Saving NWSL Will Save Sport

When I was growing up on the West Coast of Ireland, (beautiful but rainy!), the two things I thought I would never live to see were, 1) a motorway between Dublin and Galway (and end the nightmare journey of over 3 hours in my mother’s Ford Fiesta!) and, 2) Peace in Northern Ireland.

I can appreciate for international readers part 1 may be more relatable (especially if your mother had a Ford Fiesta in the 80’s), but when you are raised with the weight of 800 years of war/tension between two people, you really don’t ever consider there being any other way!

It was courageous, bright, brave people – with a massive US involvement, that made change happen. To change institutional thought, beaten into you over hundreds of years, is not something you should lightly dismiss.

But my question is simpler, can we learn from this? Can we now view the massive challenges facing us through the exposures and “revelations” brought out to light by the challenges facing the NWSL. Because it’s not just facing the NWSL. Consider all of the challenges of sexism, misogyny, rape, abuse of power across all sports, that only came to light after a brave few stood up and said, “no more”!

The reality is that the challenges facing the NWSL are not just facing the NWSL. They face us all. To have a simpler narrower focus is easier, but it’s not treating the real issue. It is only looking at a symptom.

The growth of women’s sport has been long in the making. You look at the increase in media numbers and interaction from the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019, to the WNBA and NWSL last season, the English women’s super league, the UEFA Women’s champion’s league, or the interest and appeal of women’s gymnastics, especially at the Olympics, and you see growth!

But do you, do you really?? The fact is that media numbers are growing, yes! But from less than 5% of media distribution there really is only one way to go.

Or on sponsorship dollars, again, yes there is growth, but from less than 2% of global spend on commercial partnerships, which way is there to go?

Why?

I know that there are a lot of reasons and justifications, but I will give you a simple stat to juxtapose. Men are 40% likely to watch women’s sports and 60% likely to support women’s causes and sponsors of women’s sport. I don’t think you will see those numbers in too many other areas!

We need brave people to realize, that the challenges of the NWSL, face more than just the NWSL. They face the WNBA, the MLS, USSF, FIFA, CONCACAF, NBA, PLL, NFL, NASCAR, UFC, WWE ….. insert 3 letter acronym here for sporting entity……. We all need to own this because if we don’t, the societal effect and consumer backlash on the leagues and organizations will be massive.

Sport has always been the catalyst for societal change. Jesse James, Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Olympics in Mexico in 1968, Colin Kaepernick and his protest during NFL, Kathrine Switzer the first woman to literally blaze a trail, and run the Boston Marathon! The list is endless.

But society now today leads the demands for companies and organizations to take a stand for the betterment of society, to be better role models, to dictate to our people the right way.

The NWSL cannot be on their own, there needs to be collaboration. Cathy Engelbert, Don Garber, Will Wilson, Philipe Moggio, Paul Rabil, Roger Goddell…… can someone please connect these people in a conversation and bring a pathway for systemic change on how we include women’s sport, and ?how it is in EVERYONE’S advantage to address, not just a symptom, but institutional change across the board.

Having had the experience of creating and developing a league that became the number 2 in the World, and having been part of a group that helped restructure the Football Association of Ireland when their challenges with the incumbent administration arose two years ago, I can say with some authority that the epicentre of the League needs to be around the players. That sounds a truism, but we need to do more than just addressing today’s challenges. We need to future proof, we need to look at education, development, wider inclusion, cross partnerships, wider academy structures and how we best integrate former players.

We need a plan around owners and how the league integrates and supports them and around the players who are part of that. We need to build around fans and include their voices, and their support of the players, teams and league. We need a plan around sponsors, media and other leagues. We need to consider how we can revise, reset and restructure for a better tomorrow. And it needs to happen now.

Being more diverse is essential, and a broader representation needs to be “at the table” while, I would argue, you hire the right people. When we talk about diversity, it should not only be “gender”: we don’t see enough “diversity of thought” across the board. I mean diverse perspectives, change, not token appointments or one day activities, but an institutional reset, brought together by multiple people from multiple areas driving for one clear systemic change for, not just the betterment of women’s sport, or sport, but society itself.

This is the time, get behind the NWSL. Help drive a path forward. Help restructure. Help change.

If I can live to see a motorway between Dublin and Galway AND peace in Northern Ireland, then I know ANYTHING is possible. I hope, I hope…… I hope is wrong….. I BELIEVE.