It is difficult to resist the temptation to say: “We have told you.”
For years, female athletes and their supporters have begged more opportunities and exhibitions, to be rejected by guards who said that no one cared for female sports and that they were not worth the investment. Now the amount of growth and interest is dizzying.
- UnrivaledA 3X3 basketball league with many biggest game stars and a star list of donors, launched.
- NCAA has raised Women’s struggle to a championship sport.
- Again Another professional volleyball league – The fourth, for those who keep the track – announced that it would start to play next year.
- The PWHL attracted 14,018 for a game in Denver, defining a frequentation record For professional women’s hockey in the United States.
- Indiana fever has become the last team to commit to giving its players their own installationUnveil plans for a complex of 180,000 square feet and three floors.
- Chelsea would have broken the bank for the defender of the American national women’s team Naomi Girma, accepting a Save transfer fees of $ 1 million With the San Diego wave.
And it’s just in the last two weeks! There are also the growing assessments of NWSL and WNBA teams; A’ja Wilson,, Caitlin Clark And Angel Reese All get their own shoes; And media rights agreements that bring female games to a larger and wider audience.
Do not forget also the media ecosystem of rapid development of websites, content creators and podcasts devoted only to female sports. Who understands Good game with Sarah SpainA daily podcast that is part of the IHEART juggernavium and is designed to provide what Spain calls the “connective tissue” of the results, news and game analysis that has long been lacking in female sports coverage.
“There is a lot of frustration in what could have been earlier and what should have been. But I also tend not to waste my energy,” Spain told USA Today Sports. “It does not say, I told you, as much as, let’s learn from that and recognize, even now, the investment and the time which are given are not proportionate to the economic opportunity.”
It is given that the slowness of getting on board costs female athletes. But what is breathtaking is the people who could not or do not believe it that there was also a market for female sports that cost money.
Millions.
Think about it. It was not until last year that FIFA sold the rights of the media separately at the Women’s World Cup, previously launched them as a gift with the male tournament. This meant that ABC and Fox were able to attract the record number of viewers during the American female title without having to give FIFA a penny for the privilege.
The WNBA has an average of more than 1.5 million households on NBC during each of its first three seasons. But Mark Shapiro, then in charge of the programming for ESPN, buried it on ESPN2 after the media rights of the League went to Disney.
“I said (NBA commissioner, David Stern) that the WNBA stinks, it does not assess, and I didn’t want it. No one looks at him. Men do not look at him. Women do not look at him ! My goal was to get him out of the air, “said Shapiro in These guys have funA book on the network.
As you would expect, the notes of the WNBA – and any effect of league and network with advertisers and sponsors – fell.
The NCAA is still changing its short circuit By grouping the women’s basketball tournament with 39 other championships. The agreement with ESPN pays $ 115 million a year while an external analysis in 2021 showed that the women’s tournament alone was worth $ 112 million.
Sports clothing companies, retailers and manufacturers transmit up to $ 4 billion per year due to the shortage of female sports goods, according to a Analysis of Klarna and Sports Innovation Lab Last year.
If the goal is to earn money, what it is, ignoring female sports was a bad deal.
“Years ago, people did not understand the value of female sports. To convince people of this value and convince people of the opportunity of the female economy … was the greatest challenge, “said unequaled commissioner Micky Lawler, who went to the new league after a long career with WTA.
“There was a Harvard study … That said, the female (economic) opportunity is greater than India and China combined, ”added Lawler. “I think that’s what we see (now) in sports.”
Shapiro, now president and chief of the Endeavour, The Sports and Entertainment Company, said that his opposition to the WNBA was only based on ratings. He had been responsible for increasing the number of viewers in ESPN and did not want any part of anything who could train them further.
“The overall quality of the game was not ready for the ESPN public. The sponsor’s support was not there. If they had been on ESPN as David Stern wanted, people would have left and never come back, “Shapiro told USA Today Sports.
“It was not that I did not believe in female sports,” added Shapiro. “I knew it would come, but it would be in time. And, frankly, I was a short leash. »»
But the reasons given not to promote or disseminate or finance female sports are often two sides of the same medal. They do not get good notes, but you put them in terrible windows and give them no promotion. They do not earn money, but they due to installations that they do not have and there are no or no goods. They do not draw fans, but they play in remote suburbs or places of lower quality.
Female sports have also been kept to the ridiculous standard of being supposed to be comparable to their male counterparts now despite the fact that the guys have had half a century or a step ahead.
“It is frustrating because we want it to happen instantly, but it takes people and decades to people to change their views,” said David Berri, sport economist at the University of Southern Utah and Co -Ator of Kill the trolls. Why are trolls very, very bad on women and sports.
“People cannot see him,” said Berri. “They have their prejudices and prejudices and they cannot rely.”
Now that the female sports market is undeniable, everyone wants a game to “follow the leader,” said unrivaled president Alex Bazell. Useless is supported by several renowned sponsors, most of which are not what you would consider as “female marks”. He also has a television agreement, with Warner Bros. Discovery, which puts games on TNT and TRUTV, and the notes for the two opening games on average around 312,000 viewers, respectable for a new product.
Each of the three new volleyball leagues has a television agreement. The president and chief executive officer of Nike, Elliott Hill, said in a call of results last month that the giant of sports clothes had “launched a women’s basketball program, that I did not think we were will never do “.
“If female sports were a stock, I would all be in. Times 10,” said Shapiro, former ESPN programming director.
All this is great. But imagine how much these people could have made more money if only they had not left fear, ignorance, misogyny or a lack of vision.
“If you read this, you can already be part of the choir. But if you are someone in a position of power or responsibility, or you know someone who is not a moment” I told you “is a” not too late, “said Spain.
“Ask yourself if you maximize your economic opportunities. Ask yourself if you are looking for enough space to find the best products and stories,” she added. “There are a number of places that will give you black and white that you must assume meetings to defend better coverage, better investment, better narration.
“Use it.”
Or find yourself, just as female sports were for too long.
Follow the USA TODAY NANCY ARMOR sports columnist on @nrarmour social networks.