#13: Why there's no Women's Super Bowl
and what that has to do with a Women's IPL
With all the hype around Super Bowl finally subsiding, I thought I’d scratch at an itch that’s been bothering me for a while.
Why isn’t there a Women’s Super Bowl?
The most recent Super Bowl Sunday saw about 101.1 million TV viewers. Advertising spots for the game sold upwards of $ 10 million for 60 seconds. Luxury suites at the Super Bowl go for more than $ 1 million.
That’s a lot of millions, that’s a lot of eyeballs, that’s a lot of money. How much money and interest does the women’s version of the Super Bowl get, I always wondered? And why don’t we see it, or hear anything about it?
Get this: There isn’t a women’s Super Bowl.
Because, get this: Women don't play American Football.
I recently confirmed this fact in a chat I had with Shannon Hovan, host of the unTITLED podcast, a US based podcast that talks about women’s sport. I originally wanted to understand more about the landscape of women’s sport in the USA, but we spent a fair amount of time talking about why women don’t play American Football.
You can listen to the raw and unedited conversation on my (other) YouTube channel.
Shannon also recommended a book on this topic, which I will be picking up while in New Zealand (more on that later) which you can find here:
Long story short, there are a number of reasons. It seems to me, from my outside view, the biggest one is cultural. American football, in all it’s ultra masculiness, is just seen so strongly as a men’s sport, that women haven’t been able to make headway into it. In fact, google ‘women playing American Football’, and the first result is the ultra cringe (dare you not to puke, I’m getting nauseous just writing about it) Lingerie Football League, a sport in which female players were dressed in nothing but bras, shorts, and football gear.
You can tell that it’s a product conceived of, designed by, and broadcast for, men.
Each of the other major team sports in the US have well structured women’s leagues. The WNBA is the most well known among these, the US Softball team is quite good (yes, I know that’s a different sport to Baseball, but that’s a battle for another day), and women play professional ice hockey too.
I find it incredible that the US of A, the country where personal freedom is valued so highly, has not seen women break into this sport, or just start their own thing. It won’t be for lack of trying I’m sure, and it’s a subject worth diving deeper into, to understand the barriers that exist for women to play the top US sport. If any readers can point me to more resources, fire away.
Besides this, Shannon and I also debated the merits and demerits of having aligned men’s and women’s teams. Coming from a cricket background, I am used to the idea of both teams playing under the same colours and club, and on financial footing that is moving in the direction of parity. My interest was personal: I hope a future Women’s IPL follows the aligned model, something I argued for in a three part series of articles.
With most women’s leagues in the US operating independent of men’s leagues, Shannon provided a fascinating opposing perspective. Once again, if you readers have insights on this, do reply or let me know in the comments.
I plan to do a few more conversations like this in the weeks ahead, just to share chats that I find interesting (good time to subscribe, if you haven’t already).
Unfortunately, I don’t have the bandwidth to edit them properly. One of the reasons being, I’m currently travelling.
Which brings us to, New Zealand! Yes, I’m in New Zealand, and will be working with the ICC Digital team for the Women’s Cricket World Cup! Exact details will follow soon, but I wanted to share this with the newsletter audience first, before I announce it on social media! Hope to hear feedback from you guys throughout the tournament! Meanwhile, here’s my quarantine view:
Hope you’re having a great day, and see you soon.