Welcome to the Party

Episode: The Next Billion-Dollar Women’s League

Date: March 5, 2026
Hosts: Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy, Billie Jean King
Special Guests: Kelsey Robinson Cook, Diana Flores

Episode Overview

This lively and passionate episode dives into a key question facing women’s sports today: Which league will become the next billion-dollar women’s professional league in the United States? Soccer legends Abby Wambach and Julie Foudy, joined by the iconic Billie Jean King, blend storytelling, data, debate, and fun as they advocate for the next wave of women's sports. They are joined by world-class guests—volleyball star Kelsey Robinson Cook and flag football icon Diana Flores—to make their cases for volleyball and flag football, respectively. The conversation seamlessly honors the progress made while fiercely discussing the work still to be done for gender equity and sustainable success in sports.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Progress and Fight for Equity in Women’s Sports

• Celebrating Women’s Impact & Ongoing Gaps

  • Acknowledgement of March 8th's International Women’s Day, a moment to “celebrate the social, economic, cultural, political achievements of women while pushing for progress wherever equality still doesn't exist.” (Abby Wambach, 04:02)
  • Recognition of increased women’s sports leadership, investment, and participation—but also honest discussion on pay gaps, funding, safety, and representation.
  • Calls to action: spotlight on the International Women's Day giving directory for those wanting to support real change. (Julie Foudy, 11:57)

• Personal Turning Points: When the Fight Became Bigger than the Game

  • Billie Jean King describes realizing, at age 12, that she wanted “to change the world” through tennis and committed to fighting for “equality and inclusion the rest of my life.” (Billie Jean King, 05:07)
  • Julie Foudy recalls confronting US Soccer with hard evidence—finding they spent 80% of youth funds on boys, only 20% on girls—and making that the basis for her enduring advocacy. (Julie Foudy, 06:38)
  • Abby Wambach shares how seeing the 1996 and 1999 USWNT’s victories on TV “molecularly changed something in my body,” reinforcing the vital need for women’s sports visibility in media for inspiring the next generation. (Abby Wambach, 09:16)

We’ve Arrived: WNBA and NWSL Break the Billion-Dollar Barrier

• Both the WNBA and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) have collectively reached or surpassed billion-dollar valuations, thanks to surging franchise values and unprecedented media deals.
  • “Once a few women's leagues cross into that billion-dollar territory... it changes the rules for everyone else.” (Julie Foudy, 23:56)

Notable Stats:

• WNBA’s collective valuation: ~ $3.5 billion (2025)
• Top team (Golden State Valkyries): $500M; NY Liberty: $420M
• NWSL passed $1B collective valuation by early 2025; top teams Angel City ($280M), KC Current ($270M) (Julie Foudy, 25:03)

The Debate: Which League Is Next?

Setting the Stage

• The hosts square off in a friendly, stats-packed debate: will volleyball or flag football be America’s next billion-dollar women’s pro league? They agree—the pipeline is growing, and there will eventually be a “pile” of billion-dollar leagues, but who’s next?

Abby’s Case: Volleyball

• Participation & Popularity:

  • “Volleyball is the number one girls team sport...Surpassing basketball in participation by a huge margin.”
    Over 490,000 girls played high school volleyball in 2024-2025.
    NIL (Name-Image-Likeness) compensation for female volleyball athletes grew 365% YOY, then another 123% the following year. (Abby Wambach, 28:18)

• Pipeline & Viewership:

  • Rocketing viewership both in NCAA regular season and championships (1.4 million watched the 2025 national title game).
  • ESPN aired 4 of its 5 most-watched volleyball games ever in 2025. (Abby Wambach, 30:07)

• Pro Expansion:

  • Multiple pro leagues now established: Athletes Unlimited (AU), LOVB, MLV—with expansion into major cities and strong local investment.
  • “It’s not a future bet...Volleyball isn’t waiting for its moment—it’s already in it.” (Abby Wambach, 32:17)

• Cultural Roots & Growth Model:

  • Title IX and full NCAA support provide unique infrastructure for mass participation and vertical integration from youth to pro levels.

Julie’s Skeptical Counterpoint:

• Concerns about too many pro leagues diluting product clarity, investment, and long-term confidence.
  • “Too many leagues dilutes the product and the valuations.” (Julie Foudy, 32:46)

Julie’s Case: Flag Football

• Explosive Growth & Accessibility:

  • Flag football is fast-growing, with 20 million global participants (Diana Flores, 47:29), now an emerging NCAA sport for women (approved January 2026).
  • Accessible, non-contact, co-ed friendly, and scalable for youth through elite.

• Olympic Visibility:

  • Set to debut as an Olympic sport at the 2028 LA Games—a huge media and participation amplifier.

