This Month in Women's Sports: How Mentors x Money Brought a Movement Girls Will Never Forget
It's not a moment, it's a movement.
This is how we felt at Être throughout the month of November, as headline after headline brought new joy to sports-obsessed girls.
The astounding month started with baseball trailblazer Justine Siegel stepping up to the plate to tell the world that female baseball players would again have a league of their own.
The Women's Professional Baseball League (WPBL), is set to debut in 2026 and will be the only professional women’s baseball league in America. Siegel, the first woman to coach a professional men’s baseball team and to pitch batting practice against an MLB team, couldn't be happier, saying:
“I am so excited that there will finally be a professional women’s baseball league – it is a dream come true for all the girls and women who play America’s Pastime.”
Next came Whoopi Goldberg's announcement to Jimmy Fallon on November 6th that she was launching the All Women's Sports Network (AWSN), a global channel dedicated solely to 24/7 women's sports coverage.
As per the AWSN website, the network is "[a]lready available in 65 countries and reaching over 2 billion people," and "offers live women’s sports matches and games, featuring some of the biggest leagues in the world such as UEFA, FIBA, WTA, and WNBL." As Goldberg said proudly on Fallon's show, "If women are playing it...we're showing it."
While girls were busy drawing up WPBL trading cards and following AWSN on Insta, a new announcement came on November 13th that the Premier Lacrosse League is launching the Women's Lacrosse League (WLL) in 2025! Taking over Times Square and ringing the Nasdaq Closing Bell that day, the WLL sent empowering images across screens to next gen players everywhere, adding the tagline that's already on t-shirts, "It's our time."
And then, staggering investment news flooded our feeds. On November 19th, team owner, businesswoman and women's sports advocate Michele Kang pledged $30M to US Soccer in order to support and scale impactful programs for women and girls, and League One Volleyball announced $100M in new funding from Ares Management, Atwater Capital and Left Lane Capital on November 21st. A study released the day between on November 20th by The Collective and RBC noted that exploding growth opportunities within the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) are “poised to unlock billions [of dollars] in new value for investors.”
What does all of this mean for girls lacing up cleats and eyeing travel team tryouts?
It means the larger world cares about what they love. This month told them...
The sport you adore...the breathlessness you feel at the net...the way your teammates holler for the goal, surround you at the loss and stand shoulder to shoulder awaiting a ref's call...women everywhere get it.
They want you to watch more of it.
They want you to play more of it.
And they're willing to pay to pave the way for you to do both.
If November was any indication, sport mentors have their heads in the game. And thank goodness. Our 2024 research showed that not only do sports mentors give girls more confidence about pursuing future goals (85% said this), but 70% of girls say they'd be less likely to quit their sports if they had a mentor. Mentor moments in sports matter, and every announcement this month brought girls one more.
With gratitude to every one of these teams, leagues, players and donors and my wishes for the happiest Thanksgiving - here's to keeping girls everywhere in the game.
Looking forward,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three more things about November's sports announcements you won't want to miss: where you can grab single match tickets now for League One Volleyball (starts in January 2025); where you can see which cities will have WLL teams (announced by end of 2024); and where you can watch the latest clips from around the world and 24/7 on AWSN.
