Coming soon

Players built the audience.Now they can own the business.

We build and run businesses that women's basketball players own, and partner with the brands that want to back them.

Her brand, her fanbase, her products and her partners, run with her every day, through her playing career and long after it.

1999 to 2026

The money finally showed up.

The new CBA roughly quadruples the minimum salary in a single year. For the first time, players have real capital to build with.

WNBA minimum salary, USD. Sources: WNBA history; CBS Sports, 2026; WNBA/WNBPA CBA announcement, March 2026 (2026 minimum $270K to $300K).

1999$25,000
2025$66,079
2026$270,000+

2022 to 2026

Brands are all in on women's sports.

$3B+

in women's elite sports revenue in 2026, up 340% since 2022.

Deloitte, April 2026

3.5x

Sponsorship deals for women's properties grew 17.5% in 2025, 3.5x the rate of men's leagues.

SponsorUnited, Women in Sports Report 2026

25%

lift in brand familiarity, sentiment and consideration for sponsors of women's sport in Canada.

Canadian Women & Sport, 2025

And the money is moving toward what players can own. Canadian brands now value digital, database and rights benefits above tickets, hospitality and exclusivity, and they're spending more to measure results than at any point in 20 years. An audience a player owns is one a sponsor can actually measure.

Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study, 20th edition, T1 / IMI / SMCC / SponsorshipX, 2026, pp. 72, 117

The best media in the game

Fans follow the players.

Mid-tier women athletes get twice the engagement of men with twice the followers. When they post a sponsor's content on their own channels, it beats the brand's own channels by at least 4x. Players are the most valuable media channels in women's basketball.

Owned social channels, mid-tier athletes (500K to 2M followers). Source: The Collective at Wasserman and RBC, "The New Economy of Sports, Part I," CrowdTangle data 2022 to 2023

Women athletes, ~500K followers5.7%
Men athletes, ~1M followers2.7%
4.7x

more engagement when athletes posted Gatorade content on their own channels

2.7x

more likely to buy what a trusted woman athlete endorses

Parity and SurveyMonkey, 2024, via Canadian Women & Sport, 2025

The gap

So far, only the stars are cashing in.

99.3%

of Caitlin Clark's 2025 earnings came from sponsors, not her WNBA salary. That's what's possible when a player's brand is run like a business.

Sportico, 2025 ($16.1M total). Forbes lists $12.1M.

Athlete endorsements, share of Canada's pro women's sport market

2% to athletesMarket headed to $570M by 2030

Athlete endorsements are projected to stay at 2% of the market through 2030. That's flat, even as the market grows by almost half. Player-owned businesses are how more of that money reaches players.

Canadian Women & Sport, "It's Time," 2025

"The WNBA don't pay my bills at all."Angel Reese, Instagram Live, October 2024, via CNBC

September 2026

Players are building and operating businesses, but most are doing it alone.

We read every listing on the WNBPA's Players' Market. 29 are businesses, and by our read about 1 in 3 are clearly working today. Nearly every one of those has someone dedicated to running it.

Fanbiz read of 66 public listings at wnbpa.com/playersmarket, September 2026. Not official figures.

29 player businesses~9 clearly working

Burnt Wax

A'ja Wilson's candle brand sold out at launch, with her mom running it as COO.

Forta

Lexie Hull launched with a professional co-founder and did $10K+ on day 1.

Stewie's World

Breanna Stewart's own brand sold out its first capsule the day it dropped.

What we do

Every player business deserves an operator.

Build

Her brand, her products and a real business online, shaped around who she is and what she wants to be known for.

Own

She owns 100% of it: the brand, the audience, the content and the revenue. If she ever moves, all of it goes with her.

Operate

We run it with her, in season and out, and bring in founding partners who want to back what she's building.

We're starting with a small group of players.

If you're a player, an agent or a brand who wants in early, let's talk.

hello@thefanbiz.com