Women's Sports Are A Business Slamdunk

Brandweek, Oct 18, 1999 by Donna Lopiano

The ultimate success story in women's sports would be if there were no need for the Women's Sports Foundation. As that hasn't happened yet, the foundation's 25th anniversary is a good time to consider what it will take for us to live in a world where women's sports are as commonplace on TV as men's sports. Equal opportunity in sports and equal ability among boys and girls would be assumed. Prize purses and salaries of male and female athletes would be comparable. Corporations would embrace sponsorship of women's sports with the same enthusiasm and commitment as they do men's athletics.

We've already seen signs of this future: three gold medals in the new women's team sports of softball, soccer and synchronized swimming at the 1996 Olympics, along with basketball and team gymnastics. We've witnessed the launch of two women's basketball leagues (one of which died), a women's pro softball league, the gold brought home by the women's ice hockey team at the 1998 Winter Olympics, and the 1999 Women's World Cup soccer championship. Some 27 years after adoption of Title IX, the federal law guaranteeing women the same athletic opportunities and benefits afforded men, the fruits are beginning to ripen.

TV ratings are improving and corporate sponsorship of women's sports has more than doubled in five years. Studies show that women's sports fans are 33% more likely to have higher incomes than non-sports-fans, 80% more likely to buy a car, 44% more likely to have a credit card. Women control about 75% of total sports apparel dollars, and 59% of females feel better about making purchases from companies that support women's sports. Far from appealing only to women, women's sports draw an equal share of male and female fans. Sponsors are coming to understand that women's sports reach consumers they can't reach with men's sports buys.

The greatest rewards will go to those who leverage women's sports investments. General Motors not only took one of the first WNBA sponsorship positions, but backed it up with an integrated marketing program and a cause overlay dedicated to breast cancer awareness.

As GM recognizes, the strength of the women's sports market lies in the passion and inspiration that is fueling participation trends. Even for the female consumer who doesn't play, the message of women's sports is one of inspiration and hope that women will be given the chance to fulfill their dreams without any societal limitation or criticism about what is appropriate for women to do. In a very visible and exciting way, women's sports tell women they can be more than sex objects, decorative objects and caretakers.

Even if televised professional women's sports don't exist in great quantity, there are other opportunities to exploit this market. Corporate sponsors are using appearances by female sports champions and clinics at events created for product manufacturers and tied to consumer purchases. This week, 85 corporations will attend the 20th annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards dinner in New York to benefit the foundation. Soon enough, I predict, we won't need fundraisers so much as a celebration, because there will be as much newspaper space devoted to women's sports as to men's, Wimbledon prize money will be identical for men and women, ESPN will showcase equal number of men's and women's sports. Consumers will demand it and corporations will have to respond.

Marketers won't be responding because it's a matter of gender equity, but because it's the right business move. As for people like me, we'll be quite happy one day to work for an organization simply called the Sports Foundation.

Donna Lopiano is executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation. She has coached men's and women's college volleyball, and women's basketball, field hockey and softball.