room cabin. And just over an hour in another direction, barely a stone’s throw past the state line, is the stretch of Tennessee that raised Pat Summitt, the daughter of a dairy farmer, hauling hay before she became, for a time, the winningest coach in the history of NCAA basketball.

Tennessee wasn’t only proximate to me, either. I spent much of my childhood and formative years in Nashville, and went to college in the state. Pat and Dolly were backyard icons, two women sprung from the same landscape who showed me entirely different versions of what a woman from that place could become. I grew up somewhere inside the distance between them.

Pat was famously tough. Steely and immovable. Still, she called her players her girls and meant it. Demanding everything from someone and loving them are not opposing acts. There was something instructive in that. Pat didn’t soften herself to make her strength easier to accept, and that made it impossible to question.

Dolly held the same kind of complexity, albeit from an opposite direction. She was spectacle and substance, something entirely exaggerated wrapped around something profoundly honest. The wigs, the rhinestones, the sheer hyperbole … She was the opposite of camouflage. She had built the loudest possible exterior around the plainest truth. I know I look totally artificial, she once said, but I’m real where it counts.

I was a queer kid still trying to understand myself, with few examples of what it looked like to live honestly as who you were. Dolly wasn’t an example of who I wanted to be, per se, but she was an example of what it looked like to know who you were. Pat showed me the strength in knowing.

Part of the truth about growing up gay in a small Southern town is that you go looking for permission in unexpected places because the obvious ones are closed. Dolly offered it without ever making it a campaign. She spoke about gay people, trans people, addicts, and anyone the world around her had been taught to judge. And she made little ceremony of doing so. There was no hierarchy to it. She didn’t treat belonging as something that was hers to grant. They belonged because … they belonged.

There’s something in that ethic that feels native to women’s sports.

Women’s sports has spent most of its history making something from what it wasn’t given: visibility, investment, infrastructure, legitimacy, room. So many of the people who built it knew what it was to exist beyond somebody else’s idea of the center. They knew the particular violence of being told that who you were made you less credible, less marketable, less worthy of being seen. Less worthy, in general.

And yet, they built anyway.

What Dolly understood, and what women’s sports understands in its best moments, is that another person’s fullness does not diminish your own. There isn’t a finite amount of dignity to divide up. Making room is not the same as giving something away. The room just gets bigger.

Pat and Dolly weren’t best friends, but Dolly said they shared “a very special bond.” Just two Tennessee girls, each proud of what the other had built. When Pat died in 2016, Dolly ended her tribute simply: “Glory to you, Pat Summitt.”

I’m writing this a day after Dolly died herself, and I keep thinking about those two women, gone within a decade of each other, who came from roughly the same patch of earth and stretched the boundaries around them in entirely different directions.

Women’s sports has always known that boundaries tend to say more about the people drawing them than the people expected to live inside them. Dolly lived something even simpler: people don’t need permission to be who they are. They just need room to be.

Glory to you, Dolly Parton.

When I was seven years old, my parents signed my brother and me up for our first baseball team. At the time, there weren’t any girls’ teams in the area, so I played in the boys league. At our first game, the boys on the other team immediately started teasing me: “Girls can’t play baseball.”

I remember being genuinely confused: Why did being a girl mean I didn’t belong?

When we took the field in the first inning, I was determined to prove those boys wrong. Coincidentally, the first three batters on the other team all hit ground balls directly to me, which I cleanly fielded to throw them all out at first base.

The “girls can’t play baseball” chants quieted down very quickly after that.

At the age of seven, I certainly didn’t know words like sexism, feminism, or equity yet, but I remember thinking: Never again is someone going to tell me I can’t do something – especially in sports – because I’m a girl.

That experience is one of the reasons the arrival of the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) feels so significant to me.

ENTER THE WOMEN’S PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE

For the first time in more than 70 years, women have a professional baseball league in the United States.

Women have been playing baseball for generations, with perhaps the most famous chapter coming during World War II with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – AKA, the league that inspired the movie, A League of Their Own. The AAGPBL operated from 1943 to 1954, but when the league disappeared, so did the professional pathway for women baseball players.

