Beyond financial backing, Gainbridge is bringing its history as a proven partner in women’s sports.
Before joining Gainbridge’s parent company—the Group 1001 financial collective—as its chief of sponsorship strategy and activation, Mike Nichols spent more than 16 years as an executive with the LPGA, developing relationships between women’s golf and its sponsors and organizers. Since arriving at Group 1001 in 2022, he’s helped Gainbridge forge partnerships with 72-time LPGA tournament winner and World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sörenstam and her ANNIKA LPGA Tour event; tennis legend Billie Jean King and her Billie Jean King Cup; former US Soccer goalkeeper and World Cup champion Briana Scurry; and the WNBA Indiana Fever’s reigning Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark (and the building she plays in, Gainbridge Fieldhouse).
For Nichols, the partnership represents the next step in the league’s kickoff.
“What I’ve seen historically was that a lot of investment in terms of sponsorships that was coming into women’s sports was like a wait-and-see… to see whether the property was mature and was going to be successful,” Nichols said. “What we’ve seen with the USL [Super League] is, in its first year, it’s already successful, but there’s a lot of upside, and we want to be a part of growing with the league as opposed to sitting around waiting.”
Dishing out assists
According to Nichols, Gainbridge entered its first sponsorship in women’s sports, with the LPGA, in 2017. Less than a month after announcing the Gainbridge USL Super League partnership, Vandervort was on a panel with interim LPGA commissioner Liz Moore at the Front Office Sports Breaking Barriers Summit.
By May 18, Gainbridge had wrapped Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet in Indiana Fever and WNBA All-Star colors for the NASCAR All-Star Race in North Carolina—with four Super League players in attendance. On May 22, Vandervort was at a table with Gainbridge during the Sports Business Journal’s Sports Business Awards as it accepted an award for Best Activation after having Clark appear at The ANNIKA.
