Why don't women follow women's sports?

seamus wrote:

I'm pretty sure women watch men's sports for exactly the same reasons that men do. And a large part of it comes down to the fact that men's sports take the lion's share of the advertising and funding in a continuous feedback loop that means that men's sport is better resourced than women's.

That's not it...

In fairness I watch a lot of men's sports and never any women's. I think I would if they were broadcast as readily as the men's, but they're not.
It's not solely based on lads running around in shorts, I don't really watch that much soccer. There's no shorts involved in golf and snooker, thsnk god.
But finding a player attractive adds an impetus for me to support them. Maybe I'm just shallow!

FTA69 wrote: »

My missus is having her first fight tomorrow evening. I thought she'd be a pain to coach but she has committed herself totally and is soaking up things like a sponge. I know for a fact now if she keeps it up she'll fight to a higher level than me. In her show tomorrow as well I know for a fact her's will be one of the most engaging and technical.

Women fighters seem to switch off more and act in a much more methodological fashion in the ring, would watch them all day.

Don't know if you're referring to boxing or not, but anybody who watched Kellie Harrington at the world championships last month will understand just how great women's boxing is to watch and how it has come on leaps and bounds in a short space of time. She is as adept and skillful as most male amateur boxers I have seen.

I follow quite a few sports, but athletics is my lifelong #1 - even went to a Diamond League meeting (in Eugene, Oregon) on my honeymoon! It's quite balanced overall gender-wise in terms of coverage.

I also went to the women's FA Cup final last year - full lower tier at Wembley, good craic.

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Those were due to the womens final containing an American hero in Serena Williams with a largely American viewing audience. The Mens 2014 final also contained two largely unknown (to irregular viewers) foreign players in Nishikori & Cilic, which affected figures. Womens Tennis isn't anywhere near as popular as Mens generally, by any metric

Regardless, the gap in popularity between mens' and womens' tennis is far less than you see in football.

Why is that? A major reason is playing both competitions (men and women) at the major Grand Slams (Aus/Fre/Wim/US) at the same time. I guarantee you'd see a similar upsurge in popularity in the womens game if the same happened at this years Euros in France.

I really like the Invicta MMA. When I could commit to staying up until 6am on a Saturday/Sunday night I watched a lot of MMA. I don't know if McGregor had just signed or was just not considered ranked at the time. He was definitely starting at the bottom of the UFC.

The women's MMA was really interesting though. A totally different take on the top 10 UFC, and the lower end of the UFC. There was much better matchmaking, not always perfect but the fights were more likley to be competitive. There were a few one sided ones but generally there was some balance between the women. The competitors were of course nowhere near as skilled as the UFC top ten, which is to be expected. I enjoyed it a lot more than an average UFC night though.

Similarly, North America has had their first professional rugby competition running this year. There is a mixture of both amazing and awful. I've seen people fall off the simplest of tackles, and the next person, and another before the runner cruises in for a try. And I've seen the most intricate, passing backs moves result in huge gains on the pitch. I haven't watched many games, but the few I have have been really enjoyable.

Maybe I just have a thing for lower level sport. Sometimes you see an amazing football time like Barcelona play, and I use a football term here, they play like pure poetry. What they do is absolute joy to watch. The level of skill, and control, not just personal control, or team control, but control over the entire game even when they're playing a difficult opponent is like watching the most well oiled intelligent, emotional machine. There's nothing like it. But if I tune into two weeks of the Champions League the chances of finding a game I really enjoy, without any dedication to a particular team is low. If I tune into Invicta, or the American rugby, I'll find something charming about it.

I think a lot of sport is theoreticised, and intellectualised, where everything is calculated to cancel every opposing thing out it's not enjoyable to watch. Sometimes you get superb moments where brilliance breaks through. Often not though. I think the lower level sports can be a lot more interesting to watch, as someone who just likes watching sports.

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

I witnessed the whole of Houston Station coming to a standstill to watch one of her fights they had on TV one afternoon a few years ago

Never knew she was so popular in Texas.