Interest in women’s sports has been growing quickly in the past decade. In a report published in The Sport Journal, Mills (2019), a researcher in sports and fitness at the University of Indianapolis, discovered that over 80% of sports fans do not exclusively follow men’s sport but are also fans of women’s sports. Mills (2019) proceeds to show this new trend with the following facts. Firstly, average season attendance for the 19 th season of the Women’s NBA league was significantly higher than its previous years. Secondly, since the NBA playoffs, the Women’s basketball championship game broadcasted on ESPN was the most-watched game (Mills, 2019). However, despite this apparent trend and its associated opportunities, Mills (2019) reported that only 3% of the network and cable coverage of sports was dedicated to Women’s sports. This, therefore, shows that women’s sports are a growing trend that could help enhance sales and promotions in the following ways.
Women’s Sports, Sales, and Promotions
Therefore, the following are the sponsorship and investment opportunities that could enhance sales and promotions that are currently being missed. First, sales and promotions for teams, leagues, and other products and services using well known female athletes will now be more effective. Given that they have reached with other females as well as non-athletes, they can be used as ambassadors for whatever they are endorsing. However, this goes much deeper. For instance, the best in their respective games, like Naomi Osaka (tennis) and Chloe Kim (snowboarding) could become national icons to not only unite nations and their people behind sports but also bring back the old days when such champions were celebrated and proceeded to generate interest in the games, both in sponsorships as well as new players.
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Secondly, the 2019 women’s sports events ended with a bang and breaking several records. With this momentum, the next step would be to make women’s sports, like soccer friendlies, WNBA, and tennis go all year round. This is possible if the influencers in the field and those behind the trend make use of the momentum generated in 2019. By making women’s sports a year-round event, sales and promotions would be endless. Secondly, corporate sponsorships would breathe in some life, especially regarding interest, support, and participation.
Importance of Women’s Sports to the Field
The rise of women’s sports could be used as a platform to further address social issues like inclusion, diversity, and women’s empowerment. Though this could, directly and indirectly, enhance sales and promotions, this is not the main reason why the trend that shows a growth in women’s sports is important right now in the field. In other words, women have emerged victorious in the recent fight against toxic masculinity at work with the #MeToo movement. Though the implications of this success lie beyond the scope of this short review, it goes without saying that women now have the momentum. This momentum, however, is getting wasted as they now lack another platform to further their causes and tackle social issues through sports. Women’s sports is such a platform, especially since it is front and center about women’s issues, and the female athletes control the narrative. Therefore, if women take advantage of this trend, they could potentially have a wider reach in tackling social issues that affect their livelihood. This is more advantageous, especially if the discussion starts in the fields and continues outside of it through social media campaigns, discussions, and channels.
References
Mills, I. (2019). Branding in women’s sports: A literature review. The Sport Journal , 22 .