The popularity of A League of Their Own alone should have been enough to demonstrate the appetite for women’s baseball. More than three decades after its release, it remains the highest-grossing baseball movie ever, generating more than $100 million at the box office. Of the 20 highest-grossing baseball movies, it is both the top movie on the list and the only one centered on women.

And yet, it still took decades for another professional women’s baseball league to emerge in the U.S.

Even without a professional league, generations of girls continued to play and make an impact in baseball. Now, thanks to the WPBL, there is finally a professional pathway that allows women to pursue the sport all the way to its highest level.

Because of the WPBL, 60 women can now officially call themselves professional baseball players. The league’s inaugural season kicked off this summer with four teams – the New York Heights, Boston Hunters, Los Angeles Queens, and San Francisco Firebells – with 15 players on each roster.

Even the team names reflect the significance of this moment. Rather than choosing generic mascots and team names, each of the WPBL’s inaugural teams is named in honor of a trailblazing woman who challenged expectations and opened doors for the women who came after her.

The New York Heights honor Dorothy Irene Height, the legendary civil and women’s rights leader. The San Francisco Firebells take inspiration from Lillie Hitchcock Coit, known as “Firebelle,” who became an enduring symbol of civic pride in San Francisco. The Los Angeles Queens honor Lizzie Murphy, the “Queen of the Diamond” and the first woman to play against Major League players. Finally, the Boston Hunters are named for Harriot K. Hunt, a pioneering physician and activist who challenged barriers facing women in medicine.

There’s something especially fitting about a league creating a new pathway for women athletes while naming its teams after women who created pathways of their own.

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR WOMEN’S BASEBALL

From a business perspective, investors should be excited about all the WPBL has to offer – and the early results the league is driving in its inaugural season.

The WPBL launched with significant infrastructure already in place, including national media distribution deals with ESPN and Scripps and founding sponsors that include Horace Mann, DICK’S Sporting Goods, and New Era. But just as importantly, the league is already showing signs that fans are responding.

Per Sports Business Journal, during opening weekend alone, the WPBL’s Instagram following jumped from 180,000 to 220,000, and the league has now built an audience of approximately 500,000 followers across all channels. Merchandise has reportedly been “flying off the shelves,” and the league sold out its inaugural game and has already sold more than 22,000 tickets overall.

THE NEXT CHAPTER IN WOMEN’S BASEBALL IS HERE

When I was seven years old playing baseball with my brother, becoming a professional baseball player wasn’t something I could realistically dream about. Today, girls playing baseball have something generations before them didn’t always have: a professional league to aspire to.

The AAGPBL wrote one of the most important chapters in women’s baseball history, and more than 70 years later, the WPBL is writing the next one – backed by media distribution, major brand partners, growing audiences, and early fan demand.

For investors and brands looking for the next growth opportunity in women’s sports, look no further than women’s baseball. The WPBL is officially here – and the opportunity to get involved is right now.

MEET CAROLINE FITZGERALD

Caroline Fitzgerald is a contributing writer for TOGETHXR.com and a leading expert in women’s sports business and gender equity. A Sports Business Journal “2024 Power Player in Women’s Sports,” she covers the forces shaping the industry’s next era of growth.

Follow Caroline on LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram.

PITCHING
The WPBL uses a small, hard, white baseball. The baseball is thrown using an overhand motion from a 60-foot pitching distance. Professional softball leagues use a large, softer, yellow ball. The softball is thrown using an underhand motion from a 43-foot pitching distance.

FIELD CONFIGURATION
The WPBL conducts games on a large diamond-shaped field with 90-foot base paths. Professional softball leagues conduct games on smaller diamond-shaped fields with 60-foot base paths.

RULES FOR BASERUNNING
WPBL runners can “lead off” or step a short distance away from the base at any time during the pitch. Professional softball runners are prohibited from stepping off the base until the ball has been released from the pitcher’s hand.

MEET THE TEAMS 🥎

The inaugural teams include the Boston Hunters, New York Heights, Los Angeles Queens, and the San Francisco Firebells. Each team name honors women who have made strides in U.S. history.

• The Boston Hunters highlight Harriot Kezia Hunt, a physician and women’s health advocate who served as the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School.

