Frustration from a professional softball player

[InsidePitch]

What's the target demographic of women's sports? ...

According to Geno Auriemma of UConn women's basketball, his target isn't men it's the 12YO girl that plays basketball and the parents that bring them to games. I'd follow his plan since UConn women's basketball is a revenue generator.

What a lot of people fail to realize is that MLB players make bank, all the AA and AAA players are in the same boat as the NFP players. Not making a living. DD works out at a place full of current and X minor league players. 5-8k for the season at the local stadium.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I wonder how the league would do if it were structured more like a tour rather than a league of home-based teams.

Hit big cities, and better yet hit all the major college powers and play in their nice stadiums. Could you sell that out at places like Alabama and Oklahoma and Arizona and Michigan? Travel expenses would become huge, but that might market the league better. There's not a team close to me in Raleigh, so the league is not even on my map. But if I knew it was coming to UNC or NC State once/year, or even Charlotte, I might make it a tradition to go.

 

[Cannonball]

According to Geno Auriemma of UConn women's basketball, his target isn't men it's the 12YO girl that plays basketball and the parents that bring them to games. I'd follow his plan since UConn women's basketball is a revenue generator.

What a lot of people fail to realize is that MLB players make bank, all the AA and AAA players are in the same boat as the NFP players. Not making a living. DD works out at a place full of current and X minor league players. 5-8k for the season at the local stadium.

I think the minimum for a MiLB Player is $2,150 per month. I don't know the minimum for someone in the Independent League but would expect it to be substantially less.

 

[MacLobo]

According to Geno Auriemma of UConn women's basketball, his target isn't men it's the 12YO girl that plays basketball and the parents that bring them to games. I'd follow his plan since UConn women's basketball is a revenue generator.

That was the point of my post. You have to build the interest in young girls, and then market them (both as girls, and as they grow into women.)

 

[ian]

Interesting comment from Emily Allard.

What are your thoughts?

Excuse me Miss but there are plenty of folks who would gladly make the same wage as you while playing the same game. They might even do a better job.

Why do women's fastpitch players make more than men's fastpitch players???

https://youtu.be/Q_fFWI1L6L0

 

[FP26]

According to Geno Auriemma of UConn women's basketball, his target isn't men it's the 12YO girl that plays basketball and the parents that bring them to games. I'd follow his plan since UConn women's basketball is a revenue generator.

What a lot of people fail to realize is that MLB players make bank, all the AA and AAA players are in the same boat as the NFP players. Not making a living. DD works out at a place full of current and X minor league players. 5-8k for the season at the local stadium.

We took our travel ball team to a game in Allentown several years ago (3 or 4, can't remember). We had a great time, but it was difficult to handle logistically. Most of the parents had work the next day so we had a few parents drive the rest of the team to the event. Attending one on a weekend just didn't seem to work out. Every week there was a game within driving distance, we had a tournament scheduled someplace else. Otherwise we probably would have tried to attend more events.

As far as attendance at the event we were at; Nearly all of our players and several parents attended, so nearly 20 from our group. There was another travel team in attendance that had another 20 or so people. Between our two groups, we were probably close to half of the entire attendance at the event.

It really is a shame. If the scheduling worked out, my family would definitely attend 2 or 3 games per year.

 

[tim_s]

our house will watch it every night it is on TV.....i'd rather watch fastpitch than baseball

 

[CoogansBluff]

Not sure if the UConn formula applies here. With UConn, you've got a program that is winning national titles and you could almost say putting a city and university on the map. Or even for schools that are already on the map, like Alabama, you can build a great following. No way to instill that sort of pride in the Akron Racers.

In fact, you might say that the Alabama's and Oklahoma's and even the UL-Lafayette's are what hurts pro softball. Most fans are happy with that. It's cheaper, more readily available and has the college affiliation and framework to make it go. Most people can't tell the difference between the level of play at the WCWS and a pro league game, so what does the pro league really have to offer?

And finally, I would argue that softball for most of our daughters is first and foremost a participant sport, not a spectator sport. Just because they love to PLAY softball doesn't mean they love to WATCH it, at least not in the passionate kind of way that would support a pro franchise.

 

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

She has a point, not the only point but her perspective isn't completely wrong. Women's sports don't get the same exposure as men's except in the Olympics, tennis, and figure skating. The WNBA is 20 years old now and it still isn't shown that much on ESPN. Part of the problem is lack of marketing, part of it is simple lack of interest amongst sports fans, and part of it is the competition they are up against. They can't expect to compete with MLB, but Minor League baseball for a shorter period of time is doable. Marketing should be geared towards, like Gino said, the 12 year old girls and their parents who will go if the opportunity is there.
Just my opinion, but the NPF should play tournaments instead of series involving just two teams. Softball is about weekend tournaments at every level until college, and I think you would see much better attendance if they played a tournament every other weekend at facilities around the country than following the MLB model. Getting people to commit to a weekend where they can see a bunch of games

 

[InsidePitch]

Maybe the Little League model would work. Put your teams together play some qualifiers and meet for a big showdown. Who's still in it, who is going home, who's riding cardboard down the hill. A solid week of PRO ball on TV might help sell the league. If I"m not mistaken, based on LL field dimensions you could even hold it in Cooperstown.

On a side note, I met Ms Allerd at a clinic 2 years ago. Her enthusiasm for the sport is very infectious and immediately rubbed off on all the kids she worked with. She is the type of personality you want to be around. Good luck to her.