Women's sports market draws a crowd

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb 1, 1997 by Ellen Mediati

News flash: Women like sports. They play sports. They watch sports. And now, publishers hope, they'll read about their favorite sports with equal fervor.

For years, Women's Sports Fitness was the only mainstream player in the market. Now, the likes of Conde Nast and Time Inc. want in on the action, too. Polly Perkins' year-old Sports Traveler has made strides while toiling without major backing. Weider Publications is preparing the teen-targeted Jump. The folks at Mariah Publishing are discussing a female spin-off of Outside in conjunction with Hearst. And a host of smaller publications, such as the lesbian-oriented Girljock and the adventure-focused Wilds Woman, are targeting physically active females.

The success of the U.S. women's squad at the summer Olympics in Atlanta turned a lot of heads, especially in the advertising community. Increasingly, female sports heroes, such as basketball sensation Sheryl Swoopes and volleyball standout Gabrielle Reese, are cashing in on sponsorships. Last year, American women spent $6 billion on athletic footwear alone, according to Tim Borst, president of Boulder, Colorado-based Sports & Fitness Publishing.

When Perkins first presented her idea for a women's sports magazine to major publishers back in 1992 she hit brick wall after brick wall. "The majority dismissed the idea as too risky, [saying] women don't play sports," Perkins recalls. Now, her biggest obstacle is the competition.

Let the games begin

With a ratebase of 350,000 the quarterly Sports Traveler targets affluent women in their mid-thirties who regularly but not religiously jog, bike, climb and incorporate fitness into their daily lives. The latest issue carries 35 pages of advertising. Conde Nast Sports for Women, which launches in October as a monthly with a circulation of 350,000 is going after a slightly younger demographic, according to publisher Deanna Brown. (Perkins' legal battle over copyright infringement with Conde Nast is now in arbitration.)

While industry watchers await the Conde Nast title, Sports Traveler finds itself the subject of much speculation. One persistent rumor making the rounds has Perkins folding the magazine to spearhead the Mariah-Hearst project. Perkins confirms she has had an ongoing dialogue with both companies, but "everybody's still talking," she says. "They should make a decision soon."

In any event, Perkins believes there's room for several players. "The women's sports market is going to be like the home industry," she says. "Each company win give each magazine a different twist. There are several women's sports markets -- not just one."

Sports Illustrated for Women, which first appears as a test issue in Apra, is geared to "women who observe sports as spectators," according to publisher John Jay. The title will be distributed free 450,000 current female subscribers of SI between the ages of 18 and 34, with an additional 50,000 copies going to selected consumers and another 100,000 headed for newsstands. The magazine is targeting women who may not necessarily participate, but who actively follow both women's and men's athletics. "We have the preeminent sports coverage," says Jay, "but we'll do it from a woman's perspective. We're [going to] satisfy women's appetites for sports."

Other publishers are using the sports platform to encourage and promote active, even hard-core athletic involvement. Three of Sports & Fitness Publishing's magazines -- the monthly, 210,000-circulation Women's Sports Fitness, the 200,000-controlled-circ quarterly h.s. Sports for high-school girls, and the semiannual Women's Sports on Campus, which launches in March for a controlled audience of 150,000 NCAA athletes and coaches -- focus on young to middle-age women who are "incredibly active," says editor Dagny Scott. "I want to give them a magazine with a little bit of a hardcore, realistic edge -- to show them muddy and sweaty."

At Weider Publications, ex-Sassy editor Lori Berger is overseeing Jump, a teen lifestyle and sports magazine with an aim to bolster self-esteem. "Jump's about empowerment," says Berger. "Our underlying message is: Be a player, if not in sports, then in every aspect of life."

Following a similar philosophy are Girljock and Wilds Woman. Five-year-old San Francisco-based Girljock covers women involved in everything from kickboxing to minor-league baseball in a "lesbian-positive" light, according to Roxxie Rosen, "editrix" and publisher of the 22,000-circulation quarterly. "Twenty years ago, a woman playing sports was considered a freak," she says, referring to the climate before Title IX was passed to ensure equal opportunity in sports programs. "But being lesbian in sports is a really scary, freaky thing for most people. I wanted to show the joy and beauty of being female and being athletic."

Elaine Marshall, publisher of the 10,000-circulation, Berkeley, California-based Wilds Woman, started up her project "to capture the excitement" of the emerging female adventure-sports phenomenon. "Active sports push you to the edge and teach you so much about yourself and life," she says. "Sports lead the way to an advancement in feminism."