Dive Brief:

• For the past five years, Nike’s sales of gear for women have grown more than men's apparel, for revenues of $5 billion by 2017, according to Nike president Trevor Edwards.

• Leveraging that trend, Nike last week introduced its newest line of women’s athletic apparel and gear, from which it expects to see another $2 billion in sales.

• Nike says that it is making it clear to the National Football League that it will continue to have “direct conversations” with the league about domestic violence. The company provides official jerseys to the league, plus separate endorsement deals with various players

Dive Insight:

Nike has dropped its endorsements of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who admitted to knocking his wife unconscious, and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who’s been charged with child abuse. But since these incidents, women have increasingly taken a dim view of the league and its handling of the cases. 

That’s a problem even for the NFL, which counts women as a large and growing segment of its fan base. But it’s potentially an even bigger problem for Nike, which is trying to sell a lot more gear to women, and whose competitors are as well. So far, Nike says it’s talking tough, but what does that mean?