Category: Blog

By Jordan Tetterton

When we look at the history of African American women in sports, we will see a long and strenuous fight that has been going on since the late 1920s. While great strides have been made, the fight is sadly still going on today. However, some of the biggest names in sports are women of color. Serena Williams and Simone Biles are both fitting examples of athletes who are in the spotlight now; both have been affected by the women who have come before them. They have made such an impact on their respective sports, but they still struggle with the same issues as those before them, from the blatant sexism of insisting that women had to be prim and proper to the evil racism that shaped this country. These women persevered. The women we will talk about are only a few of the many that molded the landscape for the sports world. 

Women of the Tuskegee Institute 

The Tuskegee Institute was a pivotal part of the growth of African American women in sports. There were three women during the ’30s and ’40s who created stepping stones for women who came after them. Louis Stokes and Tidy Pickett were students at Tuskegee Institute that qualified for the Olympics in 1932 but were later disqualified due to their race. In 1936 they qualified again and got the chance to compete. They were the first Black women to represent the United States of America. This was an amazing achievement that led, Alice Coachman, another student from Tuskegee Institute to help pave the way as well. Coachman was first eligible to participate in the games in 1948. She had to overcome so much leading up to her competition in London, including propaganda written about her stating she was not fit to run and was not lady-like enough to be a part of the games. At the time Coachman was nursing a back injury, however, that didn’t stop her from making history. Not only did she win the gold, but she also set the record for the high jump at 5 feet, 6 ⅛ inches. She was the first Black woman to win the Olympic gold and was a catalyst for more to come. These athletes laid out the red carpet for some of the best athletes yet to come. Simone Biles was directly influenced by these athletes. While she competes in a different sport, she is one of the most accomplished Olympic athletes in the history of the Olympics. With the groundwork built by Strokes, Pickett, and Coachman, this became a reality. 

Ora Washington 

Ora Washington was one of the greatest tennis players in the country. She not only wanted to be the catalyst for tennis but also wanted to do the same in basketball. Adding onto an already impressive resume, she started playing basketball and was a team captain of the Philadelphia Tribunes for 11 consecutive years. She did all this while being attacked for her race, class, and the fact people viewed women playing sports as “unladylike”. Many attacked her image at every angle in an attempt to dethrone her, but it’s hard to dethrone someone who keeps winning. The middle-class wanted to see her succeed for their children to have a “better” role model. At the time men thought it was wrong for women to play sports, especially a sport like basketball. 

Washington pushed forward through all these hardships. She played tennis at a professional level in the 1920s and received her first win in 1924. She then won the championship in Wilmington, Delaware, sweeping in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles. In 1925 she beat the three-time ATA Women’s Champion, Isadore Channels. She then teamed up with Philadelphia native, Lula Ballard and won the women’s doubles in ATA. This was only the beginning of her amazing career. 

Basketball was a much more accessible sport. It had started to get the reputation of “anyone can play, anywhere”. While basketball had only been around for a brief time, women’s basketball was introduced in 1892 at Massachusetts’ Smith College. Basketball became a hit with women because it was a team sport, although it was seen as “unladylike” by men at the time. Their rules required them to dress modestly and focus on teamwork instead of physical power. While basketball was on the rise in high schools, churches, etc., it also became popular in industrial sports programs. Working African American women pushed the boundaries of the sport and ignored rules regarding avoiding physical power. Washington was a powerhouse of strength and talent, and she began playing basketball in the winter of 1930 for the Germantown Hornets. She immediately became a team captain and maintained the position for eleven straight years. In her first season, the team went 22-1 and won the title. Her team did so well they had some better show-outs to games than some men’s teams. However, she eventually lost to the Philadelphia Tribunes and ended up signing with them after one season with the Hornets.

Washington’s legacy and the path that she paved directly influenced many athletes. The entire WNBA and USTA have Washington and other athletes like her during this time to thank for their efforts to make a change.  

The process of changing the mindset that women must be ladylike remains an issue today. Serena Williams is a notable example of this. The French Open banned Williams’ black catsuit. “I think that sometimes we’ve gone too far,” Giudicelli, the president of FFT said, according to The Associated Press. Giudicelli also stated, “It will no longer be accepted. One must respect the game and the place.” Black women today still have some of the same struggles that have plagued the sports industry for them for a long time. While great strides have been made on improving the issues, it would be an injustice to say that the fight for true equality is over.

Althea Gibson

Althea Gibson started her amazing career in the summer of 1947. She was set to play Romania Peter, the two-time defending American Tennis Association Women’s Singles champion. While Gibson was talented, Peter was a veteran of the game and was able to secure the win. It was Gibson’s first ATA title game, but it was her last ATA title loss. She won the next 10 ATA titles she visited. However, this was not her only remarkable career event. Gibson became the first African American to play in the United States Lawn Tennis Association. Originally, this organization was strictly for white women and banned African American women. Gibson broke this barrier and was able to win eleven titles during her eight consecutive years in Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. She was highly influential in giving women the opportunities available to them today

Despite constant adversity, she was able to overcome it and let her talent speak for itself. Gibson was the best in her class, and people knew it. She was a part of the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club, which was one of the best African American tennis clubs in the nation. Though she spent her life in an uphill battle, one of the hardest lessons was having to learn new ways to fight racism and to become the face of African American women’s tennis. Gibson’s story is that of a warrior. She had a killer instinct that made her want to be the best and she did just that.

Wilma Rudolph 

Wilma Rudolph is one of the most celebrated and decorated female track and field athletes but is much more than her record-breaking career. She became the face of this sport as she broke barriers, making the community finally take women in sports seriously. She grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee with her huge family where she sadly faced many obstacles. She was born with polio resulting in a twisted leg and was the 20th child out of 22 in her household. She spent a lot of time traveling to Nashville, Tennessee to try to correct her impaired leg. Visiting Nashville as a child gave her the itch to try to make it in the city. Once her leg healed, it did not take her long to start getting introduced to sports.

Rudolph started playing basketball in the 7th-grade, as did many other school children. She didn’t get a lot of playing time, so she decided to give track and field a try and began to train for the next season. It soon became obvious that she was a gifted runner. During her first two seasons, she won every race she participated in. Sophomore year came around and she finally got a starting spot on the basketball team, all while remaining undefeated in track. She experienced her first loss at the Tuskegee Relay Carnival and it was then that she knew she had to work harder. She eventually attended a Tennessee track camp where she began to better her skills and made a connection with Ed Temple, who had already been scouting her for the Tennessee State track team. 

In 1955, she and her teammates won the AAU National Outdoor Championships. They retained that title for the next 5 years. In 1956, all 6 members of the Tennessee State Tigerbelles qualified for the Olympic track and field team.

During her senior year of high school, Rudolph discovered that she was pregnant and had to sit out of both basketball and track. However, she was still scouted by Tennessee. In 1960 she went to the Olympics for the second time, and she had her eyes on winning the gold. She won three gold medals that year, while also breaking some records in the process. The media began calling her “the fastest woman in the world.” 

