Women's sports stars stepped into the business spotlight this week, as standout athletes like 2025 French Open champ Coco Gauff, current WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers, and USWNT star Trinity Rodman landed on the 2026 edition of the Forbes 30 Under 30 List.
Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady, Indiana Fever center Aliyah Boston, and Olympic rock climber Brooke Raboutou also made the cut for the US, with Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier named as one of the list's All-Star Alumni.
"Even though I love winning, it took me a while to realize that your life is still going to be your life regardless if you win or lose, and at that point you play freer," Gauff told the publication.
Designed to honor rising talents leading transformative change across business, culture, and entrepreneurship, the featured athletes on the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 list are making waves both on and off the field of play.
At 21 years old, Gauff is climbing the WTA's career prize money rankings while also topping Sportico's highest-paid women's sports athletes list, with fellow 30 Under 30s like 23-year-old Boston are investing in NWSL expansion teams.
Elsewhere, 22-year-old Canady signed two consecutive million-dollar NIL deals with Texas Tech, 24-year-old Bueckers has a stake in offseason venture Unrivaled, and 23-year-old Rodman teamed up with Adidas while also negotiating a new playing contract as a free agent.
Overall No. 1-seed Stanford has rolled through the competition in the first three rounds of the 2025 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament, with the Cardinal booking their spot in this weekend's quarterfinals with a 6-0 thumping of No. 5-seed BYU on Monday.
Stanford has outscored their opponents 16-4 so far, ousting unseeded Cal Poly 3-1 in the first round and claiming a 7-3 second-round shootout win over No. 8-seed Alabama before bouncing BYU.
Elsewhere in the bracket, fellow No. 1-seed Vanderbilt is also still alive after the Commodores took down SEC rival No. 4-seed LSU in Monday's Sweet Sixteen.
Not every top seed is through, however, as ACC standouts Nos. 1 Notre Dame and Virginia both fell to Big Ten contenders in the NCAA tournament's early rounds.
Reigning Big Ten Champions No. 4-seed Washington sent the Cavaliers home in a Sweet Sixteen penalty shootout on Sunday, as the Huskies continue their run in honor of late senior goalkeeper Mia Hamant.
Unseeded Ohio State has also surprised, overcoming a mediocre 4-2-5 performance in 2025 Big Ten play by staging an upset run through the national tournament. After claiming golden-goal overtime winners to oust Notre Dame last week and No. 5-seed Baylor on Sunday, the Buckeyes will make their first Elite Eight appearance since 2010 on Friday.
No. 2-seeds Michigan State, Duke, and TCU, as well as No. 3-seed Florida State round out the quarterfinal competition, as the Big Ten joins the ACC in leading the charge toward the 2025 College Cup with three teams each in the Elite Eight.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA soccer quarterfinals
The 2025 NCAA soccer tournament kicks off its Elite Eight round with three ACC vs. Big Ten matchups on Friday, when No. 2 Duke takes on No. 4 Washington at 4 PM ET before No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 2 Michigan State and No. 3 Florida State vs. Ohio State begins at 5 PM ET.
The last quarterfinal takes the pitch on Saturday, as SEC favorite No. 1 Vanderbilt faces No. 2 TCU at 7:30 PM ET.
All quarterfinals will stream live on ESPN+.
The NFL is putting women on the gridiron, with commissioner Roger Goodell announcing plans to launch both a men's and women's professional flag football league at Thursday's Leaders in Sport conference in London.
Looking to have both new ventures up and running in "the next couple of years," the NFL's goal is to introduce the leagues prior to the 2028 Summer Games in LA, where flag football will make its Olympic debut.
"The demand is there. We're seeing colleges in the States and universities internationally also that want to make it a part of their program," Goodell said. "If you set that structure up where there's youth leagues, going into high school, into college, and then professional, I think you can develop a system of scale. That's an important infrastructure that we need to create."
Building that infrastructure also feeds the ongoing NFL goal of growing flag football in order to construct a young fanbase for the gridiron sport at-large, with the league investing in a fan pipeline to support the NFL's future.
In part due to past NFL investments, women's flag football has seen significant growth across the US over the last 25 years, with over 30 states now offering competitive opportunities for high school girls — and at least half of those states fielding it as a full-fledged varsity championship sport.
Even the NCAA is getting in on the action, taking initial steps earlier this year to introduce flag football across all three of the governing body's divisions in the near future.
Though the LA Olympics are three years away, flag football is already charging ahead on the international stage, featuring in the 2022 and 2025 World Games — where the same US talent that the NFL is eyeing for its new league snagged a pair of silver medals.
The Women's Basketball Final Four is getting an upgrade, with the NCAA announcing Tuesday that the 2028 edition of the annual competition will move from Indianapolis's Gainbridge Fieldhouse to Lucas Oil Stadium due to surging ticket interest.
"Moving the 2028 Women's Final Four to Lucas Oil Stadium will allow for more access for our fans, and it represents the continued growth of the sport," said Division I women's basketball committee chair Amanda Braun. "With the interest we have seen, holding the Women's Final Four in a larger venue in Indianapolis is a natural next step."