• NFL Backing:

  • NFL voted in December 2025 to invest up to $32M in a women’s pro flag football league.
  • Existing leagues (WNFC, WFA) are now adding flag football, but the big change is the NFL’s official alignment and investment.
    • “This is their user-friendly version of tackle football...They are pumping it up.” (Julie Foudy, 36:46)

Collegial Counterpoints

• Abby argues that NFL backing could bring resources but worries about women’s leagues needing their own leadership and not depending on men’s league models.

  • “Not every women’s league needs to attach themselves to a men’s league in order to be successful.” (Abby Wambach, 39:18)

• Julie notes the NFL’s ambitions to capture broader female fandom, but that a “copy-paste” approach won’t work.

Guest Stars Weigh In: “Phone a Friend”

(Timestamps correspond to where guest segments begin)

Kelsey Robinson Cook (Volleyball) [45:43]

Olympic medalist, owner (LOVB SF), and volleyball ambassador.

• Reiterates volleyball’s unmatched youth participation, massive club and rec scene, and already huge popularity both in the US and globally.
  • “It’s the number one team sport being played by young girls in the country... the biggest thing is the foundation is there.” (Kelsey, 50:14)
• New pro leagues finally offer US-based play for homegrown stars.
• “We’re at the very, very beginning of what volleyball’s going to look like in the next two, three, ten years. I think it’s going to be massive.” (Kelsey, 51:33)

On past obstacles:

• US pro leagues failed before due to unsustainable models, forcing top talent abroad; now, with Olympians backing the new structure, “if it’s ever going to work professionally, this is the league that’s going to do it.” (Kelsey, 52:37)

Diana Flores (Flag Football) [47:29]

Global ambassador, Mexican national team QB, Super Bowl campaign star.

• “Flag football is living in an amazing moment... It’s now more than momentum. It’s a movement.”
• Over 20 million global players, exponential growth in the last five–seven years, played in over 100 countries.
• NCAA and Olympics status create new pipelines—girls now can get US or Mexican scholarships via flag football.
• NFL investment is substantial, but the sport was already growing without it.
• “An amazing characteristic of the sport is that it’s so accessible... You don’t need a lot of equipment...and that has helped flappable [sic] growth in an amazing way.”
  (Diana, 48:51)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Billie Jean King’s Origin Story:
  “I thought, first of all, tennis is global, just like soccer... If I can become number one, I can influence and make the world a little bit better. And I promised myself that day I would fight for equality and inclusion the rest of my life.” (Billie Jean King, 05:07)

• Julie Foudy’s Advocacy Turning Point:
  “We discovered they were spending 80% of their money on a 12 year old boy versus 20%... That’s actually when we got the federation to change, because they said ‘we agree, that’s not right.’... From now on, that’s going to be my fight.” (Julie Foudy, 06:38)

• Abby Wambach on Representation:
  “Without having the ability to have watched you guys with my eyeballs... Abby Wambach might not have ever played for the national team.” (Abby Wambach, 09:16)

• Kelsey on US Pro Volleyball’s Potential:
  “We’ve just had to go overseas to play it professionally... Now we have that [here]; in the first year to the second year, the stats were like exponentially larger with how much viewership.” (Kelsey, 51:07)

• Diana on Flag Football’s Movement:
  “It’s so dynamic...that new generations now are the ones that are jumping in. They are curious, they’re learning fast—and it’s just the beauty of the sport, I think.” (Diana, 54:35)

• Mutual Support Among Women’s Leagues:
  “That is why I think the WNBA and NWSL have achieved status, because they’ve been fighting for each other, with each other, wearing the t-shirts—‘Pay Them What They Deserve.’... That is why women’s sports and all these leagues are going to thrive and get to that billion dollar valuation at some point.” (Abby Wambach, 56:40)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Reflection on Progress & Equity: 04:02 – 13:45
• Debate Setup: Who’s Next to a Billion?: 23:55 – 26:29
• Abby’s Volleyball Pitch: 27:01 – 34:23
• Julie’s Flag Football Pitch: 34:29 – 40:11
• Guest Segment - Kelsey & Diana: 44:49 – 55:37
• Mutual Recognition & Women’s League Solidarity: 56:27 – end

Conclusion: The Future's Bright—and Competitive

• No final winner is proclaimed. Instead, both volleyball and flag football are celebrated as dynamic, poised, and fast-growing. The hosts underscore that their debate isn’t meant to pit leagues against each other but to recognize the collective momentum of women’s sports.
• All guests and hosts express admiration for one another and the larger sisterhood in women’s sports.
  • “We want every women’s sports league to get to this billion dollar valuation... This was just wrapped around who’s going to go next.” (Abby Wambach, 55:49)
• The episode closes with an invitation for listeners to weigh in and carry the conversation forward.

For the Party People

• Which league do you think will be the next to break the billion-dollar barrier in women’s sports—volleyball, flag football, or another?
• The hosts encourage you: Get involved, donate, spread the word, and celebrate the journey and achievements of women’s sports—because as they repeatedly reminded the audience, “the party is just getting started!”