Where In The World Are Women’s Sports?

Can women’s sports just get over the hump already? I mean, we deserve rowdy recognition, the over the top fans, and ample opportunities to showcase our game too, right? Of course! But it just isn’t that simple. Women’s sports leagues in this country can’t seem to draw fans, either at live events or on television, the way men’s leagues can. The struggle of women’s sports is a nagging problem. Progress always seems to be inch by inch if there’s any at all. Even the thousands of female college athletes that benefited from the passing of Title IX are pining over the guys in uniform at men’s sporting events rather than supporting their fellow lady athletes. I was surprised to see that Oregon only has a few professional women’s sports teams. Ladies, with or without the men, professional women’s sports can thrive.

Strides in women’s professional sports seem to be made on the back of a men’s league. The Women’s National Basketball Association would probably be non-existent without the help of the National Basketball Association. Actually, that’s a fact. A women’s organization that had no connection to the NBA, The American Basketball League, folded in 1998 after just two seasons. Women’s soccer took previous hits as well with two failing pro soccer leagues prior to the recent 2013 formation of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Oregon itself is limited in professional sport opportunities for women. Portland hasn’t seen a professional women’s basketball team in 12 years after the Portland Fire’s early exit from the WNBA after only 3 seasons in 2002. That leaves football and soccer as the lonely two homes for pro women’s sports in Oregon. The Women’s Football Alliance exemplifies the most flourishing women’s football operation, so please don’t even think about two-hand touch, prissy football. This is full contact, tackle football. Our very own Portland Fighting Fillies and the Portland Shockwave are included in the 63-team alliance. Full force football isn’t just for men. A field full of beauties going for each other’s throats on the football field isn’t half bad. But the support women’s professional soccer has in Oregon is what I’d like to see for all of our sports. The NWSL formed last year with nine teams, the Portland Thorns being one of them. This year the girls are still enjoying the high of last year’s championship win and are currently third in league standings. Home games are packed, away games are anticipated, while these women play their hearts out for the league’s long term viability.

I think the best thing for women’s sports is to stop being compared to men’s sports. We aren’t men and we don’t play like them. We take pride in our kind of sport entertainment; the most graceful, elegant, hard-hitting, strong, nitty-gritty, play a woman can pack in her little frame. Women haven’t been in professional sports for nearly as long as men, but imagine if we did. We built a foundation for equality in sports and everyone should participate in the fight to keep it that way. Men, can’t play with them, but damn sure can play without them.