• The New York Heights represents Dorothy Irene Height, a civil rights activist who contributed to the YWCA and led the National Council of Negro Women.

• The Los Angeles Queens recognizes Lizzie Murphy, who was coined “The Queen of Baseball” after becoming the first woman to compete against Major League Baseball players.

• The San Francisco Firebells are inspired by Lillie Hitchcock “Firebelle Lil” Coit, who assisted San Francisco’s volunteer firefighters at just 15 years old and, years later, became a member of the fire engine company.

INAUGURAL SEASON STRUCTURE

All of the inaugural season games will be held at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, IL. There will be 15 players on each team’s roster.

The regular season will begin on August 1 and end on September 6. After all four teams play 15 games, the regular season standings will determine which teams will participate in the playoffs.

The WPBL Playoffs begin on September 9 and will consist of three-game series, with the winners moving on to the five-game series WPBL Championship to determine the overall champion.

WHERE TO WATCH 📺

You can catch all WPBL games live on the official YouTube channel. View the full schedule here.

WHO TO WATCH 👀

From NCAA stars to Little League legends, the WPBL inaugural season is bringing out the best in women’s baseball. Let’s take a closer look at the draftees that you should know across the league’s four new teams.

Kelsie Whitmore

Kelsie Whitmore is a WPBL first pick with a resumé to match. Drafted to the San Francisco Firebells, Whitmore’s baseball debut 10 years ago led her to the highest spot on the newest women’s baseball league.

While on the USA Women’s National Baseball roster, Whitmore was honored with the 2022 USA Baseball Sportswoman of the Year award. After playing Division I softball for Cal State Fullerton, Whitmore took her talents to the Staten Island FerryHawks, becoming the first woman to play in an MLB Partner League. She is also noted for making history as the first woman to start in a Pioneer League while playing for the Oakland Ballers.

Mo’ne Davis

Mo’ne Davis has been making history since she was 13. The Los Angeles Queens’ tenth overall pick became the first girl to throw a shutout during her time as a Little League Baseball pitcher and grace the cover of Sports Illustrated — but she did not stop there.

After playing on Hampton University’s softball team and graduating from Columbia University with a Master’s in Sports Management, Davis became the first woman to sign with the Indianapolis Clowns in the team’s 70-year history. Her entrance into the WPBL makes her the first Black woman to be drafted to the league, where she will play at center field.

Hyeonah Kim

Hyeonah Kim is a catcher from Seoul, South Korea, and the first Korean baseball player drafted to the WPBL. Joining the Boston Hunters as the fourth overall pick, Kim brings strong offensive play to the league’s inaugural season.

She remains a member of the Korean national team and a captain of the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup team. Her undeniable game was solidified after she claimed the batting title at the 2025 BFA Women’s Baseball Asian Cup, securing 15 hits in seven games.

Kylee Lahners

Kylee Lahners is no stranger to greatness. She joins the New York Heights as the third overall pick with a background in both softball and baseball.

A top player for the University of Washington softball team, Lahners transitioned from an All-American to a National Professional Fastpitch (NPF) draftee. After three years with the Dallas Charge, Lahners stepped into her star-studded baseball career with a spot on the USA Women’s National Baseball roster. She’s a batter who is hard to beat, serving as one of the very few baseball players to record 7 RBIs in a single game.

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When I launched The Business Case For Women’s Sports, presented by Ally podcast in 2021, I heard the same questions over and over again:

“Is there really enough to talk about?”

“Are there enough guests out there to interview?”

“Is there actually a market for women’s sports podcasts?”

Five years later, I can confidently answer all three with the same response: absolutely.

Over the last five years, I’ve had the privilege of recording more than 200 episodes with athletes, executives, investors, commissioners, founders, and media leaders. Along the way, I’ve also had a front-row seat to one of the most exciting shifts in sports media: the rapid rise of women’s sports podcasts.

Today, there are more than 80 dedicated women’s sports podcasts, and nearly 72% of them have launched since the start of 2024. That’s more than growth – it’s a fundamental shift in how fans discover women’s sports, how athletes tell their own stories, and how the industry reaches new audiences.

Why Women’s Sports Podcasts Matter

Podcasts have done something traditional sports media often couldn’t: they’ve given creators the freedom to tell stories mainstream sports media has often overlooked.

