1976: Why Women's Sports Might Makes Us All Richer with Tess Waresmith

“Eileen Gu is a freestyle skier. She has competed in the past for the United States, but she has direct Chinese heritage. And so in this Olympics, she was competing for China. And a lot of people criticize that decision... The point that I made is that regardless of how you feel about which country she chooses to compete for, really important to note that China pays their athletes way better than the United States and the amount of brand deals and sponsorships she has gotten far surpass what she likely would have gotten in the United States.”

“There are Olympic athletes competing for the US that are making less than 15 grand a year. When you medal as an American, you make less than 30 grand a year and then it's taxed. So there's this big money conversation around her decision.”

“But then at the same time, the costs are up 46% since 2019 to 2025 The cost to put your kid in sports is up 46% faster than inflation. And so the challenge now is, how do we reconcile the fact that you need access, and on average, families are spending $1,500 a year per kid per primary sport.”

“There are stats like 94 percent of women in CC suite roles played sports in high school or college. Obviously, a lot of incredibly important career skills you learn during sports, teamwork, resilience, leadership under pressure, all of these skills that are incredibly important for being successful in the workplace.”

“Like some of the growth as far as like, like the salary cap, for example, for the average WNBA team before this year, before 2026 was 1.5 million. That's like how much the team can spend on salaries. It is now 7 million in one year. And that's supposed to increase dramatically over the next several years of this agreement. That's just year one.”

“I think the women's soccer team just signed a four-year media rights deal worth like $240 million, which is 40 times more than their previous contract. 40 times more. These are like huge numbers. Talk about an investment.”

“I ended up getting a call from my old diving coach and he said, hey, they're looking for Division I, NCAA and Olympic trial level divers for this aquatic show on a cruise ship, to which I immediately said, that's ridiculous. I have a business degree now. I'm a big deal. I'm not going to do that. And then two months later, when I couldn't find a job, I called him back and said, sure, I'll do whatever that is. And so I ended up working and living on a cruise ship for three years... And honestly, it changed my life because I was able to save a lot of money while working on the cruise ship because I didn't have any living expenses. And that's how I started to invest in real estate and the stock market.”

“When I was a kid, I was a serious athlete. I was a springboard diver, and I had female springboard divers that I looked up to, but I only watched men on TV. I grew up in Boston. I watched the Patriots, the Bruins, the Red Sox. I never saw women athletes on TV except for every four years in the Olympic cycle.”