Why hasn't a women's sports league succeeded?

Of course it's just coincidence that both Carano and Rousey happen to be easy on the eyes, right? How popular would they be if ugly?

 

Rousey is undefeated in MMA, a UFC champion and an Olympic medalist - she's the best in the world and it's not really that close. Carano hasn't fought in a few years, but I don't believe she's ever been defeated either.

We're not talking about a pair of Anna Kournikovas here.

 

Please. Anna won the Michigan Open.

 

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Yeah, I know she'd still be an unbeaten champ and all that, but that's a separate issue from popularity/recognizibility. Being the champ doesn't mean much if nobody's paying attention to your sport and I can't remember folks ever paying much attention to a women's MMA bout that didn't involve hotties Carano or Rousey. Would Carano/Rousey still have gotten all those endorsements, commercials and magazine covers if they were ugly? Would their fights have gotten the same ratings/PPV numbers? I rather doubt it.

As chauvinistic as it may sound, sex appeal is important to this conversation. A women's pro sports league will never break beyond minor niche levels unless it can attract male eyes, as males make up the overwhelming majority of sports viewers. Men can be drawn to nearly any league that represents its sports highest possible level--but a women's league can never be that in a sport that has male counterparts--so it needs something else to attract those male eyes. Hmm... what could do that....

 

That is true and Rousey can be the main event on a ppv, but the UFC is not a women's league.

 

We had a "lingerie football" team in town last year. It drew for shit. So guys don't just want strippers and pasties playing sports...they want good competition as well. And even then...they still won't watch "chick sports"

 

Many female sports fans won't support female pro sports either. My wife loves the NFL, college football and the PGA Tour. She'd rather watch the Weather Channel than the WNBA or LPGA.
Bottom line: a women's pro league will succeed when people start buying tickets and ratings increase. You can't force this issue.

 

Yeah, got that. If you're saying women's sports leagues are veggie pizza, who are the people asking for it, and what is the sausage pizza?

 

In addition to the Euro and Asian teams mentioned there is also an Australian womens professional league. It may be an Aussie thing as they seem to be able to support home grown leagues.

Women's National Basketball League - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Omigosh I killed so many kittens over that cover. Thanks for the nostalgiac interlude, MTM!

 

Dick, your constant, juvenile and tiresome use use of the word "gal" reiterates my point. Men would rather condescend to women than support them in a league.

You also don't seem to know much about long-term marketing, either. Jumping on a bandwagon never lasts.

 

I still remember getting that issue in the mail when I was a high schooler. I thought one of dad's Playboys came without the green wrapper.