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Google’s Kate Johnson on partnering with the WNBA and investing in women’s sports

The Washington Mystics and Chicago Sky tip off their 2021 opening game on May 15. (Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)

When the WNBA reached a new collective bargaining agreement last January, the measures that would pay the players higher salaries and offer more benefits stemmed in large part from an innovative Changemakers program. AT&T, Deloitte and Nike signed on to be the leading investors and drivers of marketing and branding strategy for the WNBA.

As the league prepared to tip off its 25th season last month, it announced a fourth Changemaker with even greater ambitions.

Google, as part of a multi-year agreement with the WNBA, was committing not only to provide business support but also to elevate the visibility of the league and its players. The company partnered with ESPN to broadcast 25 regular season games on the network and became an associate sponsor of its 30 for 30 and ESPN Films Series. It also agreed to drive more awareness for the WNBA through its search engines and platforms.

Kate Johnson, Google’s director of partnerships for content and sports media, was at the center of the negotiations. A decorated rower at Michigan from 1997-2001 and a 2004 Olympic medalist, Johnson was uniquely driven to support a women’s sports league that’s a leader in both on-court performance and off-court activism.

Just Women’s Sports spoke with Johnson about the origins of the partnership, the importance of collaborating with a media company and the decision to get involved in women’s sports now.

You joined Google in late 2019. What can you tell me about the initial conversations with the WNBA and how the partnership came to fruition?

I would back up and say that we’re not new to sports partnerships. When I think across all of our different product areas, we do have long-standing partnerships. But search and consumer apps, this is really our first foray into this, and a lot of that stems from our desire to be helpful in the world. That’s been a real focus of Google’s over the last couple of years.

Through that lens, women’s sports makes a ton of sense for us because it fits and aligns completely with our brand values, and specifically with the WNBA. We’ve partnered in kind of shorter-term moments with various women’s sports entities, but when we were looking at where we could have a longer-term impact, the WNBA really is at the forefront of progress for gender equity, which has been an important focus of ours. And the same thing with racial justice. So there’s a real synergy with our values.

You were an athlete yourself who went to the Olympics. On a personal level, was it important for you to get involved in women’s sports in this way?

I didn’t always get to choose what I got to work on, but when it comes to getting to choose, yes. I definitely positioned myself as a women’s sports advocate, and I think sometimes you’re waiting for the world to catch up a little bit. And the time is so obviously right. I mean, it’s always been the right time to invest in women’s sports, but I think the cultural zeitgeist right now is at a place where I don’t think we’re going to ever turn back after this moment. This year was a big tipping point for women’s sports, and I think the momentum will just continue.

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Kate Johnson (second from right) after winning the silver medal in the women's eight final at the 2004 Athens Games. (MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP / Getty Images)

I love that the deal is centered on reach, particularly getting the WNBA in front of more people with the 25 games on ESPN this year. Why was that a cornerstone of this deal in your eyes?

We do media investments really well. We have deep relationships with ESPN, with Disney, with Turner, meaning that we are advertisers. But I think if you’re not using those relationships to also do good in the world, you’re missing an opportunity.

The conversation with ESPN was really looking at the impact that we can make through those relationships that we have there, knocking heads with female leadership over there to say, “Where can we, our two brands together, uniquely make a difference?” And then those things certainly rolled into the WNBA being absolutely the right fit for us.

We have all of these examples of when more games are aired on national television, the ratings deliver. We saw it last year when TV viewership for the WNBA was up 68 percent. What are your goals on the TV side?

Our goals are definitely to drive more visibility of women’s sports and, with the launch of our partnership, to drive discoverability and distribution. We can do that just by being Google, in the sense of making sure we’re connecting more fans to getting the highlights on the WNBA, the scores, where the game is playing, what time it’s on — all in just a one-stop-shop when they Google “WNBA.”

And then that translates to the work that we’ve done with ESPN, which was making sure that it wasn’t just doing a media buy with ESPN, which so often these partnerships require. It was actually looking at that media investment and saying, “Can we do more?”

Another part of the deal was Google becoming a sponsor of ESPN’s 30 for 30 and ESPN Films Series. We just had a chance to see ESPN’s “144” doc on the WNBA bubble season. Would you like to see more WNBA and women’s sports docs through this activation?

Getting into the longform content, telling female athletes’ stories — that’s a really big part of the equation, which is why I’m really proud of that part of this partnership. My whole career has been about traditional sponsorship. This is not a traditional sponsorship approach. It’s not about just checking boxes, like doing the obligatory media by doing the obligatory activation. It’s, “OK, what uniquely can Google help the WNBA solve for? Where can we help in women’s sports?” And if we can help create more production of games on ESPN to drive more visibility, fantastic. If we can connect more fans through search to the games they want to watch, when they want to watch them, then we’re doing our job.