With this performance, Rudolph caught the world’s attention. Sportswriters did not enjoy writing about female sports and mainly focused on men’s sports. Winning Olympic medals, however, was considered an “American victory”, regardless of sex. This created a small shift in culture. Women who played sports were no longer publicly ostracized by the nation’s media. While women, and especially women of color, continue to face similar struggles, the shift begun by Rudolph had a lasting impact on normalizing and respecting women in sports.

The history of sports could not be told without these amazing women. They shaped and formed the landscape for women who came after them. Oftentimes people will take their privileges for granted, forgetting the sacrifices of those who came before them. Highlighting some of those people who built the road with their blood, sweat, and tears ensures their contributions are not forgotten. So many more talented women athletes in our past are missing from this blog. Their collective history cannot be told with a blog or even a textbook. Every effort should be made to recognize past and current women of color who overcame barriers. We, as a world, have a long way to go before people of all colors and genders are treated equally on every account. 

Sources

1. https://www.biography.com/athlete/alice-coachman
2. Lansbury, J.H. A spectacular leap: Black women athletes in twentieth-century America. University of Arkansas Press, 2014.
3. https://www.tennisfame.com/althea-gibson
4. https://www.npr.org/2018/08/24/641549735/one-must-respect-the-game-french-open-bans-serena-williams-catsuit
5. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/wilma-rudolph

By Jakob Fox

As the world prepares for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, fans are getting excited and starting to focus on the sports that they want to watch and follow. The major events like ice hockey, figure skating, and different styles of skiing come to the top of people’s lists of events to watch, but these are not the only events that create a lot of buzz. Every four years the sliding sports of bobsled, luge, and skeleton appear on the world stage with the Olympics. These high-speed, adrenaline-inducing rides down a dangerous icy track are easy to become a fan of for many reasons. For one there’s the ease of understanding the sport – whoever has the fastest time down the track wins – and the great engineering and art that goes into the sleds and helmets. Unfortunately, as quickly as the sleds go down the track, they just as quickly disappear from our interest until the next Olympics. A question that I’ve always had when it comes to less common Olympic events, like the sliding sports, is why don’t we see more bobsled, luge, and skeleton competitions on TV in non-Olympic years, since it appears that they are always well received by fans.

The numbers agreed with this reception. Looking at the popularity of Winter Olympic sports over the past three games going back to 2010 in Vancouver, it is no surprise that figure skating and ice hockey led the way with viewership and online buzz rates on most lists. These sports are relatively easy to get involved in, with plenty of rinks and programs around the country to get started and the access to watching top-tier competition during off years. According to Nielsen, both ice hockey and figure skating were in the top three most talked about sports of the 2010 games, receiving buzz rates of 31% and 10%. The surprise in this rankings however was luge, which held the second-highest buzz rate at 18%, only behind ice hockey. Before the 2014 Sochi games, Sports Illustrated released a list of the most popular Winter Olympic sporting events, and again sliding sports made this list.

1. Snowboard halfpipe
2. Four-man bobsled
3. Figure skating – women
4. Alpine skiing – downhill
5. Ice Hockey – men
6. Skeleton
7. Short track speed skating – relay
8. Figure skating – ice dancing
9. Ice hockey – women
10. Ski jumping

The rankings of bobsled and skeleton within the top six are impressive considering there were 98 different events that took place. The popularity continued through the games and again was highly ranked going into 2018. The trio of sports was categorized together and ranked fourth on Deeproot Analytics’ list of what viewers planned to watch during the 2018 PyeongChang games, ahead of snowboarding and ice hockey. All of these numbers show a lot of positive signs for sliding sports but only add to the question.

Why Sliding Sports Disappear Between Olympics

Why don’t we see more bobsled, luge, and skeleton competitions on TV in non-Olympic years?

There is no one exact answer for the question, and there are still competitions that occur in off years, but there are a few common themes. There are some major barriers to getting involved with sliding sports including very limited access to track, high costs, a lack of star power, and there are no major leagues or headline competitions for casual fans to watch besides the Olympics. 

Before looking further into the reasons these sports do not receive much attention outside of the Olympics, it is important to know the differences between them. While all three of these sliding sports are timed races down an icy track, there are some key differences.

• Bobsled (or bobsleigh) is the oldest Olympic sport of the group. It is generally a two or four-person team race, although this year will be the debut of women’s monobob to the games. The competitors get a running start down the track, pushing the sled to gain speed before they all hop into the sled. The lead person steers by pulling ropes inside the sled, while the rest of the team sits for the ride. Bobsled speeds have gotten up to 95 mph.
• Luge is arguably the most dangerous of these three sports due to the weight of the sled and its speeds. Athletes start off seated on their sled. After propelling themselves forward by pushing their hands against the ice, the rider(s) lie on their backs, shifting their weight and angles to maneuver down the course. Luge can be either a solo or two-person team sport, with speeds ranging from 75 to 90 mph.
• Skeleton is considered to be the safest of the sliding sports, despite its optics of a rider going down headfirst. In this singles sport, the athletes sprint on the ice for about 40 yards before jumping headfirst onto their sled, where they lean and move their way down the track at speeds of more than 80 mph. 

Barriers to Growth: Tracks, Cost & Star Power

Looking deeper into why this trio of sliding sports comes and goes from our televisions and social media feeds, the first thing that stands out is the lack of tracks. According to the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), there are only seventeen recognized tracks that are sanctioned to host IBSF competitions and training. Only two of these tracks are in the United States (Lake Placid, NY and Park City, Utah) and none of these tracks are on the continents of Africa, Australia, or South America. This lack of infrastructure, largely due to the cost and weather conditions needed to build and maintain a track, seems to be the root cause that is impacting other factors that limit the growth and popularity of bobsled, luge, and skeleton. 

The lack of tracks available to train on has other trickle-down effects that limit the overall growth of these sports. With so few tracks, there is not an easy way for competitors to get into these sports. You can not simply go to your local park and try out skeleton or bobsled like you’d be able to try basketball. Additionally, with so few places to train, there is a high cost to even try any of these sports. For most people there is the cost of traveling to an ice track, then there is the cost of the sleds, helmet, speed suit, and shoes, as well as the need for coaching and track time. In all, What it Costs estimates that the equipment alone can set you back between $7,000 and $11,000 on its own for skeleton. Take all of these expenses and add it to a dangerous sport that has seen tragic accidents, including Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili suffering a fatal crash in the lead up to the 2010 Olympics, and it is understandable why the sport is not growing from a participation side. 

In order for a sport to grow, there must be strong development at the youth and grassroots level. This trio of ice track sports does not have the growth that it needs to experience a staying power as skiing or snowboarding have. Additionally, there are very few big names in these sports. The most common names that come to people’s minds are the famous Jamaican bobsled team that was featured in the 1993 movie Cool Runnings and Lolo Jones who gained popularity through Track & Field and then transitioned to bobsled. By not having big headline name athletes like skiing and snowboarding with Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin, Bode Miller, Shaun White, Chloe Kim, and Red Gerard, there is nobody to pinpoint as a face of the sport or role models that kids want to grow up emulating. There are not many great social media accounts to follow for the sport overall, although some of the TikTok videos that take you along for a ride down an ice track are pretty epic.

