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Executives discuss opportunities, advancement for women in sports business

More than 400 executives are expected to gather in New York on Tuesday for the second annual Game Changers conference. Executive Editor Abraham Madkour reached out to a few executives for their thoughts on women’s opportunities in sports, career advancement and the state of women’s sports.

Mary Wittenberg
Photo: NYRR
Donna Orender
Photo: ORENDER UNLIMITED
Jim Kahler
Nancy Lough
Stephanie Cheng
Photo: DANIEL ROTHENBURG


How to develop the next generation of female executive leaders in sports business:
MARY WITTENBERG:
In many areas of sports, at this point, it’s a matter of numbers, not exclusion. The more women break into executive positions, the better chance their organizations see the benefit of diverse thinking in their ranks and, ultimately, diversity in their governance and management teams. Many organizations in sports today seem to have that understanding at some level.

On the business and media side of many sports, it’s just a matter of time and the right opportunities and circumstances until we see more women in the most senior positions. It struck me as strange that we didn’t hear of any women candidates in the MLB commissioner search. … [Looking ahead] Kathy Carter is well-poised at MLS. Stacey Allaster could play a leadership role in another sport. By the time Adam Silver retires, I expect a top woman will be on his bench of potential successors. … Val Ackerman is again in a position to help change the game — this time in college athletics. Val may inspire other women sports and business leaders to consider college sports, and most importantly, school presidents and ADs will appreciate her impact. … The first owner to name a woman GM will change the game.

NANCY LOUGH: First, the pipeline has to be built, then developing intentional strategies to level the playing field need to be employed. Sports organizations need to be intentional about it. Set goals and create strategies to identify and develop top talent. There needs to be a focus on recruiting and retaining women employees. Examining the climate and culture of the organization can help leadership understand where the problem areas are. Step 1 is simply to look at the numbers. What percentage of your employees in core areas are women? Of the women in the organization, how long have they stayed? What can be learned from those who have stayed and advanced?

What are the obstacles?
LOUGH:
Business as usual. This is why I said “be intentional.” A climate and a