Our Top News in Women’s Sports

Hi all, 

I’m Sonja, inventory planner and resident women’s sports expert here at Title Nine.  I’m back to share the stories you need to know about, and to keep giving women athletes the attention they deserve. 

1. MVP, MVP MVP!!!    A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces) is the WNBA MVP for the 2024 regular season!  Wilson joins Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes and Lauren Jackson as the only players to receive the award three times!  In addition, A’ja is the second player in WNBA history to win by a unanimous vote (67 1st place votes). A’ja finished out the season with 1,021 points, 451 rebounds and 98 blocks. Cynthia Cooper was the first player to win by unanimous vote in the W’s inaugural season in 1997.   Aja’s alma mater, the University of South Carolina (2024 WCBB Champions) also set a program record by selling out their season tickets for the upcoming season for the first time. 

In addition to MVP, the awards for Defensive Player, Rookie, Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year were still waiting to be handed out.  Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx) was named Defensive Player of the Year after receiving 36 1st place votes. This is Collier’s first WNBA Defensive Player award. DiJonai Carrington (Connecticut Sun) was named Most Improved Player of the Year after receiving 28 1st place votes. Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve was named WNBA Coach of the Year. Reeve is the first coach to win this award four times after receiving 62 1st place votes.  Last but not least, the Rookie of the Year award goes to Caitlin Clark! Clark received 66 1st place votes. Clark had a HISTORIC rookie season filled with SO MANY record breaking moments such as the most assists in a single season, most assists in a single game, fastest player to reach 300 career points, most points by a rookie in a single season. The list goes on and on and I can’t wait to see what Clark will do on the court next season.  Lastly, one of my go to Sunday night rituals is watching 60 Minutes on CBS. Jon Wertheim recently did a story on the WNBA  featuring Collier and Clark and I recommend a watch/listen. 

2. Last month, President Biden signed a bill to award Billie Jean King the Congressional Gold Medal!  King is the first female athlete to receive this honor.   The tennis legend and women’s rights trailblazer was recognized for their achievements both on and off the tennis court. During her tennis career, King won 39 grand slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. In addition to her Congressional Gold Medal, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses has announced that the sports icon will serve as the Grand Marshal of the 2025 Rose Parade! 

3. Records were broken on the trails! Tara Dower (ultrarunner ) now has the fastest known time for completing the Appalachian trail. The Appalachian trail spans along 14 states, 2189 miles long and comes with 465,000 feet of total vertical gain/loss. It took Dower 40 days, 18 hours and 5 minutes. She beat the previous record by 13 hours. Dower averaged 54 miles a day!  With her goal to set the fastest known time, she also wanted to use the opportunity to fundraise for Girls on the Run (a nonprofit organization that hosts running programs for girls across the country). Dower had a goal of $20,000 and so far she’s raised over $46,000. 

Ruth was RUTHLESS in Chicago!  Ruth Chepngetich (Kenya) not only claimed her third Chicago Marathon title but also smashed the women’s marathon world record on Sunday, becoming the first woman in history to finish the 26.2 mile race in under 2 hours and 10 minutes. Ruth passed the previous record set by Tigst Assefa (Ethiopia) by nearly 2 minutes. 

4. Now, this is a major touchdown for the football fans! Girls flag football is officially a state sanctioned school sport in Pennsylvania!  Pennsylvania joins the growing list of U.S. states, 12 and counting, that are adding this sport to their schools’ sport directories. “When we launched our Girls Flag Football League in 2022, we set an ambitious five year goal to get the sport sanctioned in our state. Now, here we are three seasons later and two years ahead of schedule ” – Philadelphia Eagles CEO, Jeffrey Lurie.  The Eagles Girls Flag Football League started with 16 teams in 2022, 38 teams in 2023 and they now have 65 teams. Flag football will become an Olympic sport at the Los Angeles games in 2028. 

5. This tampon is a game changer!  At this year’s T9 Pitchfest, we had the privilege of learning about Sequel Tampons from one of their co- founders, Greta Meyer. Sequel co-founders Greta and Amanda Calabrese met as students while at Stanford University. They started Sequel Tampons because as athletes, they couldn’t find one that they could rely on. So with their engineering expertise, they created their own!  This redesign which began as a class project has now partnered with Stanford University to provide student athletes with Sequel tampons. This collaboration is the first time a collegiate program has partnered with a tampon company in NCAA history.  In addition to their work with Stanford, they’ve also announced their partnerships with the USL Super League and Athletes Unlimited. Go Greta and Amanda! 

6. As the WNBA Finals are underway, we need to recap the record breaking stats coming out of this record breaking season. The WNBA Draft had its highest viewership of all time with 2.45 million fans watching which was +307% from 2023. The September 19th game between the Washington Mystics and the Indiana Fever was the most attended WNBA game in history with 20,711 fans. The Indiana Fever vs the Chicago Sky game on June 23rd was the most watched game in the past 23 years which peaked with 3.3 million  viewers. This season was the most watched and attended season in over 22 years with over 54 million viewers across all networks and with 2.35 million fans. There were 154 sold out games this season compared to 45 sold out games last season. 

The WNBA Finals between the NY Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx are in full force!  The Liberty  have their eyes on the prize to win their franchise’s first WNBA Championship! The Liberty secured their spot in the Finals after defeating the 2x defending champions, Las Vegas Aces. This is the second straight season where the Liberty have booked their spot in the Finals and the fifth time in franchise history.  The Minnesota Lynx have four WNBA Championship titles (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017) and have made six Finals appearances. 