Off‐year Fadeout: Why Sliding Sports Struggle for Year‐Round Exposure

Another issue for the sliding sports that impacts their growth is that the Olympics are the largest stage they get. While there are official IBSF races and competitions that take place during off years, these almost exclusively take place in either Europe or at the few tracks in Asia that have been built to host the recent Olympics (2014, 2018, 2022). These races are not on any major TV network or streaming service and due to the lack of holding power with the peak of fans during the Olympics, very few people even know that the competitions exist or know when they are happening. For these three sports to grow, they need fans to follow them more than during the Olympics.

One way to grow these sports is by allowing more fans to experience the thrill and speed safely. One potential growing point would be through the use of virtual reality. If fans could travel down the track from the racers’ perspective or experience the speeds up close at more events then there would be a whole new avenue for growth. Whether it is building another ice track in another area of the country or hosting annual competitions at the current two tracks in the United States and making it a large spectacle like the Olympics or even the winter X-Games, then more people will become attracted and become fans of bobsled, luge, and skeleton. Further, in this current age with social media playing such a large role in sports and culture, it would be beneficial for sliding sport athletes to be active on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. The speed and excitement of their sports are likely to go viral, and because of the lack of exposure it would be beneficial for the sport to showcase their other competitions more on social media. This expansion could also lead to more recognizable faces for the sport and a larger reach beyond the Olympics.

What It Takes to Break Through

As the 2022 Winter Olympics get set to kick-off, the trend of sliding sports ranking near the top of fans lists has continued. According to YouGov Sport, bobsled ranks fourth most popular in the US going into the games, and in the UK, bobsled ranked second only behind ski jumping. The attraction from these sports is there but the challenge is the staying power. For these sports to grow in the future, they are going to need to build off their Olympic glory and continue to stay relevant against other sports, or they will remain as part of a larger category of sports that only shine for two and a half weeks stretch once every four years in February and then disappear from most people’s radar.  

Sources

1. https://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/countries/united-states-winter2010.htm 
2. https://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/olympics-winter-2014-si.htm 
3. https://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/olympics-winter-headlines2014.htm
4. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-coolest-skeleton-helmets-at-sochi-2014-2 
5. https://sport.yougov.com/the-most-followed-winter-olympic-sports-by-men-and-women/ 
6. https://www.ibsf.org/en/tracks
7. https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Bobsled-Skeleton-Federation/About-Us/Tracks-around-the-world
8. http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/12/olympic.luge.crash/index.html
9. https://olympics.com/en/news/what-are-the-differences-between-luge-skeleton-and-bobsleigh
10. https://www.whatitcosts.com/skeleton-sled-racing-equipment-cost/

By Thomas Calhoun

Golf began and had always been an old man, country club game, and nothing more. But in 1996, a kid came along and changed golf from a game to a sport. A kid named Tiger Woods. Tiger brought youth, style, and athleticism to golf, and people all over the world took notice. No one had ever trained their body like Tiger or prepared like Tiger, and people all over the world became obsessed with being just like him. According to a press conference hosted by the PGA Tour, Tiger used to wake up in the morning and run four miles, then he would go to the gym to lift weights. After that, he would hit balls for 2-3 hours, play a round, and then work on his short game. Finally, to wind down he would run another four miles and if he was feeling up to it, play some basketball or tennis. No one golfer had ever taken this much care of their body until Tiger did it.

Why Golf’s Momentum Is Gaining Steam Again

Tiger’s influence spread across golf and is the reason that players like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka ever picked up a club. Players like Bryson, Brooks, and many others take great care of their bodies, and it shows on their scorecard. With fitness and nutrition being a huge focus of PGA players now, golfers can hit the ball further and have longer careers. Yes, technology helps players hit each shot a bit further, but fitness and nutrition have become essential to keep pace in the PGA. 

Now let’s look at where the game has evolved for everyday players like you and me. Just like cars and phones get more advanced every year, so do golf clubs and balls. This can be tracked statistically by the distance of drives in professional golf. According to the PGA, the tour average for drives in 1980 was just over 256 yards compared to 295 yards, which is what it is today. This is because shafts are getting lighter, the driver heads are getting bigger, and the balls are getting softer. All of these advances in technology are making golf more appealing and honestly a little bit easier for the younger generations.

New Talent, Technology & Viewer Growth

One more huge technological advance on tour is the implementation of Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS and the Tour are partnering to transform the way golf content is created and provided to fans with the goal of higher fan engagement. This artificial intelligence technology will use statistics, live footage, and individual player tracking to give fans an almost video game-like experience while watching a tournament. According to Amazon, “this will allow fans to change their viewing perspective with alternate camera angles, navigate the course, view speed rounds, and display shots on demand.” This experience will help golf grow its fanbase and allow people all over the world to engage with players they support.

The pandemic was a tough time for all people worldwide but gave golf an unexpected jump. According to the National Golf Foundation, the sport reached a 44% increase in play in April 2021 compared to 2020 before leveling off at 5% at the end of the year. This statistic also shows that there were about 20-25 million more rounds nationwide in 2021, that is a lot of green fees and golf balls. It also gave people the chance to exercise when there were no gyms open and a chance to safely socialize with friends and family. COVID–19 may have helped the golf industry in the long run by getting newer players on the course and encouraging existing players to go play more. 

Another way that the game of golf is becoming more popular among younger crowds is the use of social media and special broadcasting. We all know that social media can help bring attention to just about anything, but what about actually watching golf live. Every Thanksgiving weekend since 2018, TNT has hosted “The Match”, a celebrity golf event that has featured matchups such as Tom Brady vs. Aaron Rodgers, Phil Mickelson vs. Tiger Woods, and most recently Brooks Koepka vs. Bryson DeChambeau. These are fun for sports fans to watch because all of the players are mic’d up and there are always special announcers like Charles Barkley to chime in when the time is right. These live events have drawn viewership as high as 5.8 million viewers and they will continue to grow as the years go on.

A few weeks ago, there was another live tournament that took place in Orlando, Florida. The PNC Championship is the last tournament of the golf season and is a two-day family event. The only tournament that allows PGA professionals and their sons or daughters to play with them. This past tournament captured the hearts of sports fans everywhere because it was the first time Tiger Woods had returned to a golf course since his near-death crash in February, and he was accompanied by his son Charlie. According to an article by Golf Digest, the PNC Championship drew its largest audience in over two decades and delivered a whopping 2.3 million viewers, up 53% from 2020. This tournament showed all golf fans that the future was bright with talent as kids like Charlie Woods and John Daly II lit up the playing field. There were times where Charlie would put it closer to the pin than Tiger, and bail dad out if he missed a put. From what we saw in this tournament, Charlie Woods will be better than his father by the time he hits his 20’s. The fact that there will be another Tiger Woods in just a few short years means that golf will continue to blossom the way it did in the early 2000s.

What’s Next for the Game of Golf

Golf has come a long way over the past two decades, but there is still a lot of work to be done to make the game one of the major sports in the world. The future is bright with emerging talent at all ages, the improvement of technology for both players, and the level of engagement for the fans. Golf is becoming more accessible than ever before and is giving fans a reason to pick up a club and try it for themselves. Again, we have a long way to go, but I would say we are off to a pretty good start!

