Commentary: Who runs the sports world? female athlete.

In honor of Beyoncé's female empowerment anthem “Run the World (Girls),” let us know that women are running the world of sports. This is not up for debate. There is a lot of overwhelming evidence and receipts to support my lyrics that Bey appropriated.

Records have been set in this exciting new season of women's sport. For example, last year, the U.S. soccer team's game against the Netherlands was watched by 6.4 million people in the United States. This is the highest ever viewership in English for a single match.

A 2022 study by the National Research Group found that 79% of sports fans say they don't actively watch women's sports, but the same study also found that people are spending less than five years ago. This increase was surprising given that it shows that volumes are increasing.

But as the recent wildly popular women's March Madness competition demonstrated, enthusiasm for women's sports is steadily increasing to unprecedented levels. Even though I'm not usually interested in sports, I was caught up in the enthusiasm of the fans.

No one could have predicted that this year's TV ratings would go up so much, with 121% more people watching than last year's women's tournament. Approximately 18.7 million people watched the showdown between LSU champion athlete Angel Reese and her rival, Iowa's once-in-a-generation leading scorer Caitlin Clark.

The match had the highest viewership of all time, but it also helped push overall viewership into the stratosphere. Ticket prices for the women's game have soared, with Final Four prices exceeding those for the men's game. The total amount of sports betting exceeded the number reserved for the Super Bowl.

While I gleefully cheered on the young women who dominated the game and the conversation, they were so popular that NBC's “Saturday Night Live” had to remember the names of the March Madness men. It parodied the confessions of many fans who said they had a hard time. players.

For the past eight years, ESPN has not allowed fans to attend its WNBA Draft coverage. But this year, it shrewdly decided to capitalize on its female fan base with last week's glamorous event. Fans lined up outside the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York to watch the Indiana Fever select Clark with the No. 1 draft pick and watch other stars of the season reach professional glory. did. Millions of viewers tuned in, breaking yet another record.

But I couldn't help but feel angry at the disrespect that female athletes still receive.

When Nike unveiled the Olympic uniforms for women's track and field, I was still wrapped up in the warm echoes of the sisterhood displayed at the draft ceremony, some of which were unimaginable. Seriously Nike?

The company's official narrative sought to counteract sexism by claiming that the most offensive clothing was just one option among the uniforms offered. And sadly, this draft also widened the huge pay gap between record-breaking female athletes and male athletes whose names are still a mystery to most of us.

One analyst calculated that Clark's designer outfit at the draft ceremony represented 22% of her first-year salary of $76,000. Of course, her current aid package totals more than $3 million, while most WNBA pros make far less than that.

It took a lengthy legal battle before the women's national soccer team finally achieved pay parity. The WNBA and her newest players deserve nothing less.