Why Larry Tanenbaum is Investing $5M in Women’s Sports Science

Prominent Canadian business executives Larry and Judy Tanenbaum are deepening their commitment to women's athletics with a brand-new $5-million initiative at the University of Toronto.

While ownership groups typically pour money strictly into team acquisitions—such as Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports Ventures launching the WNBA's Toronto Tempo and investing in the PWHL—this new funding directly tackles a foundational flaw in modern athletics: the severe lack of health and performance research dedicated specifically to female athletes.

What Happened

Through their family foundation and matching funds from the university, the Tanenbaums are establishing the Tanenbaum Knowledge Translation Chair for Science in Women’s Sport.

The newly endowed position, which will undergo an international search, aims to solve a persistent issue in academia: vital research often gets trapped in peer-reviewed journals instead of reaching the people who need it. The chair will actively deliver practical sports-science data to elite athletes, community groups, coaches, and trainers.

This initiative strengthens the Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS), a sports medicine centre established at U of T in 2022 following a previous $20-million gift from the family.

The Real Reason Behind the Initiative

Despite the global boom in women's professional leagues, viewership, and franchise valuations over recent years, sports science has failed to keep pace.

Historically, females have been heavily underrepresented in exercise science research. A 2021 study revealed that only 6% of published sports science research focused exclusively on female participants, while 31% included males only. Consequently, medical guidelines and training regimens for female athletes are frequently derived from male-centric data, completely ignoring biological and physiological differences like hormones and skeletal structures.

University officials note that this information gap contributes directly to preventable health issues, such as the disproportionate rate of ACL injuries among female athletes and a lack of postpartum return-to-sport guidelines.

What's Next

The newly appointed chair will host collaborative roundtables bringing athletes, coaches, and medical researchers together to tackle pressing health issues. Findings will be distributed via open-access platforms, including evidence-informed podcasts, toolkits, and online video hubs.

Meanwhile, Larry Tanenbaum remains optimistic about the broader landscape of women's sports. Despite the expansion-era Toronto Tempo missing the WNBA playoffs in their debut season—hampered by a wave of injuries—he views the inaugural run as a massive success and remains fully focused on building a future championship contender in Canada.