Home to the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, the football stadium will open up approximately 13,000 additional seats for college basketball fans, bringing the total capacity for the 2028 Final Four to 31,000 — nearly double the original WNBA arena's 18,000 seats.
The committee also voted on Monday to continue the tournament's current preliminary-round format through the 2031 Championship, with seeded teams hosting the first two rounds at home followed by super-regional rounds in predetermined host cities — all leading up to the Final Four finale.
"The Women's Final Four continues to sell out, and the public demand for tickets has steadily increased," the NCAA said in a statement.
With sellout crowds across every NCAA Final Four dating back to 2017 — save the COVID-19 restricted 2021 edition — the 2028 move won't just allow more fans to attend, it will also give the governing body a more accurate measure of the true demand for the growing sport at the collegiate level.
The 2025 NCAA volleyball season is heating up, with a pair of Top 10 matchups headlining the first annual ACC-SEC "Showdown at the Net" event on Wednesday.
Recent conference realignment has seen the SEC and ACC emerge as volleyball strongholds alongside the Big Ten, with the two Power Four rivals laying claim to seven of the current Top 10 teams.
Putting their reputations to the test, the conferences launched the two-day "Showdown at the Net" series this season, with 14 SEC vs. ACC games taking place at campuses nationwide while the four top contenders face off in the event's two-game spotlight showcase in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Wednesday doubleheader will first pair the SEC's No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats against the ACC's No. 7 Pitt Panthers before their respective conference standouts take the court as the No. 2 Texas Longhorns face the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals.
The battle between the Longhorns and Cardinals — a rematch of the 2022 national championship game — will be particularly tense, as both squads enter the match without a single loss on the young 2025 season.
How to watch "Showdown at the Net" NCAA volleyball tournament
No. 3 Kentucky and No. 7 Pitt will kick off Wednesday's top-tier college volleyball clashes at 6:30 PM ET before No. 2 Texas and No. 4 Louisville square off at 9 PM ET.
Both games will air live on ESPN.
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd, Olympic gymnast Suni Lee, and more college talents struck a pose this week, teaming up with Kansas City Chiefs tight end — and newly minted fiancé — Travis Kelce to launch his new "Tru Kolors" American Eagle collection on Wednesday.
The Tru Kolors campaign highlights rising, current, and former NCAA athletes, with Fudd and Lee joined by UNC tennis commit Anna Frey as well as a trio of standouts in men's basketball and football.
"I'm inspired by where I come from and the people around me. That's why we chose six incredible athletes — Anna, Azzi, Drew, Kiyan, Suni, and Jeremiah — who stay true to themselves while changing the game," Kelce said in Wednesday's press release.
"Each athlete shares Travis's beliefs of staying true and living life beyond boundaries," the statement continues, describing reigning national champion Fudd as one of "college basketball's most resilient and dynamic players."
Lee is the only former collegiate icon featured in the campaign, with the Auburn alum departing NCAA competition to add three more medals to her six Olympic hardware total at the 2024 Paris Games.
College phenoms like Fudd and Lee have been able to funnel their athletic success into increasingly high-profile NIL deals.
Fudd has had a particularly lucrative year off the court, with this latest venture closely following a collab with Meta earlier this month.
How to buy the Travis Kelce American Eagle collection
Items from the initial Tru Kolors run hit shelves on Wednesday, with the rest of the 90-piece collection dropping on September 24th.
All pieces will be available to buy online at American Eagle.
The UNC Tar Heels are having a rough start to the 2025 NCAA soccer season, logging two upset losses in the first two weeks of competition to plummet from their No. 1 spot in the preseason rankings.
North Carolina stumbled right out of the gate, becoming the first reigning national champs to drop their season opener in 23 years with their 2-0 fall to Tennessee, before the Tar Heels added a second 2-0 loss to Georgia last Thursday.
As a result, a precipitous poll drop have the once top-ranked Tar Heels now sitting at No. 22 in the nation, with Stanford rising behind four straight wins to take the UNC-vacated No. 1 spot.
Meanwhile, North Carolina's SEC conquerers earned big boosts: Georgia made their season rankings debut at No. 13 this week, and a four-match opening winning streak saw Tennessee skyrocket to No. 2.
Tennessee's early-season success also includes a second massive win, as the preseason-unranked Vols defeated 2022 champion and then-No. 4 UCLA 1-0 last Wednesday to prove that their shocking opening upset was far from a fluke.
Redshirt junior forward Shae O'Rourke is leading Tennessee's charge, netting five goals across their four games — including scoring all three against the two recent NCAA champs.
As for UNC, the Tar Heels have time to right the ship under newly permanent head coach Damon Nahas, with the team looking to log some wins over lopsided opponents before their next ranked matchup against fellow ACC foe No. 24 Virginia Tech on September 11th.
College volleyball is back on the scene and the top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers kicked off the 2025 NCAA season in style last weekend, defeating both the No. 3 Pitt Panthers and No. 6 Stanford Cardinal with respective 3-1 and 3-0 results in the annual AVCA First Serve event.
