Framing the Game: What Shapes Demand for the National Women's Soccer League?

Abstract

How can society be motivated to support women’s sports financially? Despite advances in women’s participation in professional sports thanks to Title IX, the fanbase remains anemic compared to that of men’s sports. This thesis explores three types of messaging that may be used to promote the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) to the public: (1) competitive, (2) familial, and (3) role-modeling. The study relies on an original survey experiment with a sample of 834 respondents randomly assigned to treatment messaging. The main results show that framing women’s soccer as highly competitive generated the most interest in attending and watching games, although without any increase in willingness to pay for a game. The family and role-model approaches generated little to no interest in attending or willingness to pay for a game across all demographics. These findings suggest that emphasizing the competitive nature of these games may be the most effective strategy for generating interest. New relationships with media centers, a stronger push for fair airing times, and more enthusiastic commentators may also better highlight the competitiveness of women’s soccer.