Before former WNBA champions Sue Bird and Jessica Robertson discuss investing in and growing women's sports at SXSW in 2024, Robertson needed to make sure her priorities were in order. .
“I wish someone would update the Iowa-Nebraska scores in real time,” she said. “Shall we all take a look?”
Comments of “overtime” echoed as many in the audience were aware of the dangers. Caitlin Clark and the second-seeded Hawkeyes were planning a comeback after trailing 46-35 at halftime. After going to OT, they held a narrow 91-87 lead over underdog No. 5 Nebraska in the Big Ten Championship Game.
There was an underlying anxiety in the audience as Byrd and Robertson spoke. He gasped when Iowa's Gabby Marshall blocked Nebraska's Logan Nissley's 3-point shot. She tweeted when Hannah Stuelke missed both of her free throws with 28 seconds left, keeping the score at 91-87.
It may seem rude to divide your attention from event to event. In fact, this is a sign of how far women's sports have come, with the game of women's college basketball permeating the mainstream consciousness.
“You know, there are a lot more players now who are quote-unquote, household names. We're becoming part of the cultural conversation. You don't watch highlights on ESPN anymore. It’s not crazy,” Bird said.
How Alex Morgan connected Sue Bird with female athletes
Robertson is the co-founder of Togetherxr, a media and commerce company centered around four of the world's best athletes. USWNT legend Alex Morgan, Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Chloe Kim, fellow gold medalist swimmer Simone Manuel, and Bird. Best WNBA player of all time.
Morgan created the idea to elevate the stories of female athletes and break what Robertson described as a vicious cycle in women's sports. Until now, only a small percentage of the coverage has been devoted to women's sports.
“It’s incredibly difficult to build a community audience when just 4% of media coverage is dedicated to telling the stories of female athletes and elevating women’s sports,” Robertson said. Ta. “Brands realize they don't need to actually build an audience, so they don't invest in that space. That means media companies don't tell those kinds of stories, because they don't need to invest in brands to do so. Because you're not going to get that.”
Growing women's sports: finding equity
According to SXSW moderator Justin Brown, that number will rise to 15% in 2022 and 16% in 2023. Even within the past year, there are already many things that have happened that prove the increasing relevance of these stories.
Fox Sports reported that women's college basketball averaged more viewers than the men's team this season. As soon as Clark declared for the 2024 WNBA Draft, the Indiana Fever, who own the No. 1 overall pick, sold out the lower bowl in 15 minutes. Last August, Nebraxa Volleyball had the largest attendance ever for a women's sporting event, with 92,000 fans packing Memorial Stadium, normally home to the football team.
Even if the numbers go up, there is still room for growth. Bird says the outdated media system was not built for women's sports to be as successful as men's sports have been. What she wants is fairness within the system, which could lead to further upward mobility.
“We want the same opportunities to grow,” Bird said. “A lot of people are misinterpreting that. It's like saying I'm entitled to LeBron's money, it's equality, it's pay equity. That's not true at all.”
The future of women's sports
The increased focus on women's sports in mainstream media has created new issues, from a lack of education about leading the sport to stale narratives and, at times, outright ignorance.
Bird welcomes occasional podcast invitations, but believes there is a lack of content. Frankly, why do we always ask a WNBA legend about her playing career that you can read about on Wikipedia? There are more stories within the league to explore.
“'Were you on the team when there was a fight in the locker room? Oh, were you there when (your team) met the president?' And then we get to the nitty-gritty,” Byrd said. said.
As the situation evolves, these interesting niche anecdotes will increasingly come into the spotlight. But there will likely be more incidents similar to TNT and Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu vs. Stephen Curry 3-point contest.
Although Ionescu's lights-out shooting fell just short of Curry's, her 27 points matched the Bucks' Damian Lillard, the winner of the NBA's official 3-point contest. Nevertheless, the moment was spoiled by TNT's Kenny Smith, who immediately started talking about how the Liberty guards should have shot from the women's 3-point line.
There were a lot of points that were missed, and Bird, a player with an expert view of the WNBA, shouldn't have missed them.
“If I was in, I would have talked about how Sabrina was already making shots from that distance. It was never mentioned,” Bird said. “I wanted to talk about how easy it actually is to shoot with a men's ball.”
As entertainment options continue to expand and female athletes become more vocal, issues will continue to be uncovered and solved. But if all goes well, Byrd may not return to SXSW to speak on the same topic in a few years.
