Frustration from a professional softball player

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Aug 29, 2011
2,581
83
NorCal
Maybe she should switch to baseball and make MLB minimum.

Until women's sports get sponsorship and negotiate a TV contract to pay them exorbitant sums of money, female athletes will not make the outrageous sums their male counterparts make.
 
Jun 22, 2008
3,731
113
The NPF business plan is what is killing the league. Several years back we had a team in Tucson that eventually folded after just a couple of years. I started checking into seeing what it cost to start a team, it was something like $700K just to buy into the NPF league then you would have to also incur all the expenses of a site to play at plus all the coaching staff, players etc etc etc. Its no wonder the league only has 5 current teams and 10 failed teams. They first have to get teams, and having a $700k buy in is not conducive to bringing in new teams. And with only 5 active teams they just play each other over and over. Until they have enough teams to actually make a league, promote it and build a fan base it will never succeed.
 

TMD

Feb 18, 2016
433
43
Pro sports...ALL pro sports...comes down to one and only one thing - $$. In this day and age with the seemingly endless options competing for your discretionary entertainment dollar, it has got to be something pretty darn special. You need great players with personality that can be marketed. You need to be in locations that have a strong base from which to draw. You need purpose-built facilities (sorry, but it's a joke watching NPF games played on baseball fields with bases in the infield grass and temporary fences). You need to be able to pay players at least a living wage. Basically, you need some kind of angel investor(s) to commit to financing the league for several years, build some stability and market presence in key locations, figure out how to generate an advertising base, etc.

Even then, who knows if it would ever work. With the growing interest/viewership at the college level and the upcoming return of Olympic softball, you'd think the landscape would start to look more promising...I guess time will tell.
 
Jun 22, 2008
3,731
113
For a professional sport $700K is chump change.

Would you invest $700k to buy into a league with only 5 teams and a long history of failed teams? The actually number is 2 failed teams for every operating team. They cant attract new teams because it is an almost guaranteed loser. They have to get teams in place, actually have a league, negotiate some television time and build a fan base. Until then it will never be marketable and they will never get any potential owners to buy in.
 
Nov 25, 2012
1,437
83
USA
I went to a Scrap Yard Dawgs game last summer in hopes of getting a chance to see Monica Abbott pitch. I don't think there were more than 40 people in the bleachers and they may be stretching it a bit. It was a bit depressing as I remember thinking there is no way this will last long. The game and environment was awesome however.

*Monica did not pitch but she was warming up on the field next to the game and I did get to see her and take some video. Well worth the price of admission which I think was around 10 bucks
 
May 20, 2015
1,095
113
much like most memes, especially ones of the political/social commentary type, grounded in half truths at best


(male) pro-athletes make so much because there is great demand to watch them play, both in person and on TV, as well as great demand for their merchandise


now, do i think NPF (and softball in general) is under-marketed, and does the game have enough merit to be pushed to a larger market? sure......
 
Aug 29, 2011
2,581
83
NorCal
Would you invest $700k to buy into a league with only 5 teams and a long history of failed teams? The actually number is 2 failed teams for every operating team. They cant attract new teams because it is an almost guaranteed loser. They have to get teams in place, actually have a league, negotiate some television time and build a fan base. Until then it will never be marketable and they will never get any potential owners to buy in.

I would not. My point was that $700K is small potatoes in the world of professional sports. You need an infusion of capital from new owners to invest in marketing.

For example - MLS charges a $200M expansion fee. To be honest I have no clue how many teams there are in Major League Soccer, can't name a single current major soccer player in the USA and outside of the LA Galaxy (they signed some washed up Brit awhile ago) and San Jose Earthquakes (they are local and I hear about them on the radio sometimes) I can't name a single other franchise.

So yes $700K is tiny.
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
I don't have a problem with her saying this at all. I would be frustrated if I were in her shoes.

I also understand why it is the way it is, and I am sure she understands that as well.

However, its not just about the men's game being more popular and the sponsors... Check out the Women's National Soccer team and what they earn vs the Men's team. When the women are playing in the USA they bring in far more fans then the men, they sell far more merchandise then the men, they have been far more successful then the men. And yet they are paid less. They were talking about going on strike over it.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,831
Messages
679,490
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top