When I started my show in 2021, there were only a handful of podcasts dedicated to women’s sports. That reflected a much bigger problem. At the time, women’s sports received just 4% of all sports media coverage. When stories aren’t being told, it’s easy for people to assume they aren’t stories worth telling.

Women’s sports fans know that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The most recent data shows that women’s sports now account for roughly 15% of sports media coverage. While there’s still plenty of room to grow, podcasts have undoubtedly played a meaningful role in expanding that coverage by giving women’s sports the consistent, year-round attention they have long deserved.

It’s important to note that this progress hasn’t happened by accident. It’s happened because companies recognized the opportunity and chose to invest in it.

In 2024, iHeartMedia made one of the biggest commitments we’ve seen to women’s sports audio by launching iHeart Women’s Sports. In just its first year, the network increased women’s sports programming from less than 1% of its sports coverage to more than 34%, reaching 89 million monthly listeners across nearly 500 broadcast radio stations. As the world’s largest podcast publisher, iHeart also pledged that 50% of all newly produced sports podcasts would focus on women’s sports.

Enter The Everyone Watches Women’s Sports Podcast

Now, we get to celebrate another huge move in women’s sports podcasting. Just last week, TOGETHXR announced a significant investment with the launch of Everyone Watches Women’s Sports in partnership with iHeartMedia.

This move feels especially meaningful because it represents the next stage in the evolution of women’s sports media. For years, TOGETHXR has built one of the strongest brands in women’s sports by proving there is an audience hungry for authentic storytelling and athlete-driven content. Launching a flagship podcast is TOGETHXR doubling down on the core belief that women’s sports deserve daily conversations, informed debate, breaking news, and dedicated coverage.

Let’s be clear: major media companies don’t build podcast networks because something is trendy. They do it because they see audience demand, advertising potential, and long-term business opportunity.

With the podcast industry projected to grow from $31.49 billion in 2025 to $114.48 billion by 2030, the rise of women’s sports podcasts isn’t just creating more coverage – it’s creating a larger market for advertisers, creators, athletes, and media companies alike.

Women’s sports is well positioned to claim a meaningful share of that growth, not simply because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s smart business.

The women’s sports podcast era is officially here, and the business case for investing in women’s sports media has never been stronger.

MEET CAROLINE FITZGERALD

Caroline Fitzgerald is a contributing writer for TOGETHXR.com and a leading expert in women’s sports business and gender equity. A Sports Business Journal “2024 Power Player in Women’s Sports,” she covers the forces shaping the industry’s next era of growth.

Follow Caroline on LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram.

Women’s sports were queer the whole time “no one” was watching. It was built and carried, in large part, by queer women and women of color long before the broadcast deals and the sold-out arenas ever arrived.

That’s structural. It’s not sentiment. To understand why women’s sports became one of the most reliably LGBTQIA+ spaces, you have to look at where it was made to live. For most of its history, women’s sports was pushed to the margins by sexism. By the assumption that women’s sports and female athletes were lesser, unserious, not worth a broadcast window or a sponsor’s money or a seat in the stands. In the U.S., Title IX forced a door open in 1972 and built the pipelines (the school teams, the college programs) at a scale that had never existed before. But the same disregard that had kept the games small kept them largely unwatched even as they grew: the cameras, the money, and the cultural spotlight stayed trained elsewhere, because the people who held them (the decision makers) did not believe women playing was worth seeing. And that neglect, for all its injustice, left room. The margin is where people who have been discarded go to build something of their own. Unsupervised. And so, a great deal freer than they would otherwise have been allowed to be.

