“No One Cares About Women’s Sports” And Other Lies

Debunking Antiquated Myths about Women’s Sports

We see the words posted across social media all the time: “No one cares about women’s sports.” Antiquated myths & stereotypes like these have been around for so long that they’ve become widely accepted as facts.

So, let’s set the record straight and use actual facts to debunk some of these myths about women’s sports.

Myth 1: No One Cares About Women’s Sports

By the numbers, this statement is simply false. Here are 3 examples that represent billions of people (literally billions) who care about women’s sports.

?? The 2023 March Madness National Championship game between Iowa and LSU had 9.9M viewers.

?? This August, 92,000 fans attended a single Nebraska Volleyball game.

? An estimated 2 billion viewers tuned in to watch the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Myth 2: Men Don’t Care About Women’s Sports?

Actually, 51% of women’s sports fans are men. Next.?

Myth 3: Women’s Sports Will Never Be As Popular As Men’s

In some cases, women’s sports are actually more popular than men’s:

?? 3.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the women’s US Open final, while the men’s final between drew 2.3 million viewers.?

? The NWSL’s 10th season in 2022 drew 43% more attendees than the MLS’s 10th season in 2006.?

?? The 2022 NCAA’s Women’s College Softball World Series final game drew 1.74 million viewers, outperforming the final game of the Men’s College Baseball World Series.

Myth 4: Women's Sports Are Less Exciting Than Men’s Sports??

While it’s certainly subjective to decide what is exciting and what isn’t, in my opinion, watching Serena Williams win 23 grand slams, seeing Caitlin Clark drop 46 points in a single game, and seeing Simone Biles perform the Yurchenko double pike vault is as close to objectively exciting as you can get.

Myth 5: Brands Are Better Off Sponsoring Men’s Sports Than Women’s

There is new data coming that proves that it’s arguably better business to invest in women’s sports than men’s. For example:?

?? A report commissioned by The Office for Women in Sport and Recreation found that for every $1 corporate sponsors invest into women's elite sport, they see $7.29 in return.

?? A report developed by The Collective at Wasserman determined that fans of women's sports are 54% more aware of brand sponsors + 45% more likely to consider or purchase from a brand sponsor compared to men's sports.

Myth 6: The WNBA Would Be More Popular If They Lowered The Rim?

To these people I ask: Do you have any data to prove this? If this information exists, I’d love to see it.

In the meantime, let’s focus on things that we know can contribute to increased popularity of the WNBA - like more media coverage, more primetime broadcast opportunities, and more investment into the marketing of players & teams.

In 2019, Alexis Ohanian wrote: “Facts don't care about your feelings: people want to watch women's sports.”?

The next time someone tells you that ‘no one cares about women’s sports' or presents you with one of these antiquated myths, challenge them with the facts.

This article is an excerpt of “No One Cares About Women’s Sports” And Other Lies originally published on Parity's blog. Click here for the full-length piece.

Caroline Fitzgerald (she/her) is a contributing writer for PARITY | A Group 1001 Company and the CEO & Founder of GOALS | Women’s Sports - a women's sports marketing consultancy & media platform. Caroline launched GOALS in 2020 after recognizing that there was an opportunity to help women's sports teams sign more sponsorship deals - and help brands see the business value around investing in women's sports. GOALS also produces the leading women's sports business podcast - The Business Case for Women's Sports, which is presented by Ally.