Female Sports Fans: Is It All About the Celebrities?
In this run up to the Super Bowl, there has been a lot of media discussion about the influence of female fans on the success of sporting events, in general. In a recent MediaLife article, Heidi Dawley, mentions a study by Initiative Sports Futures (I couldn’t find a web site for this company) that finds that more and more women are watching the world’s top sporting events.
The article quotes Kevin Alavy, head of anayltics for Initiative Sports:
"Rather than just being about the pure competitive elements of it, the personalities off the field are becoming as important as the technical skills on the field."
He goes on to say that the increasing salaries for these professional athletes usually lead to more aspirational lifestyles, which then make people interested in them as celebrities, in addition to or beyond their sports status. If that were solely the case, celebrity fades and the fan might not stick around season after season.
Instead, it might be that by the time the "glitz" wears off, the sports fan has sunk his or her teeth into the game, built some community with like-minded others, and is planning to stick around for a while. What draws your fans to the sport, or customers to your brand, at first, may be one thing (lifestyle, celebrity…), but what keeps them watching/buying is the connection they have then built with those who share that interest.
David Beckham’s recent arrival in Los Angeles and outrageous salary will be old news soon enough, but by then a whole new group of female fans who had initially been attracted by his looks/lifestyle (yawn) may well have discovered they like the game of soccer. I’m betting on that.
January 28th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
I don’t know, in my case, when it involves football, it’s all about the fantasy football, which is one of the best things ever invented. I first played three seasons ago, and since then, I’m glued to my tv on Sundays and Mondays during football season. During hockey season, I pay for Center Ice, so I can get all 80+ Toronto Maple Leafs games. Nothing cheers me like Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday w/ Ron MacLean & Don Cherry.
David Beckham will NEVER get me to like soccer. I was born and raised in Southern California and I couldn’t care less that he’ll be playing professional soccer there. I’m actually dumbfounded by the attention he’s getting. Perhaps I’m the atypical woman who likes the sports for the sports. I grew up with three older brothers and grew up a Dodgers, Rams (before they cruelly defected to St. Louis), and Lakers fan. Soccer was that game that either little kids played or that people played as a pickup in the park.
I’ll admit it, David Beckham is pretty, but he loses points based on the fact that he must think his wife looks good as a skeleton with balloon lips, or she wouldn’t do that to herself, right?
January 16th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Why is that as female sports fans, we have to explain our enthusiasm and defend against charges that we only follow football etc because of hot guys and celeb gossip? http://femalesportsfans.blogspot.com/