The opportunity to present their sports and stories to a digital, millennial age while also focusing on business diversification was a prevalent theme from leaders of women’s sports during a panel at the 2014 Game Changers conference today in N.Y. WTA Chair & CEO Stacey Allaster led the charge by repeatedly imploring leagues and properties to rethink how they tell their stories and present their game. She said the WTA Tour was on a “journey of sport-entertainment,” combining the sensibilities of those two industries. “As we tell our players, you are athletes, but you are entertainers,” she said. “We need to do more for fans. We must provide unique experiences to fans and sponsors that fans can’t buy, for us to be able to win.”
WNBA player Swin Cash noted how players are far more cognizant of their brands than ever before, and are using that to build interest in sports. “Each player is a brand, each to themselves,” she said. “A lot of us are thinking, 'How am I growing my brand with the league?' It’s no longer separate. It is more working together with the league, to not only grow the league, but to grow the player’s brand. And we can’t just stay domestic, we have to grow globally.”
See our On The Ground blog for more Game Changers coverage.
