Dr. Lynn M. Jamieson, Professor Emerita
The sport world is undergoing a very dynamic series of changes brought, in part, about by the rise of popularity of women’s sport participation and spectator interest in attending the many triumphs of female athletes. As stadia become packed with fans of female sport contests and as women compensation approaches parity with men, it is a great time to predict the potential opportunities and pitfalls in the path of women’s rise to greater visibility on the international stage. One major theme in this article is that it is essential that the growth of popularity in women’s sport and the improvement of the competitive environment, while becoming similar to men’s sports, are ways to forge new ways to improve the sport environment and not replicate a system that mimics the current men’s port environment.
What are concerns with respect to women’s sports today? First, a noted by Simon Biles, “I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I’m the first Simon Biles” (Uplifter, 2019). This organization to increase parity with men’s sports does not mean that the structures and functions have to be repeated. Women’s sport organizations and the women’s department within sport organizations should achieve a process to avert issues that have been plaguing current sport structures – sport violence, sport injury, control of events, monetary issues, and many other categories that successful organizations strive to avoid. With the additional revenue supporting the creation of new systems, a great opportunity exists to construct a better sport environment. Further, many issues of parity still remain, to name a few, such as coaching selection and salary structures, training and development opportunities, injury mitigation, psychological support mechanisms, facilities, and opportunities to gain greater visibility.
It is inevitable that those who wish to capitalize on new opportunities for women, may strive to do so for a purely monetary gain. With that comes efforts to control the environment, make it profitable, and becoming more like the current environments in men’s sport – gambling opportunities, profit orientations of investors, pressure to focus on the entertainment value of the sport contest at the expense of players health and wellbeing, and other issues encountered in the current sport model today. It is time for the expertise of women to dominate the planning of their future ascension in the sporting world. It is important to avoid the current male power structure and forge a new and different model.
According to Jon Solomon (2021), who posed this question : “What if pro sports were owned, designed and run by women?” He suggests that women would set up an entirely different model, involving at the forefront a “more equitable playing field”. Some of the ways that this could be accomplished is through athlete ownership of their team, where they automatically benefit from profitability, encouraging more investment in teams, keep a separation, operationally from men’s sports, and produce a different viewer experience than what we have become used to in men’s sports. While many other approaches may exist, it really doesn’t take much to learn from the “Lasso” model portrayed with a men’s soccer team in Great Britain and owned by a female as it gives a different coaching philosophy, fan experience, and lastly, development of a women’s soccer team.
The final word in this opinion piece is that as women’s sport increase in value, let that value reflect much beyond monetary gain known as “money and power” common in present day sport, and evolve into an elevated sport experience for players and fans. The drafting table is new and there is only the future ahead to see if women can rise beyond the structure and functions of today’s sports. This future wide open!
References
Solomon, J. (2021). Future of sports; Women reimagining pro sports. The Aspen Institute, April 23, 2021.
Author Unknown. (2019). Gender inequity in sports and how to grow female sports audiences. Uplifter, March 22, 2019.