Achieving more with less: What pro sports can learn from women athletes in a post-pandemic world

Elite women’s sports are predicted to generate US$1 billion in revenue in 2021.

With just a fraction of the investment dollars and comparatively paltry marketing and promotional budgets compared to those allocated to men’s sports, this is conceivably a conservative estimate. As sport emerges from the challenges imposed by Covid-19, women’s sports are becoming a lucrative business opportunity.

Don’t believe us? You’re not alone.

Despite record-setting momentum, the sports industry has continued to ignore the economic viability of women’s sports.

Many decisions are still based on outdated assumptions. Marketing has largely positioned women’s sport as the “right thing to do” as opposed to an exciting investment opportunity, and fans are treated as monolithic. The resulting narrative has left the women’s sport market both under-served and undervalued.

Sports fans, however, are telling a different story.

A Nielsen study found that 84% of general sports enthusiasts of all genders are interested in women’s sport. If more women’s sports were available to watch, 46% of fans indicated they’d tune in.

Giving fans what they want

What happens when you give sports fans what they want? The 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup drew 1.12 billion viewers. Viewership for the WNBA this season was up 68%; media coverage of their championship finals increased 15%.

National Women’s Soccer League viewership swelled 493% for their 2020 Challenge Cup and 500% year over year, LPGA viewership increased 21% and this year’s US Open tennis final between Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka averaged 2.1 million viewers on ESPN.

Keep in mind this was during a time when many sports were competing simultaneously and ratings for the NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL all declined significantly. What’s more, women athletes have also been at the forefront of advocacy for social and political change.

The bottom line? Women are doing more with less.

They’re finding innovative solutions during these most challenging times. They’re seizing the moment and exceeding expectations. They’re putting on a master class in resilience – because for the past several decades, that’s how they’ve been conditioned to do business.

The changing sport landscape

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented disruption. While the sports sector adapts to these new and uncertain conditions, resilience as a coping mechanism is serving women’s sports well.

Through this lens, the distinguishing qualities of persistence, adaptability and agility are assets that women in sport have been fine-tuning for years. As the world of sport continues to mount its recovery efforts and the sports landscape evolves, we argue this innately gives women a leg up in the new normal.

And make no mistake. The sports landscape is in the midst of a revolution.

Gen Z has rapidly become the most influential generational cohort, commanding $3.2 trillion in purchasing power. This demographic has high expectations around diversity and inclusion and they are following sports in very different ways than their predecessors.

With a preference for highlights on Instagram, they’re more likely to follow an athlete than a team, and the role of sport in their social life has redefined their fandom.

Layered on top of this, we know that women now control a third of the world’s wealth, adding $5 trillion to the wealth pool globally every year. While traditional sport properties are struggling, women’s sports have the flexibility to be nimble and adapt to the new, increasingly diverse sport environment.

We’re already seeing early evidence of this, with a 468% increase in tweet volume around representation and equality. Advertising featuring women in sport is perceived as 148% more empowering than similar ads with men.

Twitter has also found sports ads featuring women held viewers’ attention for an average of 6.5 seconds and drove 4.8 times higher ad recall than a control group. When women were featured in non-traditional gender roles, recall was 6.3 times higher.

If we consider merchandise as a proxy for demand, a whole new series of supporting metrics emerge. Nike’s 2019 US Women’s National Team home jersey became the No 1 selling soccer jersey ever, men’s or women’s. The WNBA’s now-famed orange hoodie has nine million impressions on social media, 238,000 engagements and $250,000 in social media value. According to the online retailer Fanatics, the orange hoodie was the best-selling item across its website in August.

Pandemic disruptions

We’re currently witnessing a continuous series of disruptions exposing the widening gaps in society accelerated by the pandemic.

In sport, these disruptions have exposed the weaknesses of the traditional sports model. As we look towards the future of sport, Covid-19 may well be the catalyst for change that women’s sports have been waiting for.

Women in sport understand that success is not easy, convenient or comfortable because it never has been. They’re accustomed to coming up with constructive solutions that showcase persistence.

As the sports market reemerges in a post-pandemic world, women’s sports may be strategically positioned to not only better adapt to the rapid changes brought about by Covid-19 – they may be better prepared to lead the way forward in the development of a new model for sport. The future may be unwritten, but the time to invest in it is now.

This article first appeared on The Conversation.

Katie Lebel is Assistant Professor, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University.Ann Pegoraro is Lang Chair in Sport Management, Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph.
Dunja Antunovic is Assistant Professor of Sport Sociology, University of Minnesota.
Nancy Lough is Professor of Educational Psychology & Higher Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Nicole M. LaVoi is Director, Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, University of Minnesota.