Sources

1. https://www.thengfq.com/covid-19/
2. https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/59/02/mapping-the-past–present-and-future-of-golf-courses.html
3. https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1326661482784845824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1326661482784845824%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.golfmagic.com%2Fgolf-news%2Ftiger-woods-reveals-his-old-workout-routine-and-sparks-social-media-debate
4. https://www.golfdigest.com/story/national-golf-foundation-reports-numbers-for-2020-were-record-se
5. https://www.pga.com/archive/how-driving-distance-has-changed-over-past-40-years-pga-tour
6. https://aws.amazon.com/sports/pgatour/

Picture the North American major sports leagues in the 1990s: The players were mostly people of color, but the coaches, managers, and team owners were almost all white. 

A snapshot today looks mostly the same.

Why Sports Leadership Still Looks the Same

Despite a handful of initiatives meant to increase diversity in the leadership of sports organizations, coaching, and management roles have mostly gone to white candidates in the past 30 years, according to a New York Times analysis of data from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports.

Inclusion Drives Performance and Innovation

True leadership is essential, and sports organizations with effective leadership in diversity and inclusion often make the difference. Through effective communication, support of participation, and the expression of shared goals, better performance can be realized. These important factors create a culture of respect and inclusion where diversity thrives. 

The inclusion of diverse individuals, which goes far beyond gender and race, can be a key differentiator among companies, leading to industry-leading profitability. The advantages of openly celebrating differences are abundant. When people feel included, empowered, and respected, it creates trust and a feeling of belonging within your organization. From a business standpoint, this leads to increased creativity, innovation, and productivity.

To promote DEIA as a prominent leader in sports, it is critically important to help cultivate strong visual role models for developing generations. This applies to every department of a sport, be that administration, officiating, coaching, and most importantly of all, to athletes. Paying attention to media outlets and social networks is vital in this regard.

League-by-League Progress: WNBA, NASCAR & the Changing Guard

Diversity in sports has been a driver of positive social change for many decades. Sports continue to represent a microcosm where social issues are confronted. Nevertheless, it is ultimately those bold enough to stand up for diversity and inclusion that makes the real impact.

WNBA

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) have been leaders among professional sports leagues in addressing issues of inequality and social justice. Their players have been broadly outspoken on topics ranging from mental health to police brutality to equal pay.

In 2021, the WNBA has outperformed other sports organizations in racial and gender hiring practices since 2004.

• The WNBA was awarded A+ grades for its racial and gender hiring practices, according to a scale designed by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, or TIDES.
• 2021 marks the 17th consecutive year the WNBA has earned A’s for race and gender.
• The only men’s league teams whose grades came close to the WNBA were the NBA and MLS, which both received A’s for racial hiring practices, but B’s and C’s for gender hiring practices.

In a statement, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said it remains a priority to remain “one of the most inclusive and progressive leagues,” and that the TIDES report card reflected that emphasis.

“We are focused on creating opportunities across every level of the WNBA and will hold ourselves accountable for upholding a strong culture of diversity,” Engelbert said.

PGA of America

The events over the last couple of years have motivated many organizations and companies to re-examine their culture and the part they play. Companies are reflecting on what additional things they can do to improve inclusion and diversity. PGA of America is no different.

While they first looked internally at our workforce, policies, protocols, and practices, they also had to focus our efforts on the consumers we aspired to attract to the sport, the golf industry workforce, and our supply chain. A key ingredient in our recipe for success was creating strategic partnerships to engage those who are unrepresented in the sport and the business of golf as a whole.

Chief People Officer, Sandy Cross, shares three lessons from an organization with a particularly challenging DEI history:

• Don’t do it alone.
• Partner with individuals and organizations that believe in your mission.
• Include diverse perspectives at the table.

NASCAR

Brandon Thompson was named as Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion on June 16, 2020 tapped to a new position meant to promote diversity throughout the NASCAR industry. His appointment arrived in the midst of a turbulent time of change not just for the sport, but for society in general.

Through the work of Thompson’s department, NASCAR has developed relationships with multiple organizations — the Urban Youth Racing School, Trevor Project, the Women’s Sports Foundation and UnidosUS just as a sampling — and expanded resources for diverse employees, supplier diversity efforts, and enhanced training have all grown.

“Relationship-building is definitely a key part of all this, and not only relationships internally across departments,” Thompson says. “The network can’t live just within the D&I department, but it’s even throughout the industry, whether it’s the relationships with teams, tracks, etc., as we’re trying to accomplish a lot of our goals.”

Steps You Can Take to Be a Better Leader

While improvements still need to be made at all levels of organizations, companies, and agencies, many strides have been made to increase diversity and inclusion across the board. Are you looking for where to start?  Here are some steps you can take:

1. Communicate the importance of inclusion within your team and organization.
2. Create an inclusive team environment and practice inclusive team behaviors.
3. Create strategic partnerships with organizations that feature diverse populations.
4. Review your local diversity data annually to assist in setting goals.
5. Implement a volunteer or staff diversity protocol that outlines the process for securing diverse leadership in your organization.
6. Mentor and create a pipeline.
7. Examine your assumptions.
8. Allocate funds specifically for outreach initiatives to alleviate barriers to participation.
9. Revamp your outreach efforts.
10. Continually evaluate your Diversity and Inclusion Plan.

By Morgan Alessi

As the year came to a close and January quickly rolls by, we reflect on the past 12 months. 2021 brought many victories, obstacles, and moments from athlete mental health awareness to mega broadcastings deals and industry-shifting partnerships, all have shaped the sports industry as we know it. 

Some of the most influential and educated voices in sports business have locked in their predictions, but only time will tell where 2022 will take us. 

One of the hottest topics when discussing 2022 is the landscape of broadcasting and streaming rights for professional and collegiate sports. Here are some of the most common predictions:

• “Traditional sports media rights have never been higher. I expect this will change in 2022.” – Jonathan Anastas, Board Chair at Alpha Esports Tech
  • The common consensus is that streaming platforms will take over live sports and possibly bring a majority of them behind a paywall. More specifically, Amazon, HBO Max, Showtime, and more have all begun this shift. Many predict that Amazon will buy a large portion of NFL rights this upcoming year. 
• Formula 1 will see a big rights increase.
  • After a younger generation continues to be attracted to F1 and Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” had major success, ESPN will be under the microscope as their current deals come to a close later this year.
• The sale of BT Sport will impact the pan-euro broadcasting industry.
  • As the sale of BT Sport is becoming more inevitable, there are many questions at hand for the future of their current broadcasting rights, specifically for the Premier League.
• There will be a race to acquire major eSport streaming rights.
  • With Youtube is in their last year of its $160M deal rights for Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League, Call of Duty League, Hearthstone this year will bring change for eSports.  

Content outside of live sports has been evolving over the past few years, and many are predicting a new wave of media to strike in 2022.

