;L] [SQIR´W FEWOIXFEPP MW YRHIVETTVIGMEXIH By Brittany Romano
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Women’s sports are an established entity with a high level of talent — the only thing missing is the respect that they have long ago earned.
the two,â€? Mullins said, “but an edu- cated fan will take the women’s game for what it is and not try to compare the two.â€? According to Mullins, the women’s tournament really needs to be mar- keted differently. The two have vastly different audiences, and using the same marketing strategies is unfair. “The best fans that really appreciate the [women’s] game, besides the wom- en, are the 40 and over crowd,â€? Mul- lins said, adding that these are usu- ally the men with daughters that are interested in basketball. The target audience for men’s basketball games are males in the 15-Â40 age group. Ithaca College women’s basketball coach Dan Raymond agreed that the women’s tournament should focus on building their existing fan base in young women and the older popula- tions. “Older generations can relate to the female athletes better,â€? Raymond said. Raymond also said that women’s basketball should not bother trying to break into the present men’s au- dience. “I don’t think they will ever make enough headway into the exist- ing men’s audience,â€? Raymond said. “It is like pounding your head against a brick wall.â€? One promising note is that ESPN’s coverage of the women’s tournament has come miles over the last decade, according to Ithaca College sport management and media professor Stephen Mosher. “ESPN is getting bet- ter at covering the product they own,â€? Mosher said, referring to the women’s NCAA tournament. He commended ESPN for telecasting every game of the tournament, having female play- by-Âplay announcers and having an analyst desk dominated by the female perspective. 7KH VSRUWLQJ FXOWXUH KDV GHĂ€QLWHO\ made some headway in supporting women’s basketball. Some have even
begun to prefer the women’s game to the men’s. “People who actually understand basketball, and not just the spectacle, appreciate the way the women are playing because it is a much more in- teresting game,â€? Mosher said. Despite the small victories seen in the coverage and attention given to women’s sports, it still seems that the general public pays no mind to the women’s side. Men’s sports seem to continue to dominate athletics at all levels. This is an antiquated imbal- ance that should have been eliminat- ed decades ago. Women’s sports are an established entity with a high level of talent — the only thing missing is the respect that they have long ago earned. The difference in coverage, atten- tion and marketing between men’s and women’s collegiate athletics is pretty much the same across the board. When is the last time you at- tended a women’s collegiate event? For about 400 Ithaca College stu- dents, it was a recent women’s la- crosse game promoted by a sports marketing class. The class had to get at least 400 people to attend the match as a project. With the prom- LVH RI IUHH IRRG DQG WKH JXLOH RI UDIĂ HV and prizes, they met their goal. But what does this say about the culture surrounding women’s sports here at Ithaca College? It took weeks of pro- PRWLRQ SODQQLQJ DQG SURPLVHV WR Ă€OO seats. Women’s sports shouldn’t need a perk for people to attend games and appreciate the athletes. This is 2013, Title IX was passed more than 40 years ago and the days of gender in- equality in athletics should be gone. ____________________________________ Brittany Romano is a junior journal- ism major who thinks talent should be recognized. Email her at bromano1@ ithaca.edu.
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News & Views
f someone told you that Louisville lost in the 2013 NCAA basketball tournament, you would probably correct him or her by saying that they won 82-Â76 over the Michigan Wolver- ines. But Louisville’s basketball team did in fact lose in the NCAA champi- onship game — the women’s team, that is. In case you weren’t one of the 3.2 million people that tuned into the women’s championship game, the UConn Huskies crushed Louisville 93-Â60. Both teams played through injuries, with UConn’s leading scor- er Kaleena Mosqueda-ÂLewis playing through a stress fracture and a foot injury yet managing to add 18 points to the board. There were plenty of compelling story lines that should have gener- ated more interest in the game, but failed to gain any attention. Louisville was attempting to become the second school to win the men’s and women’s championship in the same season. The only other school to do that was none other than their opponent, UCo- nn, who completed that feat in 2004. UConn’s win gave coach Geno Au- riemma his eighth title, tying him with the legendary Pat Summitt for the most NCAA women’s basketball titles won by a head coach. History was to be made no matter which team won. 7KH JDPHV GLG QRW KDYH FRQĂ LFWLQJ airtimes, since the men’s game was the night before the women’s. So why did the women’s game yield about 20 million fewer viewers? Ithaca College men’s basketball coach Jim Mullins feels that the hype around the men’s tournament is what creates the difference in viewers. “When you think March Madness, the women are not usually included in that category,â€? Mullins said. “It is almost like the women’s game is a footnote.â€? Mullins, an alum of UConn with sig- QLĂ€FDQW WLHV WR LWV ZRPHQ¡V EDVNHWEDOO program, agreed that both tourna- ments had interesting story lines, but said that men’s and women’s basket- ball are sometimes regarded as differ- ent sports. “There will always be the ‘bigger, faster, stronger’ argument between
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The Other Championship