Good Trouble for Women’s Sports
Or why the path to creating a feminist, may be by creating a fan
It’s having a moment, but will the moment last? And what can we learn from it?
Women’s sports are more popular than ever. The storylines surrounding this have centered on:
- increase in investment
- increase in coverage and exposure
- star power such as Caitlin Clark (NCAA) or maybe Alex Morgan (NWSL)
But these don’t tell the full story.
Before today, there has been elite talent, from Lisa Leslie (basketball) to Mia Hamm (soccer). Additionally, we are:
- 50+ years into Title IX
- 25 years since the pivotal 1999 US Women’s World Cup win (and the women’s team has been dominant in international play since)
Even arguing for the role of Social media (orig 20 years ago) doesn’t quite answer why now.
Here’s a different hypothesis:
Women’s Sports* Puts Play into Feminism and Purpose into Play
*League / Team vs individual such as women’s tennis
The NWSL, WNBA, and NCAA Women’s basketball have (through luck or initiative) positioned themselves into a unique value proposition. One that is finally allowing the leagues to pull apart from the men’s. While opening up opportunities for the women’s movement to recruit sustained support from the middle majority.
The market doesn’t reward better, it rewards different — No Bullsh*t Strategy.
Competitive Clusterf*ck
If we think of each sport as a competitive market and each league as a brand (which they are) then we can start to see how crowded the marketplace has been for the women’s leagues.
Just taking basketball as an example, you could draw it out like this:
All clustered around each other, with one obvious winner: the NBA.
Annual Revenue by League:
- NBA $10B
- NCAA Mens $1.2B
- WNBA $200M
- NCAA Women’s $2.3M
To date, this has put the women’s game at a distinct disadvantage. Despite powerhouse programs and generational talent, the women’s game suffers as a result of direct comparisons to the men’s. It’s an unfair comparison, but markets are never fair.
The NWSL is a bit different in that professional women’s soccer doesn’t carry the same history (the WNBA is 28 years old) nor the same relationship to the MLS (about half of WNBA teams share ownership with the NBA as well). Which means the league/teams are able to market independently.
The league (now in its 12th season) has been able to surf a growing interest in the sport:
While sharing the same overall market constraints as the MLS
And while NWSL and MLS may be the only two games in town, they are not the only two on the TV. English Premier League and Mexico La Liga regularly outdraw the MLS in ratings.
Women’s Sports Brings Purpose to Play
Despite the competitive headwinds, the women’s leagues have started to gain momentum. Not coincidentally along ‘a modern feminist wave’.
It’s where the league’s and player’s stories intersect with the historical struggle for gender equality now mixed with race, sexuality, class, disability, and more.
WNBA player Britney Griner’s detention in Russia is a great example: a black, gay WNBA All-Star, who was in Russia only because she plays there in the league’s offseason because of the limited ability to earn more solely in the WNBA. Almost all of the modern feminist struggles play out in one global storyline.
Just using sexuality alone, women’s sports have turned a ‘stereotype’ into a virtue as more players are open about their sexuality. As late as 2022, 1 in 5 WNBA athletes (maybe more today) are publicly LGBTQ+. Similarly, there are many open athletes in the NWSL as well as international play. Not only are gay athletes represented but they are stars in these leagues.
Quite different from the men’s leagues where even coming out as openly gay is so rare you can nearly count the instances with one hand.
Perhaps this is why we see younger fans coming to the women’s leagues, fueling the optimism about the future of each league.
Gen Z also tends to be the most likely to align their purchasing and loyalty with their values. Fandom of the leagues is a perfect way to express this belief.
Net net is, we’re starting to see this shift in position for each league.
While direct comparisons to the men remain, the story is shifting. Allowing each league to better stand on its own.
If you stand for equality, then you’re a feminist I’m sorry to tell you — Emma Watson
“I am not a feminist”
What’s true for feminism holds for many social causes. There is a reluctance to join the movement full-on.
Despite general agreement on its benefits:
- Nearly six in 10 (59 percent) Americans agree that feminism has improved American society, versus thirty-nine percent who disagree.
There are still meaningful disagreements that can limit engagement on the topics or discussion between those who are more dogmatic and those who are merely sympathetic.
