Tonight, the New York Knicks will go up against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA finals. Inside Madison Square Garden, where fans have shelled out minimum $10,000 to be in the building, only one brand is advertising directly to women.
That’s the beauty brand Saie, which locked in a deal as the Knicks’ official beauty partner at the beginning of this year. The idea started when founder Laney Crowell went to a family-friendly daytime Knicks game with her kids. “The first thing I noticed was how many women were at the game,” she remembers. Then, she “noticed there were absolutely no advertisements to women—not a single one.” On the floor of the court during the finals is Chase; Lexus advertises at MSG and Pepsi is the official nonalcoholic food and beverage partner. But no brands that appealed to women exclusively had a presence at the arena.
When Saie inked this deal, the Knicks hadn’t been to the NBA finals since 1999. The New York-based brand basically lucked out with its timing—and had the foresight to go all-in. “It isn’t possible to jump in mid-season,” Crowell explains. “You have to have conviction.”
In the beauty world, lots of brands have signed on as partners in women’s sports. Across the WNBA (and nearby in Brooklyn with the New York Liberty), there have been deals with Mielle, Glossier, Fenty Beauty, Essie, and plenty of other brands. That also means a lot of those opportunities are conflicted out for beauty brands still looking to get in on the sports craze. Men’s sports, which are increasingly putting in more effort to engage their female fans, are an untapped opportunity for female-focused brands.
Saie started its partnership with the Knicks City Dancers; it even named its setting spray CitySet in their honor. Throughout the season, it sent VIP gift bags to suites and gave out samples in front of the Garden. During the finals, the brand hosted a watch party and got in on WAG fandom by doing the makeup for Knicks players’ wives and girlfriends for Game 3.
And now it’s benefitting from the excitement gripping the city over the finals run. As TikTok videos of crowds screaming in front of MSG go viral, Saie’s branding is in the background. It’s gone viral itself for posting about being the only brand advertising to women.
Saie is only about seven years old; when I last wrote about the brand in 2024, it was on track to do $100 million in sales that year. Before this partnership, it was probably best known as a Sephora favorite and proponent of the clean beauty movement and for its support of climate initiatives. Men’s sports sponsorship deals are typically more expensive than those in women’s sports. Crowell says the Knicks deal was the biggest partnership it’s done to date—and it’s already renewed for next season.
Brands can take note—even if their team of choice doesn’t make it to the finals in year one.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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