Marketing the NFL to Women

Gender classification is a predominant topic within today’s sports and is most broadly understood through the portrayals of sports media. Through overt and covert ways, sports media has continued to promote a masculine representation of sports (Millington & Wilson, 2010; Messener, Duncan, & Jensen, 1993). By understanding the way in which sports media portrays sports, one can recognize how masculinity has dominated the world of sports. With the aid of two unique studies of sports media, this paper will critique the way in which media has effected the gendered depiction of sports.

The fact that the football field is an all-male space connects it to patriarchy. It isn’t just about men dominating women, but also about men dominating other men. “We become adept at taking the feelings that boil up inside us-

Women athletes are often exploited by marketers and advertisers who want to increase their revenues and bottom line sales. Advertisers focus more on the women’s “skin” and sex appeal rather than women’s athletes, leaving the impression that woman are not as talented in the sports as male athletes (Roenigk 1). Many spectators and advertisers do not take female professional sports seriously and think that female athletes play more for fun. Therefore, female athletes do not receive as much attention for their talent. Advertisers exploit women athletes by focusing on their looks and appearances. Advertisers focus on the female athlete’s sex appeal rather than talent (Julius 2). Those who are more talented can be drafted to play professionally where they receive a salary. However, marketers still focus more on male sports. Therefore, increased revenue continues as spectators buy tickets to watch professional male athletes. The female athletes continue to generate revenues from sex appeal and looks over talent. This professional salary in no way compares to the pay received by professional male athletes.

Although the National Football League (NFL) seems to provide a source of entertainment for Americans, it is slowly but surely brainwashing our population. Starting in September, a great majority of the American population gathers around TV screens and crowds into stadiums across the country to watch men ram into each other in hopes of getting a leather ball to the end of a field. This occurs every Sunday, as well as the occasional Saturday and Monday night. Fans spend hundreds of dollars on game tickets, and NFL Ticket TV subscriptions to ensure that they never miss a game. If we were to take a step back and look at it, these weekly occurrences seem to become ritualistic. What was supposed to be a source of entertainment has become a routine

Female respondents particularly had a negative view about playing football publicly as opposed to male respondents. A number, 4, representing 100% of the female respondents, disliked football as a sport in general, viewing it as dirty and violent. The male respondents on the other hand were more flexible on this, with 66.6% of the male respondents opposed to playing publicly. This was significant since these numbers included even the people who would play themselves. Male respondents are thus more likely to be tolerant of players than females are.

The author sets the stage of his article by talking about the upcoming Super Bowl. He uses distinct adjectives to create imagery that in turn sets the mood for the rest of the writing. Keating goes on to describe how America is the only country to play football and tells that only the best two teams out of thirty-two play in this Super Bowl for the title of “world champion” (1). Football is described as played on a ninety-one meter field involving “two large teams of large men wearing large amounts of protective padding ...while their opponents attempt to knock them to the ground with maximum force” (Keating 1). While the actual playing time is only about eleven minutes, the game usually lasts as long as three hours. It is usually taken up by many advertising commercials and replays. The author explains that the players begin playing at an early age and work their way up. Women are only seen as cheerleaders and dancers in this masculine dominated sport. In his conclusion, Keating demonstrates how businesses get involved by spending millions of dollars in their hopes to show their latest brands.

To start things off, Football is known to be a popular American sport, As Nina Burleigh states in her essay “Would Football without Concussions Still Be Football?” That “Professional football is currently the most popular spectator sport in the United States” (610). Burleigh also mentioned “Currently the super bowl is the most watched sporting event in the United States, and it is also seen by millions of people around the world” (610). This goes to show you that Men, kids and even women enjoy watching the game whether its attending a little league football game every Saturday, A high school game every Friday or watching the NFL every Sunday on ESPN. “Such is the glory and delirium of American football – invigorating autumn air, the crack of a beer at the tailgate, the snuggling team logo sweat shirts” (Burleigh 611). Burleigh describes a day of feeling relaxed in which almost every American can enjoy while watching or attending a

Sociology professor Michael Messner of the University of Southern California explains that the media “actively constructs audiences that are likely to see the men's Final Four as a dramatic, historic event that they simply "must" watch, while fans are likely to see the women's Final Four as a nonevent or, at best, as just another game of the Men’s Final Four” (Messner). Messner emphasizes the differences in language, attention, and emotion in media coverage as the sources of different representations and viewership. Professor Messner is not the only expert to contend that purposeful sexism and subtle contrast in media representation are the causes of the inequality in coverage. Others assert that we need “more women on television, in the news, and in front of our young girls,” arguing purposeful disinterest in gender equality is the reason for lack of viewership in women’s basketball

The NFL is a man’s world where each and every man is out on the field to show off his athleticism. Every aspect of the game, whether it is on the field or on the side lines, is predominately male. However, there is an area of the NFL that women could become a part of. Women could become athletic trainers for the NFL. An athletic trainer is a health care specialist that focuses on prevention of injury and rehab to recuperate athletes (Summary). Currently there are no women employed in the NFL although one woman used to work for the Pittsburgh Steelers (Mihoces). There are many people that agree that women should be able to work in the NFL, but there are also many people that do not believe women

Continuing to brain wash the young men today with the “sports is a mans world” mentality only helps to repeat the cycle of nearly oppressing women in the industry. It keeps men feeling secure when it comes to their masculinity, yet making a woman’s fight for respect a never ending struggle.

Jane Mcmanus explains through the article that she only wants to help and I strongly agree with such claims made throughout this. Don McPherson a former Syracuse quarterback said "It doesn't address the core issue of men's violence against women, which is the culture of masculinity and men that leads to misogyny and sexism and the overall notion that women are less than, which is very much a message that comes out of a lot of language in sport. And until we address those core issues, the problem will continue, and all the NFL is going to be creating [is] a criminal state in their league. (McManus, Jane

The NFL’s choice to focus on wives and daughters of men, who by their positions in the NFL are powerful and affluent, suggests that a women’s place in relation to football is the men on the sidelines. Of the 30 women featured in the rivalry campaign, which went public in January 2011, only four of them held any type of position within an NFL organization. Two were daughters of an owner, one was a cheerleading director, and the last one was part of a large family sports empire. Simply put, the ads also did not feature any women who were not directly related to the league through a male counterpart. Males had to serve as the female’s direct link to the game; they could not be fans on their own. Furthermore, the Rivalry campaign chose to limit women by making them look stylish and pretty, while standing next to a man who had an

Before I conducted this media analysis about women in sports and sport broadcasting, I hypothesized the obvious - that more male sports would be in the media, and that there would be more male sports broadcasters as well. Through my observations I did find that the sports arena and sports broadcasting sphere are male dominated. However, I also found that although there are not many stories about women, there has been a steady progression and magazines like Sports Illustrated are becoming bold enough to highlight women athletes in a magazine that is targeted towards a male audience. Although women still have a long way to go, they are making some headway into the male-dominated sports arena.

Throughout history, gender inequality has shown to be an issue across the globe, especially in the workplace. Men have always had a greater and more powerful presence in careers of all kinds. Today, in the sports marketing industry, this proves to be true as women constantly battle to make advances within their companies and outshine their male colleagues. The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of the “gender gap” in the business world, specifically sports marketing for the National Football League and how this issue may be solved: by presenting a sense of self-confidence in professional women.

With the rise of feminism, gender inequality has been quite the topic in todays time. With the wanting of equal rights and treatment it has been pointed out as per which all places males have the hegemonic overview and women are the oppressed; one of the areas where its unequal in gender is in sport. This paper will examine and break down the issues regarding sex and gender biases within sports in modern day media and how it can be resolved.