Sports is a metaphor for life, and has never been truer as it provides common ground for everyone to discuss life’s issues through what sport teaches us.
Conventional wisdom has always held that our attitudes drive behavior, but evidence strongly suggests the opposite: the behaviors we adopt shape our attitudes — Alchemy, the Dark Art of Creating Magic, Rory Sutherland
Women’s Sports Brings Play to Feminism
And because of this women’s sports offer an accessible onramp to those who may be hesitant or apprehensive to engage in the cause.
For one, people rarely join a movement on their own. People who join movements generally feel compelled to do so as a result of messages they receive from pre-existing structures (e.g., church, or a team fan club) or from friends or others whom they respect.
Second, sports circumvents identity. For those hesitant to self-identify out of risk of alienation or prejudice, sports can offer a safer route- your only risk is the opposing fan base.
Third, it makes the movement’s arguments tangible. Modern themes of intersectionality, body positivity, inclusivity, and gender roles play out in the leagues and players. Along with longstanding fights for equal pay and equity of exposure, the leagues act as a stand-in for much bigger societal issues.
Lastly, fandom makes support feel lighter and therefore more actionable. More sustainable.
Societal issues are heavy subjects. And there is such a thing as compassion fatigue. We are bombarded with issues that are equally important to those they affect. But for those outside, it can overwhelm as well.
Sports is a way to ingrain support as a habit because that’s what fandom is — habitually supporting your team. You start a habit of supporting your local women’s team and before you know it you may be identifying as a feminist too.
The market doesn’t reward better; it only rewards different. — No Bullsh*t Strategy
Perhaps more importantly, it’s giving the leagues a great selling proposition to the most conservative of constituents. Corporate America.
Brands that wish to demonstrate social responsibility while shying away from anything remotely controversial are finding the WNBA, NWSL, and NCAA women to be great investments. The extra investments help the leagues gain more exposure while further improving the product on the field/court.
A hard truth that largely goes unspoken about the W.N.B.A. and many women’s sports leagues: They aren’t profitable. — NY Times Can the W.N.B.A. Make Money?
Each league still has its challenges but other shifts work to their advantage as well:
- A shift to streaming, once a limitation, is now an asset as more fans have become familiar with the spiderweb of broadcast rights and where to find them
- Social media has made female athletes into stars. Beginning college, through the NIL (name, image, and likeness) athletes have been able to market themselves outside of their sport
- Fans (typically younger) are more drawn to the stars in the sport, and these rising stars are giving each league its own distinct assets to market the teams/league behind
- League deals are up for renewal, on top of increasing exposure through coverage and increasing investment by sponsors this should continue to help market each league
As for behavior change, if the behaviors we adopt shape our attitudes, then the rise in women’s sports should only help the feminist cause.
Sports and Purpose: Strange Bedfellows
It may seem odd to think, the best way to create a feminist is to create a sports fan. But there’s precedent.
Pop Culture has always helped lead society forward, from Jazz and Blues for Black America to recurring gay characters in TV and movies. Familiarity helps open the door to more.
For any social movement, I’d suggest trying to introduce play into the cause or align with it externally where the issues you advocate for are inherent. Behavior shapes attitude, and it’s easier to convince someone of something they’re already doing than to confront them head-on with something new.
Some Good References:
Alchemy, the Dark Art of Creating Magic, Rory Sutherland, — or rather the power of irrational thought as a strategyNo Bullsh*t Strategy, by Alex M H Smith — inspired my sketches of differentiating value of women’s leaguesMen’s and women’s basketball are very popular with Gen Z fansThe WNBA Is Poised for a Banner YearKantar survey shows Gen Z’s growing interest in basketball, women’s sportsHow the WNBA’s Unrelenting Activism Changed Women’s BasketballHow the National Women’s Soccer League became one of the hottest investments in sportsA WNBA Demographic Deep Dive: A Sponsorship Slam-DunkWhy NIL has been good for college sports … and the hurdles that remain
“I don’t think there’s much difference between the men’s and women’s game when it comes to college basketball. I think the popularity comes in is the icons that they have in the women’s game,” — LeBron James