Game 1 of the series broke the history books! 1.1 million people tuned in to watch (+57% from last year), making it the most viewed WNBA finals game in history.  In addition to viewership, the Lynx pulled off an unthinkable comeback to secure the W. While being down 18 points with 5 minutes left of regular regulation time, they shocked the NY Liberty fans and took Game 1 in overtime.  The Lynx didn’t lead for the first 39 minutes and 55 seconds of the game. This thriller of a game came down to the last five seconds.  On Sunday, the NY Liberty tied up the series with their 80-66 win. In addition to securing the win, the Liberty set a new attendance record at the Barclays Center with 18,040 fans!  Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday, October 16th in Minnesota. 

The WNBA regular season and playoffs are getting a changeup starting next season.  The league announced that the regular season will expand from 40 to 44 games. With the playoffs, the league is changing the first round to a 1-1-1 home/away format (instead of 2-1). The higher seeded team in each matchup will host Game 1 followed by the lower seeded team hosting Game 2. If necessary, the higher seeded team will host Game 3. Nothing will change with the best of five game format with the semifinals. However, the Finals will now be a best of seven series (2-2-1-1-1) instead of best of five series.

7. Let’s Go Valkyries!   I can’t believe that it’s already been a year since the WNBA announced that their 13th expansion team was coming to the Bay Area – Golden State Valkyries.  The Valkyries have announced that they have reached 18,000 deposits for season tickets!  The Expansion Draft is scheduled for December 6th on ESPN!  The Valkyries will be able to select from a pool of available players from each of the current 12 teams. The current teams can only protect up to six players from being selected.  In addition to the Expansion Draft, the WNBA announced that the Valkyries will pick fifth in the upcoming 2025 WNBA Draft. 

In more exciting news, the Valkyries announced that Natalie Nakase is the first Head Coach for the Golden State Valkyries!  Before being hired, Nakase spent the last three years as an Assistant Coach with the Las Vegas Aces. Prior to WNBA, Nakase spent 10 seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers as an assistant coach and player development coach.  “I just remember telling myself…I want to work for Golden State. I want to be a part of that. Fast forward nine years later, I’m sitting here, in Golden State.  I’m living proof that when you work really really hard, and you stay focused on your goal, that big dreams do come true” – Natalie Nakase

8. Gotham FC has made history!   President Biden welcomed Gotham FC (NWSL) to the White House to celebrate their 2023 NWSL Championship title. This visit was the first time ever that an NWSL team (in the league’s 11 year history) has been invited to the White House and recognized for their win and accomplishments. I love a comeback story and Gotham definitely made a comeback – the club finished in last place in the league in 2022. 

In other soccer news, the Orlando Pride has won the 2024 NWSL Shield! The shield is an annual award given to the NWSL team with the best regular season record.  As of two weekends ago, they were the only team that was still undefeated this season however the Portland Thorns had a different idea.  Last Friday, the Thorns ended their 24 game win streak by beating Orlando 2-0 and handed them their first loss of the season. This was Portland’s first win since July.  The last time Orlando faced a loss was on October 6th 2023! 

9. One of my favorite international soccer players, Christine Sinclair (Canada) has announced their retirement from professional soccer. Sinclair was on the Canadian National team for 20 years which included 6 World Cups and 4 Olympics! Christine is also the leading goal scorer in international soccer history (190 goals)! Sinclair has played for the Portland Thorns (NWSL) since the club’s inception back in 2013. With the NWSL, she’s a 3x NWSL champion and a 2x NWSL Shield winner. The Portland Thorns will honor Christine at her final regular season game on November 1st when the Thorns play against Angel City. 

10. San Jose, Salt Lake City and Boise get ready!  The fifth Rival Series between the US National hockey team against the Canadian National team is less than a month away and tickets are on sale now via USA Hockey!  In addition, the preseason schedule for the PWHL was announced earlier this month with the camp scrimmages being held in Montreal and Toronto in November. Unfortunately, the scrimmages are not open to the public and not available for viewing via livestream. The Toronto Sceptres have already sold out their season tickets for the second PWHL season despite moving to a bigger venue. 

Jessica Campbell (NHL) has made history on the ice!   Campbell is the first woman to coach in the NHL, as an assistant on-bench coach for the Seattle Kraken.  Prior, Campbell spent the past two seasons as an assistant for the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. “The year ahead is going to be a lot of fun. But to know and to understand that obviously there’s still at the forefront the thoughts of other women and other people who have the same aspirations as I do…So, to carry that torch every day, I keep my focus on being a coach, but it definitely puts meaning into the work” – Jessica Campbell 

11. Get in the paint Bay Area!   In a way to promote their upcoming exhibit, “Get in the Game: Sports, Arts, Culture” the SF MOMA partnered with UConn basketball star Paige Bueckers. In a short video, Paige is exploring the museum after dark. The exhibit opens October 19th and is on display through February 18th 2025. 

The Invisalign Bay Area Women’s Classic is coming to the Chase Center (San Francisco) on December 20th. This showcase will be a double header featuring four women’s college basketball teams. The first game will be Stanford University against Ohio State and the second matchup is UCLA against Creighton University.  If you’re interested, tickets are on sale now. 

Got another favorite moment to share? Drop it in the comments. Thanks for tuning in!