What they were building, they built under a contradiction. On one side was suspicion, the long-running idea that a woman who competed too hard, who wanted her body to be powerful rather than decorative, wasn’t quite a proper woman at all. Call it what it was: gender-policing, a constant low-grade interrogation of who counted as a “real” woman, aimed at anyone who pushed against the narrow edges of the definition. On the other side was a reward. When the culture did turn to look, it wanted its women athletes legible and palatable through a patriarchal, heteronormative, and largely white lens: feminine, straight-presenting, easy on a Western eye. That standard was never only about gender. The femininity it prized was a white one, and women of color were measured against a womanhood that was never shaped with them in mind. They were expected to soften themselves into it, and discounted when they didn’t. For the women the standard favored, the pull wasn’t only imposed from outside; it was often genuinely desirable to be seen that way, because that was where the attention and the sponsorships and the lasting careers went. Athletes were rewarded for a safe, familiar femininity and scrutinized for any distance from it. None of this made women’s sports a utopia. For a long time, it asked plenty of its own people to make themselves smaller, quieter, or more conventional than they were in order to survive.

But here is the irony at the center of the whole story. The very suspicion that marginalized the women’s game also marked it, in the public imagination, as a place for the people who didn’t fit the template. And a space the world has decided is for the people who don’t fit becomes, almost inevitably, a refuge for everyone it pushes to the edge. The stigma built solidarity. People who had nowhere else to be fully themselves found one another on these teams and in these stands, and they stayed. But a refuge is not the same as safety, and it was never equally safe. Black and brown queer women often carried racism into the very rooms that sheltered them from homophobia, doing the work, absorbing the scrutiny, while the recognition, when it finally came, tended to land somewhere lighter. The sanctuary was real. It was also incomplete.

That is why the language of sanctuary fits women’s sports so precisely. For a great many people, the arena became one of the rare rooms where you could stop translating yourself. Where you could love who you love without first calculating the cost, where being seen turned into the freedom to be known, and that freedom, somehow, kept turning into joy. This is what queer communities have always understood about their gathering places, and why they protect them so fiercely: a place to be unguarded is not a luxury; it is survival. This community also knows what it costs when one of those places is taken. Ten years on from the night a dance floor in Orlando became a place of grief, that knowledge still sits close to the surface.

And so the community keeps building these places wherever it can. In locker rooms and on team buses, in the stands, in every room it has ever filled to watch the game together. When one refuge is lost, another gets made, because the people who need them have never been able to assume that a place to belong would simply be waiting for them. They have always had to build it themselves. Here, chosen family isn’t a metaphor; it’s the practice the whole thing rests on.

And it has never been a single-axis community. When Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality in 1989, she was describing precisely what disappears when you treat race and gender as separate problems; the lives of people who exist at the crossing of both at once. Women’s sports is that crossing made flesh. It is a world made and led largely by women of color, by queer women, by trans and nonbinary people, where nobody has ever had the option of being only one thing at a time. It doesn’t study intersectionality from a distance. It fields it.

All of which makes the present moment less abstract than it looks. The machinery now being used to police trans women in sport, defining “real” womanhood by biology, demanding that women submit proof they belong, narrowing the word woman until it fits inside a statute, from one country’s lawbooks to the next, is not new. It is the same gender-policing the women’s game has absorbed for as long as it has existed, widened to take in a new group. Sport has always guarded the borders of womanhood, and it has always reached first for the women furthest from a white, Western picture of it. That is to say, anyone whose body or bearing the gatekeepers decided to doubt. Trans women are the newest name on a very old list, and the logic is the one it has always been: a narrow idea of who is allowed to be called a woman. This community recognizes the move because some part of it has always been on the receiving end of it. A space that was told for generations its women weren’t “woman” enough is not about to turn around and say the same thing to anyone else.

So pride here at TOGETHXR isn’t decoration, and it isn’t a marketing window. It’s a position held by a community that arrived at it the hard way.

Here, women has always meant all women. Trans women are women. Not the polite addition at the end of the sentence. The sentence itself.

Rainbows in June here aren’t a decoration. They mark a community that was queer before it was watched, that loved this game into existence long before it was ever loved back.

Pride didn’t come to women’s sports. Pride is women’s sports.

Billie Jean King

The great Billie Jean King was never one to fit into anyone’s mold. In the very first moments of her 20+ years in tennis, King recounts being prohibited from taking a photo as a junior tennis player at the Los Angeles Tennis Club because she wore tennis shorts instead of a tennis dress. From that day in 1955, she would go on to spend the entirety of her athletic career dismantling gender-based inequities in women’s sports.

