Pop Culture Curmudgeon

Women and Sports

A couple recent studies have tried to answer the question, “Are women sports fans?”

Canadian sociologist Reginald Bibby says, no. His research shows that, in general, Canadian women are not interested in sports competition, go to games only when dragged their by their partners, and tend to socialize throughout the game rather than paying attention to the athletic competition.

An ESPN study, however, shows that U.S. women, although often drawn to sports either by their own participation or by their partners, grow to watch more sports as they get older, with women over 50 comprising nearly one-third of sports viewers in that age bracket.

The women I know who enjoy sports tend to prefer college sports and less physically aggressive sports. Yes, there are a few who love boxing because they love to watch men beat the crap out of each other, but typically, the women I know seem to prefer sports that are less influences by money and that require more finesse and less outright aggression.

Personally, I grew up watching baseball, and have now become a fan of college football. I watch some NFL football, but not on a regular basis. I have a few ideas to offer the sports leagues and colleges who want to increase their penetration into the female market.

Offer face-to-face interaction.Women thrive on relationship-building activities, and pre-season fan days will increase their interest in following the team. This is a huge deal for me with football, in particular.Mr. Pop Culture Curmudgeon and I visit the Oregon Ducks fan day each year, and I am the one who does the bulk of the autograph hounding. I get to see the players faces unobscured by helmets and protective gear, and I get to share a sentence or two with the more outgoing ones.I am still a fan of Dennis Dixon because he was so nice at the first fan day I attended, throwing balls with the kids until the staff actually forced him to leave so the defensive players could have their time with the fans. And I will be watching Jeremiah Johnson in the NFL because he was so nice and friendly to every single fan I saw him talk to.
Focus on the human side of the players in your marketing.This will have the same effect as a face-to-face interaction, humanizing the players who look so much the same on the field. Until I make a personal connection, I can’t tell football players apart.
Enforce the idea that behavior matters.From an early age, talented athletes are allowed to get away with all sorts of bad behavior off the field because their on-field performance is all that matters. As a result, some athletes develop very little moral compass, and that idea that what happens on the field is all that matters doesn’t get me excited about sports.The recent reinstatement of Michael Vick sends the message that crimes and a demonstrated lack of respect for human and animal life don’t matter if you’re a good quarterback. Yes, I know that he served his time as required by law. I would still argue that kids coming up through the ranks have learned that you can do what you want, and you might lose a year or two of pay, at most. And don’t get me started on Steve Little. (If you need a refresher on why his current NFL career makes me mad, read my post on the double standards for celebrities.)I will be interested to see how the Ducks deal with the LeGarrette Blount issue. If you don’t know, Blount responded to some taunting from a Boise State player after yesterday’s game by sucker punching the guy, pushing a teammate, and fighting back when restrained from attacking fans. ESPN has the video on a near-constant loop. The loss was disappointing, but Blount’s actions harm the spirit of many of the female fans. The team will do well with women if it enforces fast, decisive action and a zero-tolerance policy for such outbursts. (Edited to add: The U of O suspended Blount for the rest of the season. Read more about it from the New York Times. USA Today is also calling for punishment against the player Blount punched. Edited out of the video was some obvious taunting and physical contact before the punch.)

What about you? Are you a sports fan? Do you think marketing to women is a viable approach for sports leagues and teams, or should they focus on where they know they do well, men with money to spend on tickets, donations, and paraphernalia?

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Tags: LeGarrette Blount, sports, women

Uncategorized | Jennifer Roland | September 4, 2009 6:30 am

3 Comments

By katie71483, September 5, 2009 @ 8:10 am

I’m from Baton Rouge, home of the LSU Tigers, and college sports are a BIG DEAL around here. As far as I can tell, the women are just as rabid as fans as the men. Football, basketball, baseball, track, whatever. People go to (and tailgate for) all of the events. I even saw people on campus tailgating for a gymnastics match. People even tailgate for games they aren’t going to attend – during the fall, the campus cops estimate that 20-30K people come to tailgate even though they can’t get tickets for the football games. That’s every home football game.
I was never more proud of LSU than last year when the head football coach booted the star quarterback off of the team at the start of the season for repeated infractions related to underage gambling – even though this was potentially tanking the season after winning the national championship in 2007. Unfortunately, this was not really a popular decision – for many fans, winning the games was more important than doing the right thing.
These teams are expected to win, not just do well. If they don’t reach the championships, the season is considered a failure – football, baseball, basketball, it doesn’t matter which. That is a lot of pressure to put on those coaching staffs and players. The 2008 football season is considered a failure by locals since the Tigers only went 8-5 and went to a minor bowl game. Isn’t that a winning season? Didn’t they go to a bowl game? What’s the problem? I know I’m rambling, but what I’m trying to get to is that the fans down here are ridiculous. And I just don’t get it.

Anyway, as it relates to marketing, if you slap “LSU” on just about anything or color it purple and gold, it’ll sell here – for men or women. A couple of the funeral homes even offer optional hardware for caskets that are little tiger heads. How completely ridiculous is that?

[Reply]
Jennifer Roland Reply:
September 5th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
That must have been a tough decision for the LSU coach, who is from Oregon BTW. I was wondering what happened to the team–it all makes sense now.

The level of pressure put on the kids and the coaches is truly frightening. The players are so young to have so much riding on their every move. I understand why they mistakes sometimes, but it is important that they learn that there are consequences to their actions. A co-worker and I were talking yesterday about the need for both talent and character in athletes. And he was right, character is just as important.

LOL at the funeral hardware. I would bet they have that here, too.

[Reply]