• Behind the scenes, content will grow tremendously.
  • As mentioned, F1 saw great success following the release of Netflix’s behind the scene series Drive to Survive. Likewise, HBO’s Hard Knocks continues to gain fans’ attention year over year. Many believe that more and more sports will adopt this content model in the new year.
• NIL will further fuel the need for athlete brand building
  • “College athletes can build meaningful relationships with brands that could result in financial support to foundations, helping their teammates, and setting themselves up for future success at the next level. We’ll begin to see the arms race between the major football and basketball universities.” – Jonah Ballow, Founder, Head of Content Strategy + Production, HEARTLENT Group 
• Social media will further drive the importance of fan engagement.
  • While live fan engagement will also see changes this year, social media has been predicted to be a focus for many sports organizations. As we have seen this past year with the virality of TikTok, NFL franchises like the Detroit Lions have tapped into a younger demographic and re-engaged them to drive their interest in live sports.
  • “One of the biggest changes for sports teams and leagues is the realization that digital content will be just as or more important than the TV broadcast. Younger fans don’t watch full games and don’t watch TV. So creating content that is designed for social media (and not just TV clips) is creating the need to build out a new function whose mission is to capture short-form content before, during and after sports events to build a digital media inventory.” – Daniel Kirschner, CEO, Greenfly

Sports sponsorships will experience seismic changes in 2022, seeing a shift away from the traditional endorsements we’ve previously seen.

• Athletes will walk away from their controlling apparel sponsors.
  • We saw USWNT players Christen Press, Megan Rapinoe, Meghan Klingenberg, and Tobin Heath announce their gender-neutral online clothing brand re—inc. Many more examples like such have led industry professionals to predict a major turn in the apparel sponsorship space.  
• “Sponsorship will be led by non-endemic and luxury brands. We see this trend with brands like crypto.com as well as Gucci and Vans. Digital sponsorship deals will be built on data, delivering custom content, and CSR efforts.” – Katie Lavin, VP Marketing, Events, and Communications, National Lacrosse League
• “In 2022, the majority of brands will spend more of their advertising budgets on social over television. 2021 was a big year for rights holders to embrace themselves as media companies — their investments into their social assets will deliver the biggest ROI.” – Amir Zonozi, President and Cofounder, Zoomph

Lastly, another common consensus for 2022 is that Cryptocurrency will continue to be intertwined with sports and change the way athletes are compensated. 

• CashApp will strike partnerships with more athletes and sports organizations throughout the year.
  • We saw OBJ, Aaron Rodger, Bryce Young, and Bubba Wallace all barter with CashApp this past year which led to some of the biggest names in sport taking large portions of their salary in form of Bitcoin.

To say the least, we have much to look forward to this year! 

Sources

1. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture-council/articles/top-2022-sports-gaming-trends-1255357/
2. https://www.greenfly.com/blog/thought-leadership/social_media_trends_sports_2022/
3. https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/8746317002
4. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2021/12/13/Insiders/Sports-media.aspx

By Lucas Prestamo

2021 was supposed to be the year that everything returned to “normal,” where people could gather without masks, meet in-person rather than virtually, and recapture the way of life people were accustomed to. In 2021, the rise of several new digital trends and technologies challenged the norms and values of followers who rely on the sport and entertainment industry to get them through their daily lives.

Web 3.0 and the Rise of the Creator Economy

Accelerated by the pandemic, ideas like cryptocurrency, NFTs, and blockchain infiltrated conversations within the media and pushed many sports properties to test their presence in new spaces. One of the compelling reasons for this apparent paradigm shift is that these developments transfer the power and ownership of content directly to the original creator. This phenomenon, what many refer to as a “creator economy,” changed the way athletes market themselves while giving them more leverage in the constant dialogue between brands, agencies, or anyone else seeking their assets.

Decentralization, Ownership & Why Creators Are Claiming Power

This rising independent economy disrupted the traditional means by which consumers interact with content. As the creator economy evolves, thought leaders and visionaries view Web 3.0, the next phase of the internet predicted to replace the current version of the internet, as the backbone for future growth. So, what is Web 3.0 and how can it impact the future of the creator economy?

To understand the impact of Web 3.0 on the creator economy and the sports and entertainment industry, it is prudent to first explore how the creator economy arose and why it will continue to grow. At its core, the creator economy is exactly what it sounds like – an economy built by content creators. People traditionally sought jobs that paid certain wages based on the value they brought in the form of skills and knowledge. Rather than letting the work define their worth, people began trusting the assets and the personal brand brought to life in whatever they produced. The content is formed, uploaded to creator-friendly platforms like TikTok or YouTube, and can be monetized depending on how the authors want their audience to interact with their creation. Connecting to other social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter helps share content to a global audience that follows one’s accounts, even getting a notification on their smart device when something new is published. While creators have been around long before the social media platforms that many are accustomed to today, demand for content was handcuffed and the technology was not conducive to the common practices accepted now by the public. The early stages of the internet focused on accessing information from one device – a digital encyclopedia among some other basic capabilities. As the internet became more complex and widely utilized, Facebook and YouTube were born and the foundation for content creators materialized within a version of the internet known as Web 2.0.

Real-World Use Cases: Sports, Content and Monetization in Web 3.0

The second stage of the development of the web transformed static information into dynamic content that is shared or distributed via several of the social media platforms mentioned before. Add the rise of influencers and gamers into the mix and most of the creator economy is established and continues to generate attention. By December 1st, 2021, “creator-focused startups have received approximately $2 billion in investment funding — more than three times the amount it garnered during the entirety of 2020” (Avoyan, Forbes). The decentralized ecosystem has marketers rethinking their strategies and even considering “handing over the creative direction” to the new crop of individual marketers. 

When someone orders something from Amazon, the company is in complete control of processing the order and overseeing all the steps as the purchase arrives at one’s location in an estimated period. Throughout this centralized process, the user has little to no control over any of the details related to the order. This example highlights a key idea driving the creator economy and why it garnered attention throughout 2021. It can be summed up with one word: decentralization. The content that gets produced, edited, and distributed is entirely up to the creator – excluding any contracts with a third party – to control. While social media is currently the most effective distribution method for creators when it comes to connecting directly with their followers, it may not be the right solution in the future. Although anyone can post on social media, users relinquish some control as they are subject to the guidelines those platforms have. Additionally, platforms like TikTok and Instagram attempt to “upsell influencer partnerships” by having their seat at the table “because they’re already doing business with the advertisers directly” (McCoy, Digiday). While such platforms are making efforts to “build creator-friendly ecosystems” that produce symbiotic relationships between the user and the platform, the risk remains that social media giants are “positioning themselves to take a cut of creator earnings” (McCoy, Digiday). In the context of decentralization, the creator economy still primarily operates within a centralized, digital ecosystem that outside companies determine is ultimately best for their interest and their bottom line. 

The push for decentralization seen within the creator economy is mirrored in professional sports as well. Athletes Unlimited is a professional sports league founded by Jon Patricof in March of 2020 that aims to disrupt the traditional means by which sports properties operate. Utilizing a “player-centric model” across multiple leagues, Athletes Unlimited empowers the athletes like Athelo Group’s Alex Aust to act as individual owners who partake in decision making that directly affects the league’s future while benefiting from revenue sharing. Groups within Athletes Unlimited like the Player Executive Committees can “make collective decisions on every aspect of our leagues, from recruiting to rules to business decisions” (Patricof, Sportico). While these developments might not be considered significant from a general business standpoint, they are not common with the blueprint of professional sports organizations. The organization is the closest model to how decentralization can work within the sports industry, as athletes have the power within the decision-making, the governance of their sport, and how they will interact with fans and the community. The unique blend of the creator economy and professional sport league operations that Athletes Unlimited has built could provide more solutions to the problems that plague other sports struggling to stay in the game as they compete for attention with the core four of North American sports. 

