Champs Sports unveiled Wednesday a new campaign, honoring women who are making an impact in sports.
The campaign, titled “Women Win,” features athletes like Hanna and Haley Cavinder, who signed with Champs Sports in 2021 through an NIL deal and were the first female athletes to sign with the brand.
The college basketball stars, who recently transferred to the University of Miami from Fresno State, kicked off the name, image and likeness era a year ago, signing deals at 12:01 a.m. ET on July 1 — the first minute in which NCAA athletes could sign endorsement deals.
“Being able to work with amazing brands that have partnerships with Champs is just something that we never envisioned for ourselves,” Hanna Cavinder told Just Women’s Sports. “It’s been long overdue for student-athletes.”
As part of the campaign, which “puts solidarity, action, and equality at the forefront to highlight the many women in sports who are making a difference and advocating for positive change,” the duo headlined an event at Champs Sports Homefield with Miramar’s Everglades High School on July 17. There will be other events through July 30, like a Reebok workout class with former WNBA player Ty Young and an Under Armour event with Cornell volleyball player Sydney Moore.
All are meant to bring further visibility to Champ’s partnership with VOICEINSPORT, which aims to elevate conversations around equality and mental health in sports.
“Being able to go to the Champs store a couple days ago and work with a high school in our community, allowing us to work with female athletes and just give back to them was super cool,” Haley Cavinder said. “What Champs is doing is just really special to Hanna and I, and other female athletes in the world.”
Among Champs’ other action steps is a $30,000 donation to the VOICEINSPORT Foundation in support of their Title IX initiatives.
“Our team at Champs Sports is proud to continue empowering women in sports who serve as an inspiration each day,” said Guy Harkless, senior VP and GM of Champs Sports and Eastbay. “These women possess the ethos that Champs Sports prides itself on and we’re proud to provide a platform that shines a light on the collective voices helping to drive the future of women’s sports.”
Providing women in sports a platform has been an added bonus of NIL. In addition to the Cavinder twins, many at the forefront of NIL deals have been women, including Olivia Dunne, Aliyah Boston and Rose Zhang.
But there’s still room to grow as the era of NIL continues to be developed. More and more often, the marketability of female athletes is proving itself to be equal to that of their male counterparts.
“There’s not as many opportunities for our sports, so just being able to see all these female athletes is something that is very inspiring every single day,” said Hanna. “Obviously being a part of it, being at the forefront of it with Haley is something that we take a lot of pride in.
“I think there’s a lot of room for growth. Empowering women and shining light on female athletes and women in general is what we need to continue to do here. But I think campaigns like this one showcases companies like Champs empowering females.”
