The Good Sport Guide to Women's Sports in NYC: July 6th - 12th
Everything you should know, watch, and do as a women's sports fan in NYC.
Good morning Good Sport friends and family. Every 4th of July, the world goes bananas over Joey Chestnut and his eating of hot dogs. But can we make some noise for the women’s division?? Let’s show some love for the ladies who ate!
Miki Sudo won her 12th straight Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest this year, consuming 38.75 dogs in 10 minutes. The second-place competitor ate 22. Sudo holds the women’s world record with 51 total dogs downed, which she set in 2024.
For my part, I had 2 hot dogs this weekend at my bestie’s house in Connecticut <3 My truth: I find competitive eating gnarly and grotesque, but at the end of the day, I’ll hear it for the girls in male-dominated fields (eating). Also the organizing body being Major League Eating … Sounds like a hot girl’s Instagram handle.
We’ve got an absolutely jam-packed lineup of NYC women’s games for your viewing pleasure this week. Keep reading for your weekly news digest, the game schedule, and events happening in the scene.
On the Good Sport podcast: I chatted with journalist Frankie de la Cretaz about how to keep the magic, inclusivity, and community vibe alive amidst hypergrowth in women’s sports. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever.
NYC women’s sports news & culture
Here’s what you should know this week.
The Queens Classic has already made history. The July 15th soccer match between Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit at Citi Field has officially broken the NYC attendance record for a women's sporting event, with over 30,000 tickets sold as of last week. This will be the first women’s sporting event ever held at Citi Field. For reference, Gotham’s home attendance record is 15,569 tickets sold, set back in 2024.
A moment for Gotham’s Queens Classic merch collection. It’s a limited drop, with pick-up only from the match. The baseball jersey…it calls to me…
The NY Liberty win the 2026 Commissioner’s Cup. We hosted the Las Vegas Aces for the 2026 in-league Commissioner’s Cup championship game, and brought home the win. The Aces were without their leader, 4x MVP A’ja Wilson, but they deleted a double-digit lead in the second half to make it a very fun watch. With our 93-85 win over the Aces, the Liberty became the first WNBA team to win multiple Commissioner’s Cup titles.
A’ja Wilson’s reaction to Marine’s 3. I’ve been replaying this video from the Cup game all week. A’ja is so funny.
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Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserFans rally behind Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. Liberty fans are making their feelings known after two consecutive healthy DNPs (did not play) for Laney-Hamilton. After working her way back from an injury that saw her miss all of last season, the healthy benchings are befuddling some fans — chants of “We want Laney” broke out at Friday’s game against the Lynx, and supporters are organizing to wear only Laney-Hamilton gear to Tuesday’s game. This is what Coach Chris DeMarco said about his decision:
“We obviously didn’t play a lot of players tonight. I still have confidence in her, our staff and players have confidence in her. She’s going to get her opportunity again, we believe in her. I just didn’t go to her tonight, but we know what she can do, and we’ll get there.”
Of course this is sparking trade rumors; even some Libs fans are getting behind it if she’ll get the playing time they think she deserves. My personal take: I love Laney as a person and player, and think she has the most defensive juice out of anyone on our team. I would hate to lose her from a play and vibes POV.
What to watch this week
Monday 7/6
🥎 The Rise are on the road to open a 2-game set at Atlanta Smoke at 7:00 pm ET. Watch on AWSN (Pluto TV).
Tuesday 7/7
🏀 The Liberty are home at Barclays Center to take on the Dallas Wings at 8:00 pm ET. Watch on ESPN.
🥎 The Rise wrap up at Atlanta Smoke at 7:00 pm ET. Watch on AWSN (Pluto TV).
Thursday 7/9
🥎 The Rise open a 3-game homestand vs KC Diamonds at Bill Edwards Stadium in Hempstead, NY at 7:00 pm ET. Watch on AWSN (Pluto TV).
Friday 7/10
⚽ Gotham FC is on the road at Utah Royals FC at 10:00 pm ET. Watch on Victory+.
🥎 The Rise host KC Diamonds for game 2 of the series at 7:00 pm ET. Watch on AWSN (Pluto TV).
Saturday 7/11
🏀 The Liberty are at the Minnesota Lynx at 1:00 pm ET. Watch on ABC.
🥎 The Rise close out the KC Diamonds series at home at 7:00 pm ET. Watch on AWSN (Pluto TV).
🏉 The Exiles travel to face Chicago Tempest at 6:00 pm ET.
🥍 The Charging face the Maryland Charm at a neutral site in Chicago at 8:00 pm ET. Watch on ESPN+.
Sunday 7/12
🏀 The Liberty close out the road trip at the Toronto Tempo at 3:00 pm ET. Watch on Fox5 local.
The Scene Report
Here’s some fun stuff going on in the NYC W sports scene.
Blazer’s is hosting a shoe drive with the Liberty from July 8th - August 8th. Donate a pair, get a free drink. Deets here.
Women’s Sports Rally is hosting a Liberty watch x zine folding party at Kitty Sullivan’s in Astoria this Sunday. An amazing combo if you ask me. RSVP here.
One last thing…
Good Sport NYC is in GUNK this month: NYC’s physical indie show paper. GUNK was created by my friends Ceci Sturman and Hannah Pruzinsky of Sister. and it’s designed and printed at Secret Riso Club.
GUNK has been a huge inspiration for me as I’ve built Good Sport. It’s really special to be included in July’s issue. Thank you, GUNK <3 Subscribe to them on Substack here.
And that’s our newsletter for this week. Love you guys.
Cheers,
Christiana