{"id":93132,"date":"2024-05-29T11:47:57","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T15:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=93132"},"modified":"2024-09-01T09:54:22","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T13:54:22","slug":"opinion-shannon-kerwin-cheri-bradish-and-meg-popovic-discuss-how-to-ensure-success-of-womens-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2024\/05\/opinion-shannon-kerwin-cheri-bradish-and-meg-popovic-discuss-how-to-ensure-success-of-womens-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION: Shannon Kerwin, Cheri Bradish and Meg Popovic discuss how to ensure success of women’s sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article written by Shannon Kerwin, Associate Professor of Sport Management at Brock University; Cheri Bradish<\/span>, Professor of Sport Business at Toronto Metropolitan University; and Meg Popovic, Senior Director of Research, Future of Sport Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University, <\/span>originally appeared in The Conversation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Canada, and the Toronto region in particular, the visibility of high-profile women in sports is on the rise. Whether it\u2019s on the court, ice, pitch or even on the bench, women are making their mark and inspiring future generations.<\/p>\n

The successful first season of the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League (PWHL) and expansions announced in the Women\u2019s National Basketball Association (WNBA) are testaments to this growing momentum.<\/p>\n

The foundation for the excitement has been laid. According to a report commissioned by Canadian Women & Sport, 17 million Canadians indicate they are fans of women\u2019s sport. And on Feb. 16, the PWHL\u2019s first game at Scotiabank Arena set a league and women\u2019s hockey attendance record with a crowd of 19,285.<\/p>\n

The WNBA played a preseason game in Toronto in 2023 to a sold-out crowd, and has seen unprecedented growth in interest over the last five years. Viewership increased 21 per cent from the 2022 WNBA season across its national television partners \u2014 ABC, CBS, ESPN and ESPN2 \u2014 and engagement on socials and sports betting sites have set new records.<\/p>\n

To say that women\u2019s sport in North America is thriving is an understatement. The question now is: what does it take for these leagues, and others focused on women\u2019s sporting excellence, to sustain and build upon their success?<\/p>\n

Core values of women\u2019s sport<\/strong><\/p>\n

Within the Canadian sport system, research shows that strategic understanding of, and managing by, values can lead to increased organizational performance.<\/p>\n

To engrain this wave of success and popularity of women\u2019s sport into the fabric of our sport ecosystem, sport managers must embrace what is at the core of this success: the values women\u2019s professional sport organizations hold, and the values consumers see within sport products such as on-field or court performance, merchandise and brand.<\/p>\n

A report on the business of women\u2019s sports by the Sports Innovation Lab, a market research firm, found that consumers are looking for different connection points in comparison to consumers of men\u2019s sport.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s sport fans are looking for connection, excitement and to become a part of a movement. The WNBA, for example, reflects core values of connection, social justice and excitement by strategically engaging with their basketball community.<\/p>\n

As the PWHL and its affiliate teams continue their journey, and a WNBA franchise makes its way to Toronto, we must look to our women\u2019s sport ecosystem and the economic and social values created by them.<\/p>\n

Anyone who works within or leads a sport organization needs to truly know who they are serving, and authentically and effectively collaborate with stakeholders to bring those values to life.<\/p>\n

Community and collaboration<\/strong><\/p>\n

To achieve and maintain success in women\u2019s sports, embracing the concept of communities of practice is essential. Communities of practice refer to groups that share and work toward common interests, goals and values.<\/p>\n

Research shows that having space where sport leaders and organizations can share knowledge, discuss triumphs and roadblocks and explore new ideas fosters long-term sustainability and innovation. However, the full potential of these tools is rarely leveraged strategically in sport.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s sport ecosystem, there is potential for creating like-minded communities that value and uplift the increasing presence of professional girls\u2019 and women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n

The work of organizations such as Canadian Women & Sport, Canadian Tire JumpStart and the WISE Fund demonstrate the power of working together in a space that enhances collective excellence.<\/p>\n

These are networks of folks with similar values and vision for where women\u2019s sport can and should be. There are for-profit entities like FanDuel, RBC Canada and Canadian Tire, who have also provided financial resources and support to power this movement forward. Within the community of practice, these organizations need to also authentically hire and train women for senior leadership positions.<\/p>\n

The PWHL and WNBA franchise in Toronto must not lose sight of the communities driving the excitement and support for these women\u2019s sport leagues and teams.<\/p>\n

Although the PWHL, WNBA \u2014 and, in 2025, a Canadian women\u2019s pro soccer league called the Northern Super League \u2014 represent different sports, the strategic use of knowledge across sports, women\u2019s sport value and collective resources can result in sustained and untapped excellence. There is potential for collaboration that is unmatched in the history of sport.<\/p>\n

The future looks bright<\/strong><\/p>\n

Women\u2019s sport is here to stay, and its future looks bright. To embrace and maintain the success of leagues and franchises, sport managers must not forget what women\u2019s sport means to its core stakeholders \u2014 the fans \u2014 who are looking for connection and belonging, and the foundation from which it has grown.<\/p>\n

Those who work and lead in sport must understand the values that underpin women\u2019s sport and manage those values authentically and strategically. This will ensure women\u2019s sports in Toronto continue to resonate with fans and participants alike by embracing the example created with fans in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

And finally, sport managers must embrace the value of collaboration and engage in communities of practice. The core of these values brings people, leagues and organizations together in the pursuit of excellence, rather than pushing them apart.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shannon Kerwin, Associate Professor of Sport Management at Brock University; Cheri Bradish, Professor of Sport Business at Toronto Metropolitan University; and Meg Popovic, Senior Director of Research, Future of Sport Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University,\u00a0wrote a piece recently published in The Conversation about ensuring the success of women’s sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,7,6],"tags":[2753,7488,4210,5512],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93132"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93132"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93152,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93132\/revisions\/93152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}