“Ring the Bell!”

The phrase can be heard often at the LPGA Tour’s headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla. these days. When the words pierce the air, a staffer will ring Hall of Famer Pat Bradley’s mom’s bell, just as she did whenever the six-time major champion did something well. The tour recently received the bell from the World Golf Hall of Fame, and now it resides in the lobby of the LPGA’s offices.

With purse sizes increasing significantly this season across the LPGA’s marquee events, the tour has had plenty of wins to celebrate.

“I’ve had some situations where I’ve gone into a meeting thinking we were just talking about the event,” says LPGA Tour commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, “and the CEO or the lead executive from the sponsor just says, ‘Listen, I’ve got great news. We’d like to increase the purse by 25 percent or to increase the purse by X amount.’”

Between all of the LPGA’s five majors and the tour championship, the total money available to players in 2022 is $2.78 million more on average than last season, marking a 59.4 percent year-over-year increase. The AIG Women’s Open, which began Thursday at Muirfield in Scotland, was the latest major to implement a purse increase. After guaranteeing “at least $6.8 million” last August, the Open bumped it even further this week to $7.3 million.

“To see and have these partners like KPMG this week,” Lydia Ko said at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, “or ProMedica at the U.S. Women’s Open, or AIG did a big jump as well and the many other partners — not just our majors — for them to believe and see what we see and believe in women’s golf and go for that woman’s empowerment is very special.”

The length of the LPGA’s discussions with existing sponsors on increasing purse sizes has ranged from a few years to mere minutes. The reasons the companies have provided for boosting the prize money, however, are generally consistent.

“It is an opportunity for them to express their own company values and an opportunity for them to support something that they believe in,” Marcoux Samaan tells Just Women’s Sports. “It’s really exciting because it’s often not a great negotiation. It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together to support the players and to support the organization.’”

These companies are especially interested in getting in on the ground floor as women’s sports grow across the board, Marcoux Samaan explained. Interested sponsors are seeing the data that shows that women’s sports fans are more passionate than men’s sports fans.

Their investments also go beyond the dollar amounts. Some have focused on getting their sponsored event on national television. Dow Chemical Company, the title sponsor of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, pays for the final round to air on CBS. Other ancillary offerings include travel stipends, courtesy cars and “the best food that you could ever imagine,” according to Marcoux Samaan:

“Every conversation is, ‘How do we continue to support the women on the tour and reach this partner and the sponsor’s goals?'”

The staggering monetary growth hasn’t reached the LPGA’s non-major events to the same extent. The purses of the regular-field tournaments have increased by 4.5 percent, from $1,827,778 in 2021 to $1,910,000 this season. The AmazingCre Portland Classic, the LPGA’s longest-running non-major tournament entering its 51st year, announced in May a $100,000 purse increase from $1.4 million to $1.5 million, on the same day AmazingCre was revealed as the tournament’s title sponsor.

While the muted growth of the tour’s regular season tournaments might not impact the stars at the top of the world rankings, those golfers in the middle-to-lower tiers face more of an uphill battle. If they don’t qualify for the majors, they can’t reap the benefits of the massive purses.

Marcoux Samaan said the LPGA typically targets a $2 million purse as a baseline for new events. That means a golfer would have to play in five regular-field tournaments to match the total purse at the U.S. Women’s Open this year.

“We value all of our partners, and we want them to move at the pace that they’re comfortable moving. We obviously would want all of them to be able to grow as the value grows, as they see the continued value of their partnership with us,” Marcoux Samaan says. “I think we’re having those conversations with all of our partners, but we’re also very much grateful for those that have supported us for a long time.”

While the LPGA continues to chip away at the purse sizes in all of its tournaments, the tour’s total prize money grew 36.9 percent from last year to 2022. Marcoux Samaan expects many more bell-ringing moments as the LPGA continues to build on the momentum.

“I think it’s really exciting that people are starting to really see the world-class talent of our athletes, and they’re investing in that, because it is a chicken and egg,” she says. “The more they invest and the more viewership, the more value people will place on the tour and on our athletes, which is really what our goal is.”

Kent Paisley is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering golf and the LPGA. He also contributes to Golf Digest. Follow him on Twitter @KentPaisley.

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street:

Maria Sanchez issued a statement on Thursday, confirming recent reports that she has requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

In it, she revealed that the club has been aware of the request "since late March."

"This has all taken a toll and isn’t an easy thing to talk about, but I want to confirm that I’ve requested an immediate trade," she wrote. "My expectations and reasons have been clear. I trust that my current club’s management will honor my decision in a timely manner and proceed with accepting a trade."

"I’m eager to refocus and dive back into what I love most: playing football," she concluded.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Reports of Sanchez's trade request first surfaced on ESPN last week, and were later confirmed by multiple sources. 

In December of last year, Sanchez signed a three-year contract with the Dash valued at $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. It was the largest contract in NWSL history at the time — a figure that would be eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

Sanchez spent the offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning that Houston could match any other team's offer to retain her rights. Should the Dash trade Sanchez, her current contract terms would remain intact, limiting potential buyers to teams able to afford to take on an inking of that size.

The Dash has yet to address the trade, instead reiterating to ESPN that Sanchez is "under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close tonight, April 19th, at 12 a.m. ET. The window will stay closed through the next 11 regular season games, reopening on August 1st, 2024.

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

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For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

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"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.