With the groundswell we’re seeing behind women’s sports and the WNBA, why was it important to invest in the league now?

I think there just comes a point where it’s like, what are we waiting for? I feel really good about the WNBA for so many reasons. But I think it’s really powerful that these women just played at the NCAA tournament and were kind of showing the inequalities in the game and in the tournaments, and then we get to roll it into taking a stand as an important brand for women’s sports with the W, and especially having watched the women last year use their platform for change. I think it’s giving them credit where it’s due.

Yeah, that’s important to note. You had all these outlets covering the inequities between the men’s and women’s tournaments, but then not covering the women’s games.

Yeah, I don’t think it’s enough for brands, especially in women’s sports, to just do the status quo. We have to look at the problem differently and solve for those problems differently.

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How integral was Cathy Engelbert to this? She’s only in Year 2 of her role as WNBA commissioner, and now you are the fourth Changemaker she’s helped bring on as a partner of the league.

She’s incredible, what she’s doing in terms of fundraising. It’s always a smart time to invest in women’s sports, but it also depends on the medium that you’re talking about and she’s looking for real-time investors to actually invest in a franchise model. I saw the quote where six of the 12 teams have actually been profitable over the last two years. Like, that doesn’t happen in men’s sports very often either. So what she’s doing is transformative.

For us, having an innovative thought leader over there, driving the W forward into this next chapter is another reason why it makes so much sense for us to join.

What else can you say about this partnership?

Somebody asked me about this other day: One of the greatest forms of flattery is actually copying. I’m not saying that we’re going to see anybody copying us yet in this space, but if that were a byproduct of this, I would be so proud because I think this is a territory where it’s not elbows out, like defend to protect your turf. It’s going to take a full-court press, everybody playing their role to elevate the game. We’re doing our job and we invite more brands to come to the table.

NY Liberty Reclaims No. 2 in the WNBA Standings Ahead of All-Star Game

New York Liberty stars Natasha Cloud and Sabrina Ionescu celebrate with teammate Breanna Stewart during a 2025 WNBA game.
The New York Liberty head into WNBA All-Star weekend as the league's No. 2 team. (Catalina Fragoso/NBAE via Getty Images)

The New York Liberty appear to be back on track, with the reigning champs leapfrogging the Phoenix Mercury to reclaim the No. 2 spot in the WNBA standings on Wednesday night.

Led by a 24-point, 11-rebound double-double from star forward Breanna Stewart, the Liberty punched a 98-77 win over a Caitlin Clark-less No. 6 Indiana Fever, as the 2025 WNBA All-Star captain remains day-to-day with a groin injury.

With Wednesday's victory, New York is now riding a three-game winning streak into All-Star weekend — and there's even more good news is on the horizon for the Liberty with starting center Jonquel Jones expected to return from her ankle injury after the break.

As for now-No. 3 Phoenix, New York's gain is the Mercury's loss, as their Wednesday clash with the league-leading Lynx ended 79-66 in Minnesota's favor while injured Phoenix stars Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper rode the bench.

Expansion upstart Golden State has also started to skid, leaving the Valkyries entering the break at No. 9 with three consecutive losses — including a 67-58 stumble against the No. 4 Seattle Storm on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, the No. 8 Las Vegas Aces have begun to regroup, entering the All-Star break on a two-game winning streak behind 2024 MVP A'ja Wilson and her combined 71 points and 26 rebounds over the last two games.

With the second half of the 2025 season tipping off following this weekend's All-Star festivities, momentum will be at a premium as early performances roll into postseason trajectories.

Italy Tops Norway to Advance to 1st Euro Semifinals in 28 Years

Italy striker Cristiana Girelli celebrates one of her two goals during their 2025 Euro quarterfinal win over Norway.
Italy reached their first Euro semifinal since 1997 on Wednesday. (Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)

World No. 13 Italy advanced to the 2025 Euro semifinals on Wednesday, defeating No. 16 Norway 2-1 in dramatic fashion to make it past the tournament's quarterfinals for the first time since 1997.

Captain Cristiana Girelli played hero, scoring both of Italy's goals — including a 90th-minute game-winner to successfully avoid extra time.

"I felt something different, something special," Girelli said following the match. "I have seen in the eyes of my teammates a special light."

Norway, however, faced a disappointing tournament exit, after captain Ada Hegerberg missed a penalty before scoring the team's lone goal in the second half.