As a co-founder of the Women’s Tennis Association, King is a fierce advocate for equal pay amongst athletes of all genders. Her campaign led to one of the most-watched tennis matches in U.S. history, dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes.” The early 1970s match featured King and Bobby Riggs, a men’s tennis player who openly believed women’s tennis was inferior. King took home the win, while also shifting the cultural perspective of women athletes.

In 1981, King was outed as a lesbian. During a time when much of the public began to scrutinize her sexuality, so did the companies endorsing her. However, King’s global impact was undeniable. Amidst the cloud of public negativity, Billie Jean King never wavered, becoming the LGBTQIA+ legend that we know today. Since retiring from tennis, King has remained active in women’s sports and even serves on the PWHL advisory board.

Brittney Griner

Brittney Griner is a walking testament to the Black, LGBTQ+ experience in women’s athletics. In her first year in the WNBA, the 2013 number-one pick publicly discussed her journey of coming out. The following year, she became the first openly lesbian athlete to secure a Nike endorsement deal.

As a star defensive player, Olympic gold medalist, and WNBA champion, Griner understands what it takes to win. In 2022, this pillar of basketball faced a trial that fundamentally changed her story. As she arrived at an airport in Russia to play for Ekaterinburg, she was detained for having vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which remains illegal in the country. In August 2022, Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony after being charged with “smuggling illegal drugs with criminal intent.”

After an early release in December 2022, Griner returned to the court. However, her impact had reached even greater heights as she spoke out about what she was subjected to within the prison system. Griner’s story sparked conversation around the criminalization of Black, LGBTQ+ women in all corners of the world.

To know Griner’s story is to know: she has endured, but she remains triumphant.

Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman

Laughter is a universal language. The WNBA’s beloved duo, the StudBudz, are capturing the hearts of fans everywhere — and they’re doing so by cracking jokes and being fully themselves.

Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman are two best friends who had the pleasure of playing side by side for five seasons, most recently for the Minnesota Lynx. Their fun-spirited personalities led them to pick up a camera and create video content on major social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitch. However, their matching bright pink hair and endless jokes are not the only qualities that have made them stand out. They are also making a statement in proudly identifying as “studs.”

A stud is defined as a Black, masculine-presenting lesbian. Studs have played a significant role in shaping Black and LGBTQ+ culture by pushing against the grain of expectations for how Black women are expected to present themselves. Williams and Hiedeman have embraced their identities so much so that they have begun to shift social understanding of masculine-presenting women in athletics.

Because, well, who doesn’t love the StudBudz?

Abby Wambach

After the U.S. team won the Women’s World Cup in 2015, soccer star Abby Wambach ran to her former partner in the stands and kissed her. It was the first time an openly gay couple had embraced on national TV in a major sports championship.

As a two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA World Cup Champion, and six-time U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year, Wambach is surely one of the greatest ever to set foot on the pitch. She continues to use her platform to represent unapologetically, notably encouraging women in an iconic commencement speech at Barnard College to be “the wolves” instead of accepting exclusion. In her best-selling book, Wolfpack: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game, Wambach emphasized the importance of women leaning into their individual talents and creating community among themselves.

There’s no denying that Wambach knows how to make a statement — and make sure it sticks.

Nikki Hiltz

Nikki Hiltz understands that slow and steady wins the race. That’s why this Olympic runner is advocating for queer communities with intention. As an openly non-binary professional runner, the world of athletics does not always make space for their identity. Running remains a valuable aspect of Hiltz’s life, but finding a sense of belonging within gendered sports has certainly not been easy.

Hiltz took matters into their own hands. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, all of Hiltz’s races were canceled. So, they hosted their own. Hiltz began hosting a Pride 5k — an annual race that raises funds for LGBTQ+ non-profit organizations and, most importantly, provides a safe space for queer people to run.

Held in October, the month that honors National Coming Out Day, the Pride5k has raised $290,000 since its inception six years ago, donating to organizations like Point of Pride and The Trevor Project. In many ways, Hiltz is living the reality that professional sports organizations have more progress to make regarding trans inclusivity.

Fashion

The socialite, model, and fashion designer is known for her game day looks, which are usually put together with custom, detail-oriented gear. Since the playoffs began back in April, Woods has been outspoken about her “ritualistic” dressing — specifically with her “lucky” accessory, the orange handbag she designed specifically for the playoffs.

