The rise of the ‘sports girl’
Anais Loeppky, Web Editor |
Canada’s professional women’s sports market has doubled in two years, reaching an estimated $380 to $400 million in 2025 and a projected $570 million by 2030.
In the first half of 2026, there was an 18 per cent increase in viewership of women’s sports compared to the same period in 2025.
This is not a matter of women suddenly becoming interested in sports, but of women creating their own spaces within sports culture.
From TikTok creators explaining baseball through humour and slang to Taylor Swift becoming a publicity machine for the National Football League (NFL), women are finding new ways into sports culture.
In Canada, where professional women’s sports have expanded rapidly in recent years, this change has become increasingly prominent.
For decades, much of mainstream sports marketing has been directed toward male audiences. Sports fans are familiar with the beer commercials and the overdone locker-room humour, but now, we are seeing marketing that targets women.
One example is a TikTok trend started by creator Kait Maniscalco called “Baseball for Baddies.” Maniscalco, along with other TikTok creators, makes videos that explain sports in a way that appeals to a female audience.
These videos discuss sport using humour and modern slang, ultimately making fandom feel more inviting and easier to get into.
Maniscalco’s videos are made without assuming that her viewers already understand basic baseball terminology. Instead, she and other creators make learning about the sport a part of the entertainment.
Canada’s changing sports landscape
Canada, in particular, has seen a dramatic change in women’s sports. According to Canadian Women & Sport, Canada’s professional women’s sports market has doubled since 2023.
In 2024, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) was created. During the 2025 to 2026 season, it attracted more than 1.1 million fans and averaged 9,304 spectators per game, a 28 per cent increase from the previous season.
For many fans and athletes, the PWHL represents a longoverdue investment in women’s hockey, providing athletes with higher salaries and the opportunity to be treated as valued professionals.
Fans have also seen a drastic change right here in Calgary. The city is home to Calgary Wild FC, a founding club in Canada’s Northern Super League (NSL), the country’s first professional women’s soccer league.
In the 2025 season, the league’s final attracted more than 1.1 million Canadian viewers. The league also gained significant traction on social media, with more than 4.5 million impressions in just one week.
For local soccer fans, this provides an opportunity to cheer on a professional team from their own city and participate in a growing sports community. Seeing women play professional sports in their city makes fans feel much closer. It provides inspiration for Calgary girls and women who see professional athletes in their communities.
In our sports girl era
When talking about women finding new spaces within sports communities, Taylor Swift comes to mind almost instantly. When Swift was first spotted attending a Kansas City Chiefs game in 2023, nobody quite anticipated the amount of attention she would bring to the NFL.
In early 2025, it was reported that Swift had generated an estimated $992,361,912 worth of publicity for the NFL. Swift’s presence demonstrated how quickly sports can become part of popular culture. Her enormous female fanbase suddenly started paying attention to football, turning game days into something that extended far beyond the turf.
Swifties who had never cared about football suddenly found themselves learning positions, rules, teams and rivalries. Some became genuine fans, while others became interested in the cultural spectacle surrounding the games. There were even Taylor Swift-themed Super Bowl watch parties.
The Taylor Swift and NFL phenomenon is just one example of the way women are finding new entry points into sports culture.
Gameday is for the girls
The growing presence of women in the sports community is also changing men’s sports.
Women are increasingly interested in supporting hockey, football, baseball, basketball, soccer and Formula 1. Sometimes they are attracted to the game; however, the players, fashion, and social aspects are also getting a lot of attention.
This is another example of social media bringing sports to new audiences. A person who has never watched a baseball game can encounter a 45-second video explaining why a particular player is funny. Someone who knows nothing about hockey can discover a player through an edit. Someone who has never watched Formula 1 can become invested in a driver after seeing clips of them online.
These small connections can introduce entirely new audiences to sports. The barrier to entry becomes much lower, creating an environment where women can enter these spaces without having to pretend they are experts.
Changing the game
For women, getting into sports has also meant pushing back against stereotypes.
For years, female sports fans have faced the stereotype that their interest comes from a male partner or an attraction to athletes. The growing visibility of women as fans, creators and athletes challenges that assumption.
Being a fan does not require knowing every player, every statistic or every rule in the book. Sports can be enjoyed casually, socially or passionately, and women are increasingly creating communities that allow them to enjoy sports on their own terms.
