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June 07, 2018 - Image 5

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Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily

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MARLEE BURRIDGE | COLUMN

J

ust
as
ticket
prices
appear
to
impact
the
public’s
opinion
of
women’s sports, so does the
sports media. There is little
to no coverage of women’s
athletics and that leads to a
lack of investment, interest
and education on the part of the
public. It becomes extremely
difficult to generate support
when the big inf luencers in
sports media disregard any
important events that happen
in the female athletics world.
In fact, the only time there
is any significant coverage of
women’s sporting events is
during the Olympics and the
World Cup.
This becomes more obvious
during
March
Madness.
The
men’s
and
women’s
tournaments run side by side,
yet
the
men’s
tournament
receives
all
of
the
media
attention. In fact, I cannot
recall a single time during the
tournaments when I turned on
ESPN and they were talking
about the women’s tournament.
For example, Sister Jean and
the Loyola men’s basketball
team
received
an
extreme
amount of media attention
and were constantly in the
conversation while the Notre
Dame
women’s
basketball
team received no attention
despite the fact that they beat
the undefeated University of
Connecticut team in the Final
Four, and Arike Ogunbowale
went on to hit a buzzer beater
to win it all. Of course, the
Loyola team and their chaplain
deserved attention as they
were a fantastic Cinderella
story, but perhaps some of
the time spent covering them
could have been better spent
on the women’s tournament.
As I am certain most of us
remember, Jordan Poole hit a
buzzer beater to beat Houston
and send Michigan to the
Sweet 16. That shot was highly
publicized
and
everyone
was talking about it. When
Ogunbowale
hit
a
buzzer
beater to win it all, I don’t
think I even saw a single video
of it. This kind of media deficit
is crippling to all women’s
sports.
Another
issue
that
accompanies the lack of media
coverage is that it becomes

very difficult to find articles
and
news
about
women’s
sports.
Even
if
someone
is
interested
in
reading
articles and news on female
athletics it takes at least five
to 10 minutes of digging to
find
something
interesting
or
relevant.
For
example,
women’s sports receive only
4 percent of all sports media
coverage and big sources like
SportsCenter only devoted 1
percent of their on-air time to
women’s athletics. It is very
discouraging to many young
athletes and sports fans when
they have to go digging to find
something that interests them.
There is already a deficit
between interest in men’s and

women’s sports and it certainly
isn’t helping when you have to
spend a bunch of time looking
for
something
interesting
about women’s sports. This
lack of representation becomes
a huge problem for young
female athletes as well. With
so little media coverage, young
girls struggle to find role
models in their various sports.
It is important that young
athletes have someone they
can look up to and relate to
who encourages them to keep
going and proves to them they
can accomplish big things.
Because this is so absent for
female athletes, it may make it
harder for young girls to feel
like it’s worth it to continue to
pursue their athletic careers.
This leads to a higher rate of
young girls who stop playing
sports
and
therefore
lose

the many benefits that come
from playing a sport such as
higher self-esteem, positive
body image, and lower anxiety
levels.
The argument has become
that women’s sports don’t have
a lot of media coverage because
they are not mainstream and
popular, but as Cheryl Reeve,
head coach of a WNBA team,
said,
“The
more
women’s
sports are covered, the more
popular and mainstream, they
will become.” I understand
that most media outlets are
in it for the money. They
want to cover the events that
bring them the most profit.
However, they appear to be
missing out on a huge market
here. About half of all athletes
are women which means that
sports media is ignoring about
half of their potential income.
If the media were to cover
more
female
sports,
they
would make more money while
simultaneously
building
up
the public’s interest in female
athletics, which would result
in more money for them later
on. So if we want to take the
fact of unjustified inequality
out of it and only consider the
financial aspect, it seems as
though it would make sense
for media outlets to cover
women’s sports far more often
than they currently do.
All sports were unpopular
at one point or another. It all
comes down to exposure and
marketing.
Once
women’s
sports are given more coverage
and the public becomes more
exposed
to
the
women’s
sports world, these sports will
become more popular. When
women’s sports become more
popular, people will become
more educated on the topic.
When people become more
educated on the topic, the
ability to close the pay gap and
other inequalities is no longer
an impossible task, but rather a
goal that can be accomplished.
When
sports
media
starts
to devote more of its time to
female athletes, the fight for
equality will become far less
difficult and burdensome.

5
OPINION

Thursday, June 7, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

annoying
and
equally
harder to deal with than if
I had just said I was in the
Business School. I learned
if I asked the question first
– bam – I could tailor my
answer to whatever they
said: “Oh, you’re in Ross?
Me too!” or “Not in Ross?
Okay then, I am in LSA and
undecided.”
The
whole
“LSA
and
undecided” answer worked
really well until I went to
go fill out forms or people
started to get more curious
about my class schedule.
The Business School isn’t
part of LSA and business
students are not undecided
because
they
receive
a
B.B.A. Super specific, I
know. Anyways, I would
forget
about
the
whole
B.B.A. thing because I was so
determined to ignore the fact
that I was in the Business
School. I’ll admit it, I was
ashamed.
The first five months of
the school year, a long time
for a school that gets out in
April, were awful. I treaded
lightly when I met people,
not knowing whether or not
being a business student
would
somehow
affect
our
possible
friendship.
Spoiler alert: it didn’t. I
put so much emphasis on
the negative aspect of the
fact that I was in Ross that
I didn’t look at the bright
side. I’m in Ross. Some
people would kill to be in
my position.
I
didn’t
appreciate
that until the middle of
winter term. I think it
had to do with the fact
that I was in denial about
not being a STEM major.
The people with which I
surround myself are all
pre-med or some kind of

biochemical science major
taking organic chemistry
their first year while I sat
around doing ethics case
studies. Both are super
interesting, it’s just that,
for a long time, I didn’t
understand the weight of
what I was studying, didn’t
think it was as “academic”
as, say, doing a chemistry
lab.
Now, though, things are
different. During the winter
term, I met a lot more of my
business peers and began
to wonder why exactly I
was uncomfortable telling
people about my major.
You don’t see biochemical
students
rushing
to
cover up their scientific
endeavors,
nor
do
you
ever
hear
international
studies students gloss over
interests
in
the
world.
So, why should I hide my
interest in business? The
answer was I shouldn’t.
The
opportunities
that
a
well-earned
business
degree can provide are
infinite and the subjects
within it are nuanced and
applicable.
I
think
one
of
the
biggest reasons I didn’t
feel comfortable with my
standing in the Business
School was that I have no
idea what I want to do with
my life. Do I want to go into
health-care? Do I want
to manage a hedge fund?
Do I want to somehow do
both?
These
questions
continue
to
plague
me,
but a business degree is at
least start in some kind of
direction. So, yeah, maybe
I am a Rosshole after all.

Female athletics and sports media

Marlee Burridge can be reached at

marleebu@umich.edu

Emma Chang can be reached at

emmacha@umich.edu.

CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION

Readers are encouraged to submit letters
to the editor and op-eds. Letters should
be fewer than 300 words while op-eds
should be 550 to 850 words. Send the
writer’s full name and University affiliation to
emmacha@umich.edu

Confessions of a closeted Rosshole by Emma Chang continued below:

“There is little
to no coverage
of women’s
athletics and
that leads
to a lack of
investment,
interest, and
education on
the part of the
public.”

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