Next on the 2025 Euro quarterfinals pitch are No. 6 Sweden and No. 5 England, as the European heavyweights face off in one of the round's most-anticipated matchups.

Sweden topped Group C with three emphatic wins, setting them up to take on the runners-up of the competition's notorious "Group of Death" — the reigning Euro champion Lionesses.

England enters the matchup on a two-game winning streak, picking up points against the No. 11 Netherlands and No. 30 Wales after falling to No. 10 France to open group play.

"They're relentless when it comes to tournament football," England captain Leah Williamson said of the Tokyo Olympic silver medalists. "They're just a very organized team."

How to watch Sweden vs. England in the 2025 Euro quarterfinals

The 2025 quarterfinals continue with Sweden taking on England at 3 PM ET on Thursday, live on FOX.

WNBA Announces 4-Point Shots, New Rules for 2025 All-Star Game

A diagram of the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game court features four circles in which shots made will be worth four points each.
The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game court will have four small areas in which shots made will be worth four points each. (WNBA)

The WNBA has set the scene for this weekend's 2025 All-Star Game, laying out a handful of special rules meant to liven up the on-court action.

The game will introduce four major changes: a four-point shot, a 20-second shot clock, live-play substitutions, and automatic points for free throws.

While four-point shots aren't a new All-Star Game invention, last year's matchup between the WNBA All-Stars and Team USA did not feature them.

To sink a four-point shot on Saturday, the shooting player must have contact with one of the four marked circles on the court, located 28 feet from the rim.

With four seconds taken off the shot clock to speed up the game, All-Star squads will also be able to make a one-player substitution while the ball is in play — so long as the team in question has possession in their backcourt.

As for the "No Free-Throws" rule, free-throw shooting will only occur in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, plus the full length of any overtime period(s).

Prior to the final two minutes of regulation, players will be automatically credited the maximum available point(s) incurred by the foul.

How to watch the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game

The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game will tip off in Indianapolis at 8:30 PM ET on Saturday.

Live coverage of the game will air on ABC.

Simone Biles Headlines Women’s Sports Winners at 2025 ESPY Awards

US gymnast Simone Biles holds her trophy at the 2025 ESPY Awards.
Team USA gymnast Simone Biles won two trophies at the 2025 ESPY Awards on Wednesday. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

Women won big at Wednesday's 2025 ESPY Awards, with star athletes from across women's sports earning top honors for outstanding performances over the past year.

Leading the charge was seven-time Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles with ESPYS for both Best Athlete, Women's Sports and Best Championship Performance for her trio of golds at last summer's Paris Games.

"Six-year-old me, who first started tumbling on my parents' sofa in the living room, is floored to be standing before you right now," Biles shared in one of her speeches.

Biles's Team USA teammate Suni Lee, who brought her doctor to the awards, won Best Comeback Athlete after battling kidney disease to return to top the Olympic podium.

The night's Best Breakthrough Athlete was USA Rugby star and 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Ilona Maher, who used part of her speech to encourage young women and girls, telling them to "Take up space. Pitch it faster. Run harder. Put another plate on the bar. And never tone it down."

Also snagging honors as the top athletes in their respective sports were Coco Gauff (Best Tennis Player), Caitlin Clark (Best WNBA Player), Katie Taylor (Best Boxer), and JuJu Watkins (Best College Athlete, Women's Sports).

Meanwhile, USWNT icon Alex Morgan and WNBA legend Diana Taurasi shared this year's Icon Award in recognition of the new retirees' impacts on their respective sports.

"Our mission has always been very similar," Morgan said in her acceptance speech alongside Taurasi. "We fought to leave our game in a better place than where we found it."

Penn State volleyball head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley accepts the 2025 Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the ESPY Awards.
Penn State volleyball coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley led her team to an NCAA title while battling cancer. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Off-court efforts earn 2025 ESPY Awards

Sports leaders whose impact surpassed the proverbial playing field also took home trophies on Wednesday night.

In recognition of her foundation's commitment to promoting diversity and providing tennis opportunities to underserved communities, US legend Sloane Stephens won this year's Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award.

Later, Penn State volleyball head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley earned a standing ovation alongside her Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.

Schumacher-Cawley, who became the first woman to helm a national title-winning volleyball team by leading her Nittany Lions to the 2024 NCAA Championship last December, did so while battling breast cancer.

"Cancer changed my life, but it didn't take it," said an emotional Schumacher-Cawley. "It didn't take my belief, it didn't take my spirit, and it didn't take my team."

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