“I have my lucky Woods by Jordyn bag, my game-day GRWMs on TikTok, and a watch I refuse to take off,” Woods told Vogue in May. “At this point, I’m not risking changing anything.”

Eerily enough, the Knicks’ 12-game winning streak ended during Game 3 of the NBA Finals — the one game that mandated a no-bag policy at Madison Square Garden due to President Donald Trump’s attendance and blocked Woods from bringing her lucky purse. Spooky!

Love Story

Jordyn Woods and Karl-Anthony Towns started dating in 2020 after meeting through mutual friends and had maintained a close friendship for many years. Woods and Towns have often spoken about how they “evolved” together and anchored each other through difficult times: Woods lost her father to cancer in 2017, and Towns lost his mother to COVID-19 complications in 2020. At the time of these monumental losses, Woods and Towns were 19 and 24 years old, respectively.

“The right person will bring a lot out of you,” Woods told Extra the year the couple started dating. “Naturally, we both connected about losing a parent at a very young age… so it was a very organic relationship.”

“A woman that meant so much to me in my life left my life, to be replaced by another woman who took that spot,” Towns said about the loss of his mom and his “boundless” love for Woods on Taraji P. Henson’s talk show in 2021.

On Christmas Day 2025, the couple officially announced their engagement.

Energy

Woods is faithfully a courtside fixture at KAT’s games, and always sits with his dad, Karl Towns Sr. — even though she can now bond over the Knicks with her childhood friend Kylie Jenner and her boyfriend, lifelong Knicks fan Timothée Chalamet. It’s her commitment to supporting KAT alongside his family that makes her support even more significant. Like Woods always says about her fiancé’s success: “It’s deeper than basketball.”

MEET KAITLYN MCNAB

Kaitlyn McNab is a contributing writer for TOGETHXR.com and an award-winning culture reporter and editor. Her creative mission is to celebrate and articulate diverse experiences across all narrative mediums.

Follow Kaitlyn on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more.

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No. No, I do not.

Because if we’re handing out stars for softball, Texas just earned its second one.

Winning a national championship is hard. Winning back-to-back national championships is a completely different recipe. Every chef will tell you it’s one thing to make a great meal once. It’s another thing to do it again when everyone expects it, critiques it, and is trying to figure out how you did it the first time.

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This matchup is a rematch of last year’s national championship, when Texas came out on top. A year later, both programs return to the sport’s biggest stage with unfinished business and plenty of reasons to believe this could be their year.

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You know when you go to a restaurant, and you’ve had the same meal so many times that you don’t even look at the menu anymore? You know it’s good. You know exactly what you’re getting. You never even consider ordering anything else. That’s kind of what the WCWS has been like for me over the last decade. I’d show up to Oklahoma City, find my seat, and cheer for Oklahoma.

This year, Oklahoma wasn’t on the menu. For the first time in a long time, I got to experience the Women’s College World Series through a different lens.

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If you’re going to the WCWS for the first time, let me save you some trouble: buy the neck fan. Oklahoma heat is no joke, and the weather is unbelievably moody. This year, Oklahoma City gets an extra jolt of energy with some new fanbases from Nebraska, Mississippi State, and Arkansas. They will join the veteran fanbases of Texas, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Alabama, and UCLA. But regardless of your team colors, if you plan on surviving four softball games in one day, you are going to need hydration, sunscreen, and a little mental toughness.

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The deeper you get into postseason softball, the easier it becomes to flatten these athletes into stats. Home runs. Strikeouts. ERA. But some of the best players in this tournament become more compelling once you look outside the box score. They are utility players in the way they live, too, and I think that’s what makes me cheer for them outside of just what they do on the field.

Take Ella Parker at Oklahoma. Most people see one of the best hitters in the country. I see somebody who talks about cooking butter chicken and naan from scratch with the same level of detail she talks about hitting. Ella’s a Psychology major because of her own experiences with anxiety and depression in high school, and after working with a sports psychologist herself, she realized she wanted to help athletes navigate those same struggles one day. Away from softball, she’s a total homebody who loves being at home with her dog Miko, slowing life down, and experimenting with recipes in the kitchen. The way she talks about cooking feels very similar to the way she approaches pressure at the plate. Slow things down. Stay grounded. Trust your preparation. Don’t let the moment (or menu) become bigger than it actually is. There’s something very calming about her energy, especially for somebody playing on such a massive stage.

