When it comes to a discussion of sports’ popularity, it is easy to point to the English Premier League and the FIFA World Cup and the NFL as hugely popular products. For the Chiefs/Niners Super Bowl encounter, 123 million people tuned in at one point to the game. It is also easy to see how the NFL can “poach” on other sports’ franchises and calendars:
- The Super Bowl now abuts “pitchers and catchers reporting” for MLB
- Regular season NFL games draw larger audiences than World Series games
- The NFL took on – and smothered – the NBA on Christmas Day the last two years
Those are easy things to spot; what is more subtle but just as real is the growing audience for women’s professional sports. Not to worry, I am not about to fly off the handle and suggest that any women’s pro sporting event is about to challenge the NFL for audience superiority; nonetheless, women’s sports are growing rapidly:
- Interest in the US Women’s National Soccer Team has grown to the point that it equals – – and maybe even surpasses – – the interest in the US Men’s National Soccer Team. That surge in popularity began, I believe, in 1999 when Brandi Chastain presented the sports bra seen around the world. The trend continued upward as the US Women dominated the world stage for a while and it continues as the team now seeks to regain a similar global stature.
- Interest in the WNBA has exploded. Forget the cold attendance stats and the TV ratings; those things exist and demonstrate clearly the assertion here. More importantly, people are talking about the WNBA and newspaper columnists are writing about it routinely. Those actions point to an interest level that simply was not there for women’s professional basketball even a year ago.
In the case of the WNBA, I think it is rather obvious that the arrival of Caitlan Clark and Angel Reese into the ranks of WNBA athletes as rivals from their collegiate confrontations has been a major spark in the increased popularity. Some folks have already tried to draw analogies for Clark/Reese to the rivalry and the importance imparted to the NBA by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson back in the early 1980s. I am not quite ready to go that far, but the Clark/Reese “angle” is a Godsend for the whole of the WNBA. Let me provide an anecdote here:
Earlier this season the Washington Mystics had yet to win a game. I believe they began the season at 0-11; they were awful, and no one cared about them and their misery.
- One night, Angel Reese and her Chicago Sky came to DC and the game had over 10,000 spectators despite the Mystics’ awfulness. In years past, a crowd of 10,000 for a Mystics game was not necessarily commonplace unless the team was very good and looking for a playoff slot. The Sky won the game and the Mystics remained winless.
- The next night, Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever came to DC and the game had over 20,000 spectators; it was a full house that came to see a winless team. No, they did not; those fans came to see Caitlin Clark just as most of the 10,000 fans from the previous night came to see Angel Reese. By the way, the Mystics lost again …
Yes, I know; anecdotes are not strong supporting arguments for an assertion by themselves, so let me offer this data point. In a televised game featuring the Sky and the Fever, the audience measured 2.33 million viewers. That was the largest audience for a WNBA game ever recorded.
One more point as offered up by Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:
“The difference: The Caitlin Clark Effect was in evidence again when the WNBA’s All-Star fan voting increased this year by almost 600 percent.”
Another women’s sport that is growing very rapidly and could get an exponential growth spurt is Flag Football. According to data reported as Sportico.com, the number of girls between 6 and 12 years old playing Flag Football has increased by 200% since counting began. In addition, ESPN – – with support from the NFL – – will present a new NFL Flag Championship tournament to be held in Canton OH. There will be boy’s and girl’s competitions, and both are going to be televised “equally”. The involvement of the NFL in an amateur girls’ sport is a big deal; the involvement of ESPN in an amateur girl’s sport is a big deal; both of those “big deals” would have been pie in the sky 5 years ago. More evidence for the growing interest in women’s sports in the US …
Here is something to watch as interest in women’s sports expands. There are at least two professional football leagues for women. I am not talking about Lingerie Football where women compete in “less than full football attire”; I am talking about women playing football with the same sort of rules as do NFL players. The two leagues that I know about are:
- The Women’s Football Alliance – – in business since 2009
- The Women’s National Football Conference – – in business since 2018
I wonder if interest in and coverage of those two leagues will grow like the way things have gone for the WNBA and women’s soccer. After all, football is an extremely popular sport in the US – – more so that either basketball or soccer – – and these women are playing it according to “men’s rules”. I will be interested to see if any of the current women’s sports luster adheres to these two professional football leagues.
Finally, since today has been about the emergence of women’s sports, let me close with this observation by humorist Dave Barry:
“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background, is that we all believe we are above-average drivers.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………