Why Women's Sports Will Never Succeed In America

by user The Beast

Today, the WNBA fails to draw large audiences. only reason it really exists is because it is sponsored by David Stern and the NBA can make a profit off of it. The WUSA and the ABL are two prime examples of women's sports leagues that just did not make it. Why? The WUSA had memorable players like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain. The ABL featured a women's basketball league with college stars, but nobody tuned in. The lack of supports of the WNBA and the failures of the ABL and WUSA prove that women's sports will never succeed in America.

How could women's sports succeed. The flat out answer is it can't. People claim nobody wants to watch it because women aren't as athletic as men. True, but the real reason is that woman, beside lesbians do not watch the games or know the players. If these leagues want more attention, they need to reach the right age group and type of people.

Little girls admired U.S. women's soccer stars like Hamm and Chastain, but little girls do not buy season tickets, luxury boxes, or merchandise. ADULTS do, and most of them could not care less about women's sports. They would much rather watch the NFL, MLB, or NASCAR, America's most popular sports. Men do watch some women athletes like Danica Patrick, Jennie Finch, and Maria Sharapova. Hey come on, how many guys watched Anna Kournakova play tennis because they were intersted in seeing a good game of tenis. Yeah that is what I thought.

The only way the leagues could survive was if they targeted to young families, offering family packs, special events, promos, or free tickets. Targeting families could increase popularity, but never to the level of the Baseball or Football.

While it remains clear that women's sports will never match men's sports, it remains possible that these leagues could find a suitable role in for themselves in the world of sports.

Date

Thu 07/06/06, 12:22 pm EST

Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid

1248 days ago

Score 4

What about LPGA? That seems to be successful.

Permalink | Reply

Anonymous Fanatic #1

1248 days ago

Score 2

Give them some time - while they may never get to be as popular as men's sports, women haven't really been playing sports for as long as men have - most of the female leagues are relatively young and haven't had a chance to develop yet as organizations and as athletes. Also - see the article on why the WNBA is a good thing: http://armch...WNBA_Forever!!!

Permalink | Reply

ASwaffAll-American

1248 days ago

Score 1

I agree, give it time. It might not be drawing well, but they're still growing, gaining new audiences and opening new franchises. You say they need to target families, and I agree. But what makes you say they haven't been doing that?

Permalink

JustjudithWaterboy

1248 days ago

Score 1

I think the leagues have to figure out who they are marketing to -- let's face it, the WNBA is not aimed at men or fans of men's sports and since it is presumed that most sports fans are male, it's easy to see why women's sports leagues aren't viewed as being as popular as men's leagues. They must be making money -- no business stays afloat without that going for it.

Permalink | Reply

Wtt02005Varsity

1248 days ago

Score 0

Guys do not want to watch women who look more manly than they are.

Permalink | Reply

Anonymous Fanatic #1

1248 days ago

Score 0

but they want to watch men? also there are other people to market to besides just men - i agree that family packs, etc. would be a good idea

Permalink

I am a cpcpMajor Leaguer

1248 days ago

Score 4

"The only way the leagues could survive was if they targeted to young families, offering family packs, special events, promos, or free tickets." Actually, they already do that. Women's sports can't succeed in America because too many American men try to watch them for sexual interest, not Athletic interest. Most men aren't interested in a female athlete unless she's slutted up in Maxim or Stuff. Until that part of the culture changes, a lot of other things like female sports will be held back.

Permalink | Reply

ASwaffAll-American

1248 days ago

Score 2

Great point. I totally agree.

Permalink

Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

1248 days ago

Score 0

Show me a better women's basketball league in the world and I'll stop rooting for the WNBA to grow and succeed.

Permalink | Reply

AndersedJV Squad

1248 days ago

Score 1

Only one woman's sports? There's no way to edit titles here. And I heartily agree with cpcp. Amelie Mauresemo is the #1 female tennis player in the world but almost no one cares because she's not attractive or glamorous or sexualized.

Permalink | Reply

ThecrookedcapAll-Star

1248 days ago

Score 0

We admins can change the titles, and it has been done.

Permalink

Ray agmJV Squad

1248 days ago

Score 0

NCAA Women's Tournament seems to be pretty popular every year.

Permalink | Reply

ThecrookedcapAll-Star

1248 days ago

Score 2

There's a lot to this discussion. As someone who has done a lot of study into matters like this (I did a gender studies minor in college), there are a lot of obstacles; from lack of media coverage to the difficult task of marketing to your seemingly opposite target demographics: families and lesbians. Still, I think the other side can be argued, but that's more for a new opinion piece than a comment page.

Permalink | Reply

BarkingclamVarsity

1248 days ago

Score 1

Frankly, to say (as I understand this article does) that the WNBA's entire audience is lesibans is quite stupid. And so is saying that the only reason people watch women's tennis or Danaca Patrick is because of their attractiveness. Come on, man - Remember Billie Jean King? When the sport is good - and the WNBA isn't, which I feel is it's fatal flaw - people watch. And when it's not, nobody's going to watch it.

Permalink | Reply

JLew1122Varsity

1248 days ago

Score 1

Women's tennis seems to be pretty popular, along with the LPGA as mentioned earlier. NCAA basketball I would say has the same problem as WNBA, it has a following but mostly for the tournament only. At UMD this year they only tried to flip over a bus when the women won the national championship, they rioted much more for the mens a few years ago.

Permalink | Reply

Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1248 days ago

Score 0

Aren't USA Number 1 at Women's Football? In which case, it ought to be popular, as previously, it has been said that "it needs to be the best" for it to be watched. So why isn't the female equivalent of MLS (which I here is actually warranting of the "Major" title) popular?

Permalink | Reply

JuTMSY4Legend

1248 days ago

Score 2

Food for thought: If we accept the concept that mostly men watch sports then we can understand why women's sports aren't popular. Example: Larry Bird created a basketball renaissance because he was a tall lanky white guy and white people related to that, so basketball became popular again w/ that crowd. With women's sports, that type of transference is not possible and as such, men cannot relate. As a result, as long as men rule the sports viewing world, women's sports will not be popular...

Permalink | Reply