The Indy Chamber announced a formal research partnership with the IU Indianapolis Sport Innovation Institute on March 10 to examine female representation and career mobility in the business of sports.
The multi-phase data initiative brings together applied data science, sport analytics, researchers and graduate students from the Luddy School of Informatics and the School of Health and Human Sciences. The project quantifies women’s leadership representation across Indianapolis’ anchor sports organizations and benchmarks the city against peer metropolitan areas nationally.
Preliminary findings indicate that Indianapolis ranks among the top U.S. cities for women in executive leadership roles within major sports organizations, with consistent representation across multiple franchises and governing bodies.
“This partnership allows us to move beyond anecdote and strengthen measurable insight,” said Senior Director of Public Relations & Communications at the Indy Chamber Martina Jackson. “Indianapolis has spent decades intentionally building a sports ecosystem where careers can grow. This research helps quantify that reality and better understand how leadership pathways, particularly for women, continue to develop across the industry.”
The research endeavor includes analysis of director-level and above leadership roles across major league teams, national governing bodies, venue operators and sports-adjacent enterprises. In addition to executive representation, the study examines promotion velocity, job-posting transparency, university pipeline placement and women-led workstreams associated with major events.
“Indianapolis presents a uniquely concentrated sports ecosystem,” Director of the Sport Innovation Institute and Associate Professor of Sports Management Liz Wanless said. “Our students are engaging directly with real-world data, building dashboards and comparative analyses that allow us to benchmark Indy against similar and larger metros. The goal is not only to measure leadership representation, but to better understand the structural conditions that support long-term career growth for women in sport.”
The partnership reflects a broader regional commitment to strengthening Indianapolis’ sports cluster, one of the most concentrated in the country. It complements the longstanding work of organizations including Indiana Sports Corp, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, the Indianapolis Colts, the NCAA and Visit Indy.
The initiative launches during a nationally visible moment for women’s sports, as Indianapolis concludes hosting the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament and prepares to welcome thousands of visitors for the NCAA Men’s Final Four in April.
By combining data engineering, benchmarking and applied analysis, the project aims to establish a clear baseline for female representation and identify areas where Indianapolis can continue to lead nationally.
The first phase of findings will contribute to a broader Business of Sport study positioning Indianapolis as a national model for sports-driven economic development and inclusive leadership growth.
Contact Multimedia Reporter Noral Parham at 317-762-7846. Follow him on X @3Noral. For more news, visit indianapolisrecorder.com.
Noral Parham is the multi-media reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder, one of the oldest Black publications in the country. Prior to joining the Recorder, Parham served as the community advocate of the MLK Center in Indianapolis and senior copywriter for an e-commerce and marketing firm in Denver.
