A short survey for female sports fans…and the fascinating results

About a month ago, I undertook a short survey through SurveyMonkey (free surveys!) asking just a few questions. Some of the results were things I expected, but there were other things I would not have guessed. Here we go! 1. As a female fan, do you feel like people (men OR women) take your fandom less seriously? Yes 38.3% No 21.3% Sometimes 40.4% I am not surprised only twenty percent of the respondents felt they were taken seriously. That’s where the impetus for this survey started, after all. 2. Have you ever experienced someone assuming you’re only there for the guys or can’t understand the sport, and if so, how did you handle it? Two responses were given here more than any others: a. I ignored them. b. I proved I knew the game (by giving stats, explaining rules etc.) I think it’s sad that in this day and age people still assume that if you’re a guy you MUST like sports and if you’re a girl you’re just there to stare at the player’s asses. 3. What is the ONE thing sports teams should do differently to cater to their female fans? A variety of answers on this, but notable ones were: a. Stop making female jerseys in pink and powder blue with bedazzling. More variety in female-sized sportswear would be nice overall. b. Make cheerleaders disappear. c. Offer girls’ night out packages. d. Female game announcers. e. Cater advertising to a broader demographic rather than skewing it so heavily to males. f. Take us seriously/stop treating us differently. Don’t dumb things down when dealing with us. g. More female restrooms (I have to agree with this one.) h. Better quality food and drinks at the venues. i. A “man free” zone so we don’t have to listen to all the ridiculous posturing and swearing. j. Watch for men bullying female fans and make sure they know it’s not okay to do so. As you can see, answers were all over the place, but I agree with pretty much everything mentioned here. And so many of these things are so easy it makes me wonder why sports teams don’t bother to do them. 4. What are your main reasons for following the sport(s) you do? Again, many different answers. Some interesting points brought up were: a. I love the aggressiveness and action of football. b. The challenge of the sport and watching the players do well at something so difficult. c. I enjoy the teamwork and the passion displayed by the athletes. d. Great memories of watching sporting events with friends and family. e. The history behind the game. f. I like watching sports with my husband. It gives us something to talk about and have in common besides kids, finances and other mundane things. g. It’s cool watching what a team winning a championship does for a city. h. The suspense and tension during the games can be enthralling. i. Much like a book, you can get lost in a game. j. The bonding aspect with other fans, whether they’re sitting next to you or are a thousand miles away. You feel like part of something special. k. Cycling is epic. No breaks, no benches, no halftime. l. The overall love for the game that I love. m. My husband/children are involved in sports. I think it’s very cool there are so many reasons for women to be sports fans. Hopefully more teams will take female fans seriously. Until then, there’s Romancing the Jock, where we may talk about hot guys, but we won’t dumb anything down. If you didn’t answer the survey (or if you did but want to talk about the answers), leave a comment). I’d love to hear what you all think of the results.