The framework for decentralization within sports that Athletes Unlimited advocates presents some similarities for the development of Web 3.0. Building off the first two stages of the internet, many believe that Web 3.0 will be the culmination of new smart technology, digital trends, and the movement towards giving more power to the users. This redistribution of power comes with the acceptance of blockchain technology, the backbone for what is possible within Web 3.0. The user-centric digital experience mirrors what Athletes Unlimited championed over its two years lifespan with its player empowerment structure. This self-governance approach the league committed to operates similarly to how decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), a new way of organizing ownership, could lead to “a realignment of ownership and control between leagues, owners, players and fans” (Patricof, Sportico). Looking closer, the athletes have control over the content that is produced by the league much in the way an NFT produced by someone is their property and is authenticated by the connected systems proving its legitimacy. While Athletes Unlimited is one case study for how the effects of Web 3.0 concepts and ideas can be seen at the league level, the impact of the transformation of the internet can be seen in other corners of the sports industry as well. Games like Zed Run and Rumble Kong League present another lens to look at how sports and the third stage of the internet can create engaging opportunities for sports fans and consumers globally.

What’s Next for Creators, Brands & the Sports Industry

The creator economy exploded in recent years due to the seemingly infinite amount of content being produced that can be found on the digital channels in Web 2.0. Social media channels provide opportunities to both fans and creators alike to communicate and engage in ways that were not possible before. “Content is King,” the unwritten rule followed by nearly everyone from creators to followers to brands and gatekeepers, proves to be crucial for success and longevity within the creator economy. However, where content lives and who has the ultimate authority on how it is formed, distributed, and monetized will be an interesting development as Web 3.0 continues to take shape and disrupt the norms so many are accustomed to. “Content is much more democratized” (Chou, #sponsored) because of the digital channels available now, but examples from the sports industry so far have shown the potential of Web 3.0 and how the framework can give more power to creators in the future as the economy grows. Others have recognized how similar the circumstances are to previous digital transformations – specifically, the birth of the internet and social media – and are taking steps to address the ambiguity that currently haunts Web 3.0. Next League, technology pioneer David Nugent’s new sport-focused firm already helping leagues like NASCAR, is working towards not just applying the new “technology to sport and media,” but providing guidance and “shepherding the industry with experience and thoughtful perspective – and creating positive social impact where they can” (Lemire, SportTechie). While there is still uncertainty about how exactly the “Third Age of Sport” (Wiltshire, SportBusiness) through Web 3.0 will arrive, it is a safe bet that creators, brands, and sports properties will continue looking for the signs of its presence in 2022 and beyond.

Sources

1. https://www.sportico.com/leagues/other-sports/2021/pro-sports-future-web-3-0-1234648347/
2. https://barrettsportsmedia.com/2021/12/20/web-3-0-built-for-sports/
3. https://www.sportbusiness.com/2021/11/lewis-wiltshire-web-3-0-and-the-third-age-of-sport-are-upon-us/
4. https://venturebeat.com/2021/12/14/rumble-kong-league-a-new-web3-sports-game-raises-4-5m-in-funding/
5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/06/25/from-influencer-to-empire-the-evolving-business-of-the-creator-economy/?sh=7cc3f76132af
6. https://www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/what-is-the-creator-economy
7. https://www.fastcompany.com/90694479/chernin-group-tcg-food52-barstool-sports-reese-witherspoon-hello-sunshine-metaverse-web3?itm_source=parsely-api
8. https://experty.io/web-3-0-vs-metaverse-similarities-and-differences
9. https://www.forbes.com/sites/marenbannon/2021/12/16/the-biggest-trends-for-2022-in-creator-economy-and-web3/?sh=2756852f35ba
10. https://medium.com/coinmonks/breaking-ownership-the-web3-0-journey-of-creator-economy-362a9a4f6dc
11. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/12/01/understanding-the-impact-of-the-creator-economy/?sh=e643cc479c6a
12. https://www.sporttechie.com/next-league-to-offer-web-30-consulting-for-sports-industry
13. https://digiday.com/marketing/a-symbiotic-relationship-why-social-media-platforms-are-getting-in-front-of-the-growing-creator-economy/
14. Chou, J. (2020). #Sponsored: How Athletes and Brands Can Leverage Each Other to Create Value. New Degree Press. 

“Imagine watching a broadcast that’s tailored just to you. Instead of getting the standard play-by-play, you can opt to listen to analysis from your favorite commentator. You can switch to your preferred camera angles and see stats for each player overlaid atop the broadcast and updated in real-time. The virtual advertisements that appear throughout the arena are customized to your interests.” This is the future of game broadcasting, according to top NBA executives.

Live sports are no longer exclusive to cable. Consumers are using streaming services now more than ever. Criteo’s “The State of Video and Connected TV Survey” found that 64% of consumers believe that streaming services provide better content. Customers are continuing to turn their eyes toward easier accessibility in the programming of streaming services. 

Streaming services have added unique and advanced technology such as real-time, live statistics as well as links to player profiles and options for purchasing tickets, all of which add to the fan experience. Companies will now sponsor and partner with streaming services to advertise during live sports. Partnerships on streaming platforms will have the opportunity to engage viewers more than cable sports by offering unique and exclusive deals. 

Technology innovations to enhance live streaming for viewers:

1. Customizable camera angles: Going into 2022, we expect to see a rise in new streaming technologies as companies in this market compete to retain existing customers and win over more viewers. One of these is providing multiple camera angle views, including drone cams above the field, to viewers to choose from. Drones provide broadcasters with an innovative way of capturing events; the technology allows the media to get footage of the action like never before!
   
   
2. Group game binges: Another viewer-focused application is watching together functionality. Sports fans that enjoy watching matches together, but are remote from each other, are the target for platforms that several sports leagues are testing which provide a way for small groups of fans to live stream a match and chat live with each other.
   
   
3. Real-time alerts to engage premium subscription fans: On the other end of the monetization spectrum are fan engagement ideas that are being tested. One of them is a key moment premium subscription option that would send an alert to a fan’s mobile device that a game-changing play by a team they follow just happened, with a link in the message they can click on to see a replay. Or, in a tied match in the final minutes, an invite to join the live stream to see the final minutes for a small micropayment. Recently there have been QR codes popping up on TV screens that when captured by the viewer’s mobile camera, take them to a website where they may see special offers, or make a purchase.
   
   An example of this would be when Parker Kligerman teamed up with Fast for a historic activation at the Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. QR codes directing fans to Fast’s $1hoodie promotion were branded on Kligerman’s car and integrated into broadcast for the entire race. The QR codes were scanned over 70,000 times, leading to over 50,000 Fast hoodies sold on race day alone.
   
   
4. Live-action sports betting: With more cord-cutting options to choose from than ever before, sports fans have several live services from which to pick. As those services come up with new ways to win over viewers and keep them tuned in, some appear to be focusing in on a big new feature: betting.
   
