The Rise and Recognition of Women’s Sports
The dudes get the lion’s share of the attention when it comes to sports and/or entertainment news, but women have been slowly making their mark to where they are now as mainstream as the guys. Let’s give the gals the credit they so richly deserve and talk about the emergence of women’s sports.
Angel City FC
It’s a who’s who of celebrity investors and perhaps that’s what has brought so much attention in entertainment news to one of the newest entries in the National Women’s Soccer League, Angel City FC. Co-founded by Reddit owner, Alexis Ohanian, some of the recognizable names putting their money where their mouths are including Natalie Portman, Uzo Aduba, Eva Longoria, Casey Neistat, and Jennifer Garner, not to mention Ohanian’s wife, Serena Williams.
ABC’s @Zohreen Shah spoke to two of Angel City FC’s co-owners, Natalie Portman and Alexis Ohanian, along with star forward Christen Press about what this team means for women’s soccer.#GMA3 pic.twitter.com/NyO5w3anDL
— GMA3: What You Need To Know (@ABCGMA3) April 25, 2022
But then more investors hopped on the wagon including tennis great Billie Jean King and late-night host James Corden to name but a few. The interest in women’s soccer has soared but the media attention on women’s sports is, for the most part, sorely lacking.
“Women’s soccer, in particular, I believed was tremendously under-resourced, under-marketed, undervalued, underappreciated, under-supported, the list goes on,” says Ohanian, the Women’s Sports Foundation 2022 Champion For Equality Award recipient.
“I saw it first and foremost as a tremendous business opportunity. My north star here is quite simply that this is something that was so obviously good of an investment and I feel great all this other stuff has come from it.”
Pay to Play
The gender pay gap has always been a bone of contention but that is slowly being addressed as evidenced by Adidas promising players on the winning 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup team the same pay as their male-sponsored counterparts.
It’s game day today today it’s the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2.019 Final. Today the USA 🇺🇸 Women’s National Senior Team plays.
Hoy es día de fútbol ⚽️ hoy es la Final de la Copa Mundial Femenina 2019. Hoy juega la Selección Mayor Femenina de USA 🇺🇸. pic.twitter.com/7yH7zajDNk
— Donato Garcia (@DonatoGarcia12) July 7, 2019
We should also note a landmark breakthrough in 2022 when the United States Soccer Federation inked an agreement stating players on the men’s and women’s teams will receive equal pay. Yet, had it not been for the dogged determination of the female contingent pleading their case and taking their grievances public, it would likely never have happened.
Angel City FC co-founder, Julie Uhrman, has long been a proponent of women’s sports and the equality that should naturally follow, stating. “I do think the attention that women’s football is getting, whether it’s the Euros or the World Cup or Angel City, more specifically, is having an impact on other sports.”
“There’s no better investment today than women’s football,” said Uhrman. “Whether that’s as a new owner or as a sponsor, getting behind one of these clubs.”
And she can point to the $100 million valuation of Angel City FC and the 16,000 season tickets that have been sold as well as the $50 million in sponsorship revenue. Interest in women’s sports continues to skyrocket as evidenced by this year’s women’s college basketball national championship that saw 9.9 million viewers and peaking at 12.6 million.
“There’s no better investment today than women’s football,” says Angel City FC’s Julie Uhrman https://t.co/eoaeKQe3xl pic.twitter.com/7ScnYMjcnW
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) March 16, 2023
The metrics are there but the coverage needs to be amplified for women’s sports to get a fair shake with the men. But if there is money, there will be coverage as everyone will be happy to feed at the trough as long as there’s food. And based on the groundswell of support for women’s sports in general, it appears at long last the girls will finally get their just due.
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