THE hashtag #Changethegame was the snappy title at a recent conference held at Stamford Bridge in London as part of Leaders Week. It was aimed at women in sport and billed as a unique day of thought leadership, dedicated to exploring the role, importance and growth of women working in sport, women’s participation in sport, marketing to female fans and the overall contribution of women in all areas of the industry. A big ask and in some ways it did not disappoint, in others….well.
One of the stars of the day was Lisa Borders, president of the WNBA and an absolute powerhouse who engaged thoroughly with all those in attendance.
Lisa’s ethos was, “let’s try it – if it doesn’t work, then we don’t do it again!” But for her and women’s basketball, thankfully it did work.
Now I know that the landscape in US is totally different to ours, yet the steps taken to improve the WNBA in all areas, worked, and I believe that they could be adapted and implemented by a lot of our sports here. There just has to be a willingness to be a #gamechanger.
So just to whet your appetite, WNBA has seen an 11 per cent increase in viewership, with the highest-rated game on TV having more than 505,000 viewers. Also social media played a big part in the promotion and that showed a 20 per cent increase in likes and followers, giving them, in essence, a fan base of just over three million. The other benefits was that these results manifested themselves in a major increase in merchandising for all teams in the league.
Another champion on the day, was Scotland’s Claire Nelson, chief executive of Netball Scotland. As we moved into the afternoon slot to discuss Engaging Female Fans: Marketing Sport to Women, the conference lost a bit of its direction. We were told by a beauty editor of one of the UK’s biggest celebrity magazines that things could not change. Their readers would not buy a magazine with a front page glamour shot of a sports star, they wanted the more ethereal pop stars like Rhianna or Rita Ora. Not only that, but these already overpaid “stars” were the target for sports manufacturers to endorse and wear their latest sportswear lines. Quite clearly the mood in the room changed and there was a lot of discord regarding these statements. Wasn’t this about changing the game – not accepting the status quo? This is where Claire Nelson came into her own and challenged this.
The dichotomy here between the presentation from Lisa Borders and the afternoon session was visible to all. The willingness to change, to improve things, to get it right for our women and girls can sometimes be a one way street. When it comes to taking a chance, it was clear that those who produce beauty magazines, see that as a step too far.
So let’s finish with a few more stats and these are the stats that should shame us into action. Women’s sport makes up seven per cent of all sports media coverage in the UK – less than half of one per cent of sports sponsorship is invested in women’s sport and in a recent poll of British elite female athletes, more than 67 per cent of them feared the public and media valued their appearance over sporting achievement. Do we need to change the game – yes please, now.
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