   For decades, sports betting was an add-on at most casinos. Now, sports betting is growing. Streaming services across the industry have started to add betting features alongside their sports feeds, offering a way to increase engagement and open a new revenue stream in the process. Many brands have started trying out this new feature:
   
   Dish partnered with DraftKings earlier this year to bake DraftKings’ Sportsbook and fantasy contests into its Dish TV Hopper platform as an app integration.
   
   FuboTV launched its own proprietary sportsbook feature for betting in Iowa , and it’s currently in the process of clearing regulatory hurdles to operate in other states. 
   
   NBC Sports and Peacock partner with PointsBet for their betting integrations.
   
   Sports streaming service DAZN, meanwhile, plans “to be in the betting market directly where we can,” according to its chairman Kevin Mayer. DAZN spokesperson Graham James says DAZN has “no specific plans to share at this time but believe that the addition of recreational betting to the DAZN platform across all our markets will create a safe, fun, and immersive experience for fans to enjoy alongside the top-tier sports they love.”

As technology continues to evolve, sports broadcasting will only improve and provide more opportunities. Predictions from Verified Market Research, indicate that the business of streaming live sports is expected to grow from $22 billion to more than $87 billion by 2028 – a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) rate of 21%.

“Sports has always been a genre of entertainment, much like movies, that drives engagement, drives subscriptions, that drives viewership,” says Paul Erickson, a senior analyst with Parks Associates. “The collective sports content community understands the value of what they’re offering. They can drive engagement and subscribership arguably like no other genre in any video. So they know that their content is of value.”

Sources

1. https://www.statsperform.com/resource/impact-of-live-streaming-on-sports-broadcasts/
2. https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/viewers-say-streaming-is-a-better-value-than-cable
3. https://www.theverge.com/22822590/sports-betting-streaming-wars-disney-dazn-fubo-tv-sling
4. https://www.fastcompany.com/90695689/nba-streaming-service-new-details
5. https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/20/22846634/youtube-tv-disney-streaming-channels-dispute-espn-fx
6. https://www.sportspromedia.com/opinions/2022-sports-broadcasting-industry-predictions-streaming-watch-together-betting/

As time has gone on, all major sports have trended in a certain direction. In the beginning, players were not individually marketed, and every dollar that was made for sports came from the team. The players were controlled by their teams, giving players very little freedom. An example of this comes with Major League Baseball (MLB). This holds relevance right now, as the MLB has come to its first work stoppage in 25 years. In 1994, there was a strike over many of the same issues that are being argued over today. Freedom for players to be individual and to not be controlled by the organization’s owners is an issue that is driving the lockout that was just put upon the MLB just weeks ago. 

Why Every Athlete Needs a Personal Brand Beyond the Game

Control is an ongoing issue in all sports. However, in recent years, athletes can go off on their own tangents, and market themselves as individuals, and not just as an athlete. Athletes now have a platform, in large part because of the rise of social media, that can be used as a tool to boost their image, as well as help to improve the lives of others. When there is a work stoppage like there has been in Major League Baseball, all guarantees go out the window. Players have to depend on themselves and their brand to generate revenue if playing in their respective sport is not an option. That also comes with sports outside of the core four. Athletes who cannot depend on their salary from their team alone, or easily receive a partnership deal due to their status, should focus on their personal brand to achieve long-term sustainability.

Authenticity & Storytelling: The Core of Brand Building

An athlete who does this well is Katie Ledecky. Ledecky is the most decorated female athlete in Olympic history. She has won 7 Olympic gold medals and 15 more world championship gold medals. She is considered one of the greatest female swimmers of all time. Ahead of the planned 2020 Olympics, Ledecky famously left Stanford University during her sophomore season. Despite Stanford winning two national championships in a row, Ledecky left because she felt their was more value in building her brand. Since the nature of the sport of swimming sees most athletes out of their prime by the time that they are 30, if she had finished her career at Stanford that would mean two more years of limited exposure, limiting her years to build and capitalize on her brand. Since turning pro, she has leveraged her brand and social media presence and has landed sponsorship deals with companies like VISA, as well as the swimwear brand TYR. She has also decided to go in the direction of showing her full self on social media, as she posts about her personal life and her hobbies outside of swimming. In doing this, Ledecky has opened up her branding opportunities to give a feel of being a typical relatable college-aged woman, while also building her network outside of swimming by using these hobbies and her platform. Ledecky understands that her sport itself will not be able to sustain the lifestyle that she hopes to live, turned to her personal brand to live by and thrive in the athletic community.

There has to be a certain sense of authenticity to a personal brand. Francis Reimers is the CEO and founder of Firestarter, a company that helps athletes, coaches, and executives develop, manage, enhance, and protect their brands.

Reimers said, “Authenticity is vital for two fundamental reasons. One, athletes want to ensure that the persona that appears online, is the person they are in real life. Few things kill a brand faster than the discovery that it’s not genuine. Two, remaining authentic allows for differentiation. In the crowded sea of professional and amateur athletes, the development of presenting your authentic self helps an athlete find a way to stand out.” 

Practical Steps for Building Your Athletic Personal Brand Today

It can be seen that building a personal brand is something that has layers and needs to be thought out. With the way that sports are currently trending, a personal brand is as important as ever. It is clear that in baseball, there is a chance that there is a stoppage of games. Superstars like Mike Trout, Jacob DeGrom, or Max Scherzer, can live comfortably without everyday competition and survive the climate without losing too much. However, there are thousands of players that are dependent on playing in those games to put food on their tables, especially those in the minor leagues. Athletes need to understand that building their brand can give them options, and perhaps give them the chance to avoid the suffocation that comes with a work stoppage. A personal brand gives options and allows an athlete to prosper outside of competition. 

Sources

1. https://sprter.com/branding/building-your-personal-brand/
2. https://frontofficesports.com/athlete-brand-building-importance/

Skateboarding originated in California before the action sport took the world by storm becoming a global culture and billion-dollar industry. A hobby in the 1950s made popular by surfers who wanted to keep busy when the swell had dropped, quickly created an industry consisting of some of the world’s most well-known brands including Vans, Converse, and DC Shoes. 

As the 1970s rolled around, skateboarding expanded beyond the United States into Germany, starting the sports’ initial globalization. Over the following few decades, with newfound popularity and growing participation, major competitions, events, and leagues were created and televised like the X-Games and Street League Skateboarding. While reaching a growing audience, athlete sponsorships began to shape the world of skateboarding.

Historically, only household names in the sport such as Nyjah Huston, Tony Hawk, and Ryan Sheckler, generated massive sums of money off of sponsorship. With a large portion of athletes typically agreeing to product or flow partnerships there were very few skaters landing paying sponsorship deals. Today, more and more young amateurs are being groomed by large skate brands to turn pro and become official team riders or in other words, a paid sponsored athlete.

Skateboarding has made significant strides since its inception 70 years ago but there is still so much room to grow. In 2020, with many factors including, the global pandemic and Olympic Games, the industry saw an 118% increase in skateboard equipment sales according to Action Watch, a skate, and surf industry data provider. As the 2020 Olympic games made history adding five new sports, the most since 1920, the skate community had mixed opinions of adding skateboarding to this world stage. Many believe that supporting the integration meant skateboarding would lose a sense of community, culture, and freedom, while others believed this was the appropriate step to grow the industry. The lack of collective opinion did not stop mainstream media attention during the Tokyo Games, in fact, it may have sent skateboarding into the stratosphere in terms of popularity.  

