Women’s sports business in 2026 is not a niche growth story. Deloitte projects global revenue in elite women’s sports to reach at least US$3 billion this year, up 340% from 2022. Nielsen reports 28.3 billion minutes of women’s sports were viewed in the United States in the first half of 2026 and that 52% of the U.S. population is interested in women’s sports.
Those numbers make leadership worth looking at closely. The women in sports business below are making decisions about league growth, expansion, ownership, media, governance, commercial strategy and the infrastructure around athletes. The list is intentionally not a power ranking. Comparing a commissioner, an owner and a league operator as though they perform the same job would not be useful.
The better question is what each person’s current role reveals about where the industry is heading. All titles and roles below were checked against current organization sources on September 26, 2026.
1. Cathy Engelbert, WNBA Commissioner through 2026
Cathy Engelbert remains WNBA commissioner in September 2026, but the role is entering a transition. On September 4, the WNBA announced that she will retire at the end of 2026 after seven years as the league’s first commissioner.
Her tenure coincided with an extraordinary growth period: expansion, rising attendance and viewership, higher franchise valuations, a new media-rights structure and a new collective bargaining agreement. The WNBA says its expansion plan now runs from 12 teams to 18 by 2030.
For sports-business students, the timing makes Engelbert especially interesting. She is both a current leader and a case study in how a commissioner manages growth while a league’s economic model, player compensation and media profile change at the same time.
2. Jessica Berman, NWSL Commissioner
Jessica Berman has been commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League since 2022. Under her leadership, the NWSL has expanded its commercial position, signed a major media-rights package and continued growing franchise valuations and attendance.
The league’s current leadership profile credits Berman with helping negotiate a collective bargaining agreement that eliminated the player draft and expanded player control over movement. The NWSL also entered a broad media era involving CBS Sports, ESPN, Prime Video and Scripps.
For sports-business students, Berman’s work is especially interesting because it combines league governance, labor relations, media strategy and expansion during a period when women’s soccer is attracting more institutional capital.
3. Michele Kang, Kynisca Founder and Washington Spirit Owner
Michele Kang has built one of the most ambitious ownership platforms in women’s football. She is the founder of Kynisca and owner of the Washington Spirit, with a strategy built around long-term investment in women’s clubs, performance infrastructure and commercial growth.
Her influence received a fresh marker in September 2026 when World Football Summit named her its 2026 Best Executive, making her the first woman to receive that award. The recognition is notable less as a trophy than as evidence of how seriously multi-club investment in women’s football is now being treated by the broader industry.
Kang’s model makes ownership itself a sports-business subject: capital allocation, shared services, player performance, brand development and the question of how a multi-club platform can create scale without flattening local identity.
4. Jayna Hefford, PWHL Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations
Jayna Hefford is a Hall of Fame player whose post-playing career has become central to the development of the Professional Women’s Hockey League. As Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, she helps shape the competitive side of a league that has grown rapidly since launch.
Hefford’s responsibilities touch areas such as roster systems, rules, competitive structure and player-related hockey operations. In 2026, the PWHL expanded again, requiring new processes for distributing talent while trying to preserve competitive balance.
Her path demonstrates how athlete experience can translate into executive leadership when paired with organizational responsibility and strategic decision-making.
5. Amy Scheer, PWHL Executive Vice President of Business Operations
If Hefford helps define the hockey product, Amy Scheer helps build the business around it. As the PWHL’s Executive Vice President of Business Operations, Scheer has been involved in fan engagement, access, commercial development and league growth.
Hefford and Scheer were recognized as 2026 CNBC Changemakers by the PWHL, reflecting how closely sporting and business operations have had to work together during the league’s rapid expansion.
Scheer’s role highlights an important sports-business reality: a successful league needs more than compelling games. It needs ticket strategy, sponsorship, media distribution, brand development, market launches and repeatable operating systems.
6. Kim Ng, AUSL Commissioner
Kim Ng has spent decades breaking barriers in baseball. She became the first woman to serve as general manager of a major American men’s professional sports team when she led the Miami Marlins, after earlier front-office roles with the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 2025, Ng became the first commissioner of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, now known as AUSL. The league’s 2026 media guide points to sellout crowds, investment from Major League Baseball and new commercial partnerships following its inaugural season.
