Women’s Sports Circa 2000: The Oxygen network launched with a lot of fanfare, funding and big name backers including Geraldine Laybourne, Oprah Winfrey, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner. I was honored to head Oxygen Sports and thrilled a national network was finally committed to women’s sports programming every weekend in a consistent time period. Back then, about 3% of sports programming on TV was women’s sports. My team killed it! Oxygen Sports’ event lineup featured the best female athletes across almost every sport and a biography series showcased greats such as Nadia Comaneci, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Bonnie Blair Cruikshank, Dawn Staley, Julie Krone and Lisa Leslie. Oxygen Sports had rich content, funding, distribution, an audience AND it failed. Oxygen Sports was ahead of the times… Oxygen was about women, for women but Oxygen Sports’ delivered a mostly male audience. Only a few advertisers were buying women’s sports, and the depth of talent that is propelling women’s sports today was not yet born. I left Oxygen Sports with valuable lessons learned and a resolve to see more and better exposure for women’s sports on TV. Today, with the proliferation of college conference networks and streaming, women’s sports represents about 15% of sports programming. It can be much bigger and better. I’m now focused on helping fans discover, access and engage with sports using technology to solve fragmentation issues and level the playing field for women’s sports. My company’s first product is the WatchSports app, a Sports Event Programming Guide for women’s and men’s sports with easy access to viewing to help fans easily find (discover) women’s sports. It’s our first step toward helping women's sports get more and better exposure. And, the timing is finally right ?? ??? Cheers to all the people and companies that supported and believed SPORTS would be better when women got equitable opportunities to play and be seen.
You can download the free WatchSports app at: https://geni.us/watchsports? ?? or go to the WatchSports Website: https://lnkd.in/gwwkgR3F to sample.
Pac-12 Networks, Pac-12 Conference, Women Leaders in Sports, Women's Sports Foundation, Nike, Gatorade, #womenssports #SheGotGame #WomenEmpoweringWomen #WomenInSports #SportsContent