By any measure, women’s sports is where much of the sector’s growth will be found in the near term as sports and media are buffetted by the transition to digital streaming and on-demand platforms.

The miracle season this year for women’s sports, spurred by the heat behind the NCAA women’s basketball tournament in the spring, has set the stage for a new generation of stars and fans to embrace female athletes and leagues like never before.

The upsides and downsides of the cultural and technological changes affecting sports were discussed at length during Variety and Sportico’s Sports and Entertainment Summit, presented by City National Bank. The July 12 gathering at the Beverly Hilton, brought together movers and shakers in sports, TV, marketing and advertising for lively conversations about the future of live game presentation, courting fans and building franchises. Highlights from two panel conversations — one about...