When media and commerce company Togethxr opened its signature Togethxr House at the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Phoenix this spring, JPMorganChase was one of the major brands embedded under its roof. Instead of relying on a traditional league-sanctioned partnership, the financial giant operated a high-profile pop-up shop in collaboration with Golden State Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes and Round21, an organization dedicated to partnering with artists within the women’s sports ecosystem. To add an exclusive banking perk to the activation, Chase cardholders were granted special access to purchase the unique merchandise on site.
The strategic presence was driven partly by practical limitations and market realities. Speaking on a panel at ADWEEK House: Advertising HQ, Tara Bakhle, executive director of sports and entertainment marketing strategy at JPMorganChase, explained the rationale behind bypassing official channels. Because the bank does not hold an official league sponsorship, it is restricted from activating in traditional ways within official event boundaries.
To overcome these hurdles, brands are increasingly looking toward alternative avenues like Togethxr. Founded by an elite roster of women’s sports stars—including soccer icon Alex Morgan, swimming legend Simone Manuel, snowboarder Chloe Kim, and basketball great Sue Bird—Togethxr strategically sets up its immersive experiential spaces near major marquee athletic events without being an official partner. This model provides brands that lack official rights a reliable, high-impact way to directly reach the passionate fans who travel to these premier cities for the games.
For a massive financial institution like Chase, the target audience aligns seamlessly with strategic growth goals. The bank recently conducted internal data analysis comparing WNBA and NBA card transactions and discovered a striking insight: the customer overlap between the two fan bases is remarkably thin, falling between just 5% and 6%. Bakhle noted that this distinct demographic of women’s sports fans tends to skew younger and more affluent, representing precisely the high-value customers that Chase aims to aggressively acquire and retain over the long term.
This creative activation reflects a much broader industry shift in how brands without direct league deals are successfully carving out a space within women’s sports. The financial stakes are rising rapidly across the board. According to recent market projections from Deloitte, the women’s elite global sports market is forecasted to reach at least $3 billion in 2026, marking an explosive 340% increase since 2022.
As financial investment in the space accelerates at a historic pace, innovative media companies like Togethxr are positioning themselves strategically around marquee sports events. They are effectively selling brands direct access to enthusiastic fans, star athletes, and exclusive merchandise outside of the traditional, highly restrictive sanctioned partner groups. For Chase, this alternative play is fundamentally about capturing a broader, highly engaged audience segment that its existing, traditional sports sponsorship portfolio simply fails to reach.
The partnership between Togethxr and Chase did not stop in Phoenix. The two organizations teamed up once again at the WNBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago, demonstrating the repeatable success of their collaborative model. During the weekend festivities, Togethxr recorded its popular "Everyone Watches Women’s Sports" podcast live in front of an energized audience at the historic Chicago Theatre. Building on this live media moment, Chase offered its cardholders exclusive presale ticket access and hosted an upscale, bespoke VIP experience tailored specifically for high-net-worth J.P. Morgan Wealth Management clients.
The podcast shares its moniker with Togethxr’s wildly popular, best-selling commercial product line. The company has successfully sold more than 200,000 "Everyone Watches Women’s Sports" shirts, a commercial milestone heavily accelerated by a strategic partnership with Nike that took sales global. Furthermore, the company has successfully extended the iconic slogan to a wide array of lifestyle products, including Stanley tumblers and branded hats.
Despite the soaring popularity and commercial success of these items, connecting with today’s sports consumer requires a nuanced approach, as fans are becoming increasingly discerning and harder to impress.
We are operating in a current economic climate within sports where ticket prices have become extremely expensive, noted Bailey Williamson, senior vice president of partnerships at Togethxr. Fans who are paying top dollar for admission expect and demand a comprehensive experience out of their day, wanting much more than just the action that happens strictly on the court, she added.
Compounding these consumer expectations is an underlying sports infrastructure that Bakhle argues has simply not kept pace with the explosive growth of fan interest. Broadcasting rights remain fragmented and split across a wide array of networks, including ESPN, NBC, and various streaming platforms. Even accessing the programming or finding a specific game to watch on television remains genuinely quite difficult for the average viewer, Bakhle pointed out during the panel discussion. Furthermore, she noted that broader corporate investment still tends to skew heavily toward the men’s side of sports, even as new professional leagues and competitive teams continue to launch and capture public imagination.
