The WNBA is making progress. But there are still issues and challenges that the league and other women in sports face.

“We’re still working for cultural acceptance for women as athletes,” said Laurel Richie, president of the WNBA. “The world of team sports still seems to be the domain of men.”

Richie spoke on Wednesday at Hendricks Chapel as a part of the University Lecture series at Syracuse University. She tackled issues relating to women in sports, media coverage of the WNBA and the dynamics of gender and sexuality in athletics. Richie’s talk was the second University Lecture of the semester.

“I’m fascinated about the discussion that goes on about gender and sexual orientation in women’s and men’s sports,” said Richie.

Richie added that the WNBA has to, and is striving to, start a conversation about larger issues relating to gender and sexuality in sports.

“Sports has a real opportunity to inform culture because people look up to so many of our athletes,” said Richie.

Speaking about a conversation with famed female little league star, Mo’ne Davis, who has said that she wants to play in the WNBA when she grows up, Richie recalled telling her that the WNBA exists to make the dreams of young girls like her come true.

“That’s why sports are so important,” said Richie. “This little girl has made a name for herself and her confidence is amazing.”

Citing examples like Brittney Griner, a current player for the Phoenix Mercury who has made strides as an openly gay athlete, and Maya Moore, who plays for the Minnesota Lynx, as exemplar role models for young female athletes and fans of the WNBA, Richie noted that the WBNA has the most progressive and diverse fan base in all of sports.

Marketing research from the WNBA shows that 29 percent of WNBA season ticket holders are lesbians, Richie added, which has allowed the WNBA to be a leader in supporting LGBT issues.

“We found that this segment of our fan base felt they were undervalued and under-acknowledged,” said Richie. “So last year, we were the first major professional sports league to have a pride initiative.”

Richie said the initiative was a huge success and the league had the most coverage of pride than anything else last year.

In an attempt to get more media coverage for the WNBA, which Richie hopes will bring gender to the forefront of the conversation about sports, she noted that both local and national news outlets don’t cover the WNBA as much as she would like.

“We’re in a catch-22 where the media says, ‘We’ll cover you when you have more critical mass’ and I’m saying, ‘If you cover us we’ll get a critical mass,’” said Richie. “So there’s this whole media dynamic around women in sports and how we get covered and when we don’t get covered.”

Despite this, Richie said she feels like society in general is starting to move forward in terms of gender and hopes the sport will be able to push society forward even more with the notion of women being different, not less than men.

Published on March 18, 2015 at 11:38 pm

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu