Inaugural Women’s Summit celebrates success in women’s sports

Women’s sports has seen unprecedented growth recently with the women’s NCAA basketball tournament final drawing in an average of 18.7 million viewers. It was the largest audience in the championship’s history, bigger than the men’s March Madness final that recorded an average of 14.82 million viewers.

That surge in interest was celebrated at the inaugural Women’s Summit, hosted by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and Indiana Sports Corp.

The event brought women's sports leaders in Indiana together to talk about the future.

“We quickly decided that we must come together to highlight sports as both an economic engine and individual engine for Hoosier women,” said Vanessa Green Sinders, the President & CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. “So our goal today is to further empower each of you and provide you with opportunities to share experiences, learn best practices and make connections.”

Sessions throughout the day included panels on the economic impact of sports, mental health and professional development advice.

Indianapolis has put itself on the map as a sports destination over the last 50 years, when officials established the Indiana Sports Corp and looked to make the city the amateur sports capital of the world.

Today Indianapolis is home to the NCAA headquarters, four olympic governing bodies and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Professional major league teams based in Indianapolis include the Colts, Pacers and Fever as well as several minor league and amateur league teams.

The city has hosted Olympic trials including this year’s swimming trials at Lucas Oil Stadium, NCAA championships and Super Bowls.

In her opening remarks at the summit, Indiana Sports Corp Chief Staff and Strategy Sarah Myer said her team's vision for Indianapolis over the next 25 years is to make it the global epicenter for sports. And women’s sports is a critical piece of that goal.

“We have the kind of community where women like us can make things happen,” Myer said. “Let's make room at the tables and let's advocate for others when they can't advocate for themselves, because what we have here is something special and friends. This is not a moment. This is a movement.”

At the event the room erupted into cheers and applause at the announcement the WNBA All-Star Game would be held in Indianapolis next year for the first time. The home team Indiana Fever is currently pushing its way to the playoffs, breaking a seven-year drought.

“We owe a lot in women's sports here to Herb Simon and the Simon family,” said Mel Raines, Pacers Sports & Entertainment president and COO. “There were many years where I think a lot of people wondered if the Fever were gonna keep going.”

After Caitlin Clark signed to the Fever, ticket and merchandise sales took off. Jersey sales alone are up 1,200%. Raines said that if the Fever were an NBA team, they would be second in merchandise sales.

“So it's great that this is, I think it is a moment turning into a movement, as Sarah said, but it's also a business, and if we want women's sports to be successful, we have to make money. We do,” Raines said. “And so that's our opportunity here, and we're going to try to keep, you know, to keep growing that.”

Contact WFYI Policy Reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org.