The weekend wins mark a hot start for incoming Nebraska head coach and former Husker Dani Busboom Kelly, as the ex-Louisville Cardinals leader aims to push her alma mater to their first NCAA title since 2017 — following in the footsteps of Nebraska's four-time national champion coach John Cook, who stepped away last January.
"Dani's an awesome coach, and we've had so much fun with her, especially in this off-season," said Nebraska junior middle blocker Andi Jackson. "It's been just really fun getting to know her as a person and as a coach, and we've done a lot of really, really cool things."
"That intro was pretty unbelievable to start off college volleyball. For them to set the stage and set the tone that this sport is big-time was awesome," Busboom Kelly added after the Huskers' season-opening win on Friday.
Hot on No. 1 Nebraska's heels in the 2025 NCAA volleyball preseason rankings is reigning champion Penn State, with the pair leading the Big Ten's charge as the conference battles battles the also-stacked ACC for domination this season.
The No. 2 Nittany Lions also started their 2025 campaign with a big weekend win, sweeping the No. 12 Creighton Bluejays on Saturday's AVCA First Serve court.
How to watch top NCAA volleyball on Monday
The AVCA First Serve season kick-off wraps with two top-ranked matchups on Monday, when No. 2 Penn State will face the No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks at 6:30 PM ET before the No. 11 Minnesota Golden Gophers take on the No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies at 8:30 PM ET.
Both matches will air live on the Big Ten Network.
UConn basketball star and reigning NCAA champion Azzi Fudd added another stop to her whirlwind offseason this week, landing in Chongqing, China, to team up with NBA icon Steph Curry on his Curry Brand World Tour.
Fudd said just last week that she considered Curry her favorite NBA player, with the 22-year-old UConn grad student going on to beat the 16-year league veteran in a three-point contest while in China.
Kicking off its ninth US edition in San Francisco earlier this month, this year's Curry World Tour brings Curry Camp — a high school basketball clinic where the Golden State Warriors star provides "one-on-one coaching, advice, and exposure to his habits, routines, and mindset" — overseas for the first time.
Fudd's history with Curry runs deeper than her assist at this week's Curry Camp, with the 2025 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player attending one of the two-time NBA MVP's first elite girls basketball camps as a rising high school sophomore in 2018.
She then became the first-ever college player to sign an NIL deal with Under Armour's Curry Brand back in 2021 — just 17 days after Fudd made her collegiate basketball debut.
"Steph has been such an amazing resource," Fudd said back in March. "It kind of just goes to show the kind of person he is."
The 2025 NCAA soccer season kicks off with a full slate on Thursday, as longstanding powerhouses look to repeat last year's successes amid a continually shifting landscape.
Following a strong 2024 showing, the ACC is once again poised to house college soccer's upper echelon, with all eight of their preseason ranked teams cracking the Top 15 in the United Soccer Coaches poll.
Even more, the conference boasts all of Division I's top four programs, with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State, and No. 4 Duke trailing reigning national champions UNC, who enter the 2025 season as the NCAA's No. 1 team behind senior scoring leader and 2024 MAC Hermann winner Kate Faasse.
While the ACC leads the charge, the rest of the Power Four will attempt to make their own waves with a roster of their own ranked teams.
Matching the ACC with eight preseason nods, the Big Ten is again ruled by Southern California's No. 5 USC and No. 8 UCLA for the second straight season.
As for the five SEC and three Big 12 teams on the list, only two cracked the poll's Top 15, with No. 6 Arkansas leading the SEC charge while No. 9 TCU is the Big 12's best prospect.
Perennial contender Santa Clara scored the only non-Power Four spot in the ranks, with the West Coast Conference titan siding in at No. 16.
How to watch Thursday's ranked NCAA soccer matches
The NCAA is wasting no time in putting top-tier soccer matches on the pitch, with Thursday's 2025 season opener set to feature two ranked matchups.
No. 11 Penn State will visit No. 4 Duke, with the Blue Devils hunting their first win over the Nittany Lions in 26 years. The 7 PM ET match will air live on ACCNX.
Elsewhere, No. 6 Arkansas will host No. 13 Iowa in the pair's first-ever meeting, as the Hawkeyes hope to hand the Razorbacks just their second home loss since 2021. The clash will kick off at 7:30 PM ET on SECN+.
The 2025 NCAA soccer preseason rankings
1. North Carolina (ACC)
2. Notre Dame (ACC)
3. Florida State (ACC)
4. Duke (ACC)
5. USC (Big Ten)
6. Arkansas (SEC)
7. Stanford (ACC)
8. UCLA (Big Ten)
9. TCU (Big 12)
10. Wake Forest (ACC)
11. Penn State (Big Ten)
12. Michigan State (Big Ten)
13. Iowa (Big Ten)
14. Virginia Tech (ACC)
15. Virginia (ACC)
16. Santa Clara (WCC)
17. Vanderbilt (SEC)
18. Ohio State (Big Ten)
19. Texas (SEC)
20. Mississippi State (SEC)
21. South Carolina (SEC)
22. Oklahoma State (Big 12)
23. Wisconsin (Big Ten)
24. Minnesota (Big Ten)
25. Texas Tech (Big 12)