I saw this article in The Atlantic and thought of your thread
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/04/kale-what-it-takes-to-get-students-to-a-womens-basketball-game/389790/
Kale: What It Takes to Get Students to a Women’s Basketball Game
Colleges are using new, often bizarre, promotional tactics to boost attendance at unpopular sports events.
Look at it this way: rowers work hard, wrestlers work hard, power-lifters work hard and they have to work at Home Depot and try to get stipends to train at an Olympic facility to stay in their sport. Just because men play basketball doesn’t mean the women’s pro basketball game generates money.
Or look at it this way: soccer is the only big game in most of the world but US soccer players make peanuts, not the 6 figure or higher salaries of the big leagues elsewhere. Unfair? No because men’s soccer in the US doesn’t generate money - and, in fact, with the growth of cable, soccer fans (like me) would rather watch the best teams in the better leagues in Europe.
Women’s figure skating is a sport where women make more. It generates a lot more money than men’s. Swimming is still a more amateur sport, but if Missy Franklin had gone pro - meaning she couldn’t compete in college but could compete in non-college competition - she would have made more money than just about any swimmer not named Phelps or Lochte.
I think it’s because they like the men’s game better. When my daughter was playing soccer, we went to see the nascent women’s professional soccer league. Mia Hamm and other great stars were on the team. The game was, well, pretty good. There were some good plays, some really impressive ones. But I’ve got to be honest: it was like watching the JV game before the varsity game. I don’t know how you get around that–skirts won’t be enough. Perhaps developing and marketing players with big personalities could do it.
^^^I would agree…having had both boys and girls who played a lot of soccer, the boys games were just way more intense and more physical. Now that our youngest son plays in college, we occasionally see the women’s game right before or after that of our son’s team. It just isn’t as interesting- even though the skill level is very high, the games are not as physical . If the crowd is there to support fellow students but maybe don’t know much about soccer, the women’s games can be a bit boring. For those in the crowd who are soccer fans and appreciate the finesse involved then it is much more interesting, but still not as exciting as the men’s games.
GMT, I strongly disagree with Stacey Pressman when she said that the women’s game is inherently boring. Any athletic competition where the outcome is lopsided can be boring. But when a women’s college basketball game is contested between two talented teams and the outcome remains in doubt until the final buzzer, well that’s entertaining for a true fan of the game. Yeah, everyone wants to see their favorite team win, but if their team regularly plays the ‘Little Sisters of the Poor’ those self-same fans won’t show up.
By the way, I hardly ever consider an opinion from an ESPN reporter or “contributor” to be substantive or particularly thought out. ESPN is one of the problems in college athletics today. All sizzle and no steak. The exceptions in ESPN basketball are Jay Bilas and Len Elmore. Those two guys I.Q.s are probably bigger than the rest of the ESPN staff combined.
I watch women’s soccer. One women’s sport I watch is also one where women can earn as much as men: track & field.
I was a soccer player and love the game but when we go to the women’s game it is primarily to see particular personalities. The international game is exciting but the level of play at the national pro level seemed pretty flat to me. Even with a smattering of stars on each team their play isn’t as compelling without the teamwork of similarly talented individuals.
So, females should not become proffessional athletes, then it will be much less of them, and the price of each will go up.
Supply / demand, econ101
@MiamiDAP;
That presupposes a demand exists at all
Look around at the next cycling race you watch.
My l’l cousin has just be recognized in her category of skiers. She and her brother seem to do quite well as athletes. Some of you may recall how she fell in Olympics, due to the sluggish ice. They devote their all to their sport.
Another possibility is that the market for high-profile professional team sports is already saturated, and there just isn’t much room for more, whether it’s a women’s sport, or even another men’s sport. Men’s professional soccer is still pretty small potatoes in the U.S., for example.