Ng’s career is notable not simply because she was “first.” It spans player personnel, baseball operations, league building and business leadership across men’s and women’s professional sport.
7. Sarah Hirshland, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee CEO
Sarah Hirshland serves as CEO of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The position sits at the centre of a complex sports system involving national governing bodies, athlete support, commercial partners, Olympic and Paralympic preparation, governance and the relationship between elite sport and the U.S. college system.
In a 2026 Olympic cycle that included the Milano Cortina Winter Games and preparations for Los Angeles 2028, the USOPC’s strategic influence extends far beyond a single team or league.
Hirshland’s role shows another side of sports business: major organizations often have to balance mission-driven athlete support with commercial growth, governance and stakeholder management.
8. Amy Brooks, NBA President, New Business Ventures
Amy Brooks has held senior business and innovation roles at the NBA for years. In 2024, she became the league’s first President, New Business Ventures, with a mandate to identify new domestic and global revenue opportunities.
Her background includes team marketing, business operations and innovation. Those areas matter because major leagues increasingly operate like technology, media and consumer businesses as much as competition organizers.
New business ventures can include investment, partnerships, digital products and entirely new business lines. Brooks therefore represents the part of sports business focused on finding the next source of growth rather than only managing the current one.
9. Willow Bay, Angel City Controlling Owner
Willow Bay and Bob Iger became Angel City FC’s majority shareholders in 2024, with Bay serving as controlling owner for NWSL purposes and representing the club on the league’s Board of Governors.
The transaction valued Angel City at $250 million at the time, an important signal for the commercial trajectory of women’s professional sports. Bay’s background in media and education adds another layer to an ownership role that includes governance and long-term enterprise strategy.
Angel City is particularly relevant to sports-business study because the club has treated brand, sponsorship, community impact and ownership structure as core parts of its identity from the beginning.
10. Amy Taylor, Angel City CEO
Angel City named Amy Taylor chief executive officer in June 2026, with the appointment effective July 27. Taylor arrived with experience leading consumer brands and previously serving as president of Red Bull North America.
Her role includes oversight of football, business and organizational operations. That broad scope is useful for understanding the modern team CEO position. A professional club is simultaneously a sports operation, entertainment property, employer, media brand, ticketing business, partnership platform and community institution.
Taylor’s appointment also illustrates how sports organizations increasingly recruit senior leaders from outside traditional team front offices when they need experience in brand building, consumer growth and corporate governance.
What these women show about the modern sports industry
There is no single pathway into sports leadership. The executives on this list have backgrounds in law, accounting, media, athlete development, consumer products, technology, baseball operations and elite competition.
That diversity matters because the sports industry itself has diversified. Revenue now comes through streaming, direct-to-consumer products, global sponsorship, private investment, data, international expansion and new league formats. Organizations need leadership teams capable of operating across those areas.
The rise of women’s professional leagues also changes the opportunity landscape. Women’s sports are increasingly attracting dedicated ownership capital, purpose-built facilities, major media packages and sophisticated expansion strategies. That creates room for new operating models rather than simply copying the way established men’s leagues have always worked.
Why influence in sports business is difficult to rank
Influence can mean different things. A commissioner may negotiate league-wide rights. An owner can change the valuation of a category. A business executive can build a new revenue platform. A hockey operations leader can create systems that make a league credible to athletes.
That is why this list is not presented as a scorecard. The more useful question is what each leader controls, what problem she is trying to solve and what changes because of that work.
What these leaders say about the market in 2026
There is a common thread across these roles: women’s sports is demanding more specialized operating capacity. Expansion needs market strategy. Larger media deals need production and distribution expertise. Higher valuations bring more sophisticated governance. Athletes expect stronger performance and welfare systems. Sponsors expect measurable commercial returns.
The market data is moving in the same direction. Deloitte expects women’s elite sports to generate at least US$3 billion globally in 2026, while Nielsen reports that U.S. viewing is on record pace and that more than half of the U.S. population now expresses interest in women’s sports. Growth does not remove the industry’s structural challenges, but it changes the scale of the decisions leaders are making.
Current-role sources include the WNBA, NWSL, PWHL, AUSL, USOPC, NBA Communications, Angel City and the Washington Spirit. Market context comes from Deloitte’s 2026 revenue forecast and Nielsen’s 2026 women and sports report.
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