Now, with upwards of 85 million skateboarders worldwide, how does talent set themselves aside from the pack and create opportunities beyond the typical skate sponsorship layout? Diversifying marketability, skillset, and value is key. With fewer local skate shops connecting young undiscovered talent to big-name brands, the internet is now their direct line to becoming a sponsored athlete and monetizing off of their talent. What started as creating VHS tape highlight reels or “Sponsor Me Tapes” to send to team managers eventually led to lucrative career opportunities for many legends and hopefuls alike. In many ways those VHS tapes still live on – today Youtube, Vimeo, and other social media platforms have become king in the skateboard sponsorship space. Many skaters are leading the charge when it comes to bridging the gap between athlete and creator. Although filming, editing, and directing shots for a skater’s Youtube channel often seems subsequent to their actual athletic ability, in reality honing those skills or similar ones can provide additional value to brands beyond an athlete’s skateboarding experience. 

Many young athletes in the space are doing just that; Donta Hill is a prime example of an athlete who uses social media to showcase his overall marketability by sharing not only his skateboarding prowess, but his personality, involvement in the community, modeling talent, boxing ability, and more. Likewise, female skaters are proving their value in the male-dominated industry now more than ever by using the power of social media and the attention gained by the Olympic games. As new, up-and-coming voices and demographics become more prevalent in the skateboarding community, the sponsorship sector of the industry will continue to expand. To rise in the sponsorship ranks as an athlete, skateboarders must develop in parallel with the ever so evolving landscape of skateboarding as a whole. 

Sources

1. https://www.goskate.com/top/how-to-become-a-sponsored-skateboarder/
2. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/03/sport/skateboarding-olympics-debate-spt-trnd/index.html 
3. https://www.skatedeluxe.com/blog/en/wiki/skateboarding/history-of-skateboarding/
4. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/19/986527276/how-tiktok-and-skater-girls-are-sending-skateboard-sales-off-the-wall
5. https://www.skateboardershq.com/skateboard-statistics-facts/ 

While niche sports and activities may not have the biggest followings compared to the “core four” of US professional sports, they often have an audience of devout and engaged fans. CrossFit presents a great case study for an engaged following that is truly a community with an international presence. The sport has grown over the past couple of decades to include a layered structure with amateur and professional athletes competing on a global scale. Over the weekend of the 2020 CrossFit Games, viewership was over 11.5 million viewers as the sport’s top competition was televised on CBS after a two-year hiatus. 

With the sport delivering solid engagement relative to their following, it presents an inviting opportunity for brand partnerships that can deliver on several different levels. On the property side, two recent deals in the past year alone have revitalized the CrossFit brand. On March 1st, 2021, CrossFit announced its official partnership with Boston-based athletic company NOBULL for a minimum of 3 years after Reebok ended their partnership. The partnership established NOBULL as the new title sponsor for the CrossFit Games and the official footwear and apparel sponsor of CrossFit. This came after years of competing with Reebok and Nike for sponsoring the sport’s top athletes, with Reebok dominating with the most CrossFit Games champions and largest social media reach. Not long after this partnership was announced, WHOOP joined NOBULL as an official sponsor as they became the official wearable of CrossFit after agreeing to a multi-year partnership on March 4th, 2021. WHOOP has seen growth throughout 2021 and tapped into another highly engaged audience in NASCAR earlier this year. 

NOBULL and WHOOP are examples of the rising challengers that recognized the potential payoff at the premier level of partnerships within the CrossFit space. Yet, athlete partnerships are valuable moves that can reach hyper-engaged followers with high loyalty measures. In CrossFit, several brands have taken this avenue to reach potential consumers. ESC Sounds, a wireless headphones manufacturer, currently has partnerships with athletes like Thuridur Helgadottir, Danielle Brandon, and Beam, a CBD wellness brand, supports a wide range of CrossFit athletes including Tia-Clair Toomey, Matthew Fraser, and Athelo Group’s own Dani Speegle. The variety of sponsorships outside of the standard apparel and training equipment brands is beneficial for creating opportunities for the generation of authentic partnerships. However, CrossFit has significant challenges that must be addressed before progress is made to continue to help the sport grow.

The financial structure around competitions creates a serious void for athlete growth. There are only 4 major CrossFit events – 2 of which are invite-only – where the sport’s top athletes can prove themselves and have a chance at earning the most prize money available. An athlete that can achieve the top 3 at each event has the chance to earn a decent yearly salary, but that the chances of that happening are low and fails to match the amount other professional athletes can make by simply being on a professional team’s roster. Not to mention, all 4 events are so close to each other that not all athletes can physically compete in each one. Without any support from CrossFit itself, the onus falls completely on the athletes to seek out their own partnerships that can ease the burden of being a part of the best in a sport without much structure. The physical demands take up enough time and energy, creating another challenge for athletes as effectively building a strong personal brand is crucial for athletes looking for partnerships. With the cards stacked against them to achieve this, CrossFit athletes who compete in the highest tiers are not paid salaries during the year. There are opportunities to earn prize money from winning specific events and placing in the top 3 spots during competitions. Partnerships provide chances to fill this gap as CrossFit athletes climb the rank. Many athletes are forced to spend their extra time working part-time or even full-time jobs to support travel and other costs associated with joining the upper echelon of athletes. Because of this dynamic, CrossFit partnerships can reach a level of authenticity that is rooted in genuine human relationships. To support a CrossFit athlete means a brand understands the entire package and wants to partner with the person, not just the athlete. CrossFit Games Athlete Dani Speegle understands that brands and athletes must be willing to “grow together” and not view them as simply another athlete in a collection of other ambassadors. Although interactions carry some weight, the success of a partnership stems from the shared values that drive the loyalty and engagement characteristic of the CrossFit following. 64% of brand relationships come from shared values rather than frequent interactions (Gerhardt, Drift). Brands with similar values will gain leverage on awareness with the community that CrossFit has created.

The values, traditions, and norms that have developed over the past two decades since CrossFit was born have formed a hyper-loyal group of consumers across the world. Brands can leverage this community of potential consumers if they are willing to commit to the humans taking risks to chase their goals. The shared values between the partner and the athlete can reach more people than before with the development of new social media platforms and streaming services. The sport is still young enough where structural developments to promote growth will only create more unique opportunities for athletes who are serious about competing to make it. CrossFit can continue being a breeding ground for up-and-coming brands who may not have the largest budgets so long as they form genuine connections with the athletes they work with. Authenticity moves the needle with CrossFit — always has been, and always will be. 

Sources

1. https://morningchalkup.com/2021/11/18/creating-your-own-sponsorship-opportunities-with-games-athlete-streat-hoerner/
2. https://morningchalkup.com/2020/11/01/the-crossfit-games-return-to-live-tv-bring-in-additional-380000-viewers/
3. https://www.thedrum.com/news/2021/03/02/nobull-becomes-new-crossfit-games-title-sponsor-after-reebok-ends-ties
4. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/whoop-becomes-official-wearable-of-crossfit-301240664.html
5. https://www.drift.com/blog/crossfit-customer-loyalty/