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As women continue to revolutionize sports culture in real life, these television boss ladies currently on air are empowering global audiences with their badass, empathetic leadership across all sides of the sports industry. It’s already an uphill battle to be a woman in a male-dominated field — and it can be one battle after another as a woman calling the shots in a male-dominated field.

Yet these six fictional women in sports business are new, exciting, and entertaining role models for anyone, particularly women who want to break into the sports industry.

Monica Dinkins, The Fall And Rise Of Reggie Dinkins (NBC)

Erika Alexander plays Monica, the ex-wife of the titular disgraced NFL player Reggie Dinkins. Monica wears multiple hats in her relationship with Reggie: she’s his co-parent, his business manager, and his agent. Without Monica, Reggie’s comeback would be impossible.

Isla Gordon and Ali Lee, Running Point (Netflix)

Kate Hudson is Isla Gordon, the underdog of her family’s basketball dynasty, as the newly appointed president of the Los Angeles Waves. Brenda Song plays Ali Lee, Isla’s college roomie, BFF, and Waves Chief of Staff. Together, Isla and Ali defy the expectations of Isla’s brothers and the entirety of the male-dominated ABL (the fictional American Basketball League) and its fandom.

Rebecca Welton and Keeley Jones, Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

Hannah Waddingham is the reigning queen of the Lasso-verse as Rebecca Welton, the powerful owner of AFC Richmond, and Juno Temple is its heir apparent as the marketing maven Keeley Jones. It’s Keeley who proposes the idea of the AFC Richmond women’s club to Rebecca in the season 3 finale, which is the confirmed new story arc for the show’s fourth season dropping on August 5, 2026.

Yuna Hollander, Heated Rivalry (Crave, HBO Max)

Christina Chang plays Yuna, the momager of Montreal Metros captain Shane Hollander. In the early moments of season 1, Yuna pressured Shane to take his role as one of the most visible Asian Canadians in the fictional MLH (Major League Hockey) seriously. But by the season finale, Yuna becomes the safe space Shane has always needed and locks in as his protective manager, determined to control her son’s coming out narrative on his own terms.

Tricia Yeager, Chad Powers (Hulu)

Wynn Everett plays Tricia Yeager, the head of the booster trust for the South Georgia Catfish, the college team that former star quarterback Russ Holliday infiltrates under the disguise of Chad Powers. Though Tricia isn’t part of the team’s official management, she might as well be — she has team-owner energy and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty if it means victory for the Catfish.

MEET KAITLYN MCNAB

Kaitlyn McNab is a contributing writer for TOGETHXR.com and an award-winning culture reporter and editor. Her creative mission is to celebrate and articulate diverse experiences across all narrative mediums.

Follow Kaitlyn on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more.

A few years ago, while I was playing professionally in Chicago, I tried out this spot called The Sushi Room. I wanted to go solely because it was hidden inside a hotel suite, which made it feel very speakeasy. But the real experience was the omakase itself. The Sushi Room sat six people around a counter while the chef walked us through every course, explaining the fish and preparing everything in front of us. I remember leaving that night thinking: I knew this was going to be cool, but I had no idea it could be THIS good. That’s kind of how I feel watching the AUSL evolve right now.

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Growing up in Houston, there was this place called Magic Island. Technically, it was a restaurant, but nobody went just for the food. You went because dinner came with a show. Magicians walking table to table with surprises happening in the middle of your meal. I remember constantly looking around, wondering what would happen next. That is exactly what this NCAA Softball Tournament has felt like.

Last Friday, there were 64 teams still believing they had a path to Oklahoma City. By Sunday night, there were 16 left after a weekend full of walk-offs, elimination games, and national seeds falling. Mississippi State was first to knock out a national seed with Oregon, and UCF ended Florida State’s season in Tallahassee. Duke had to beat Arizona twice in the regional final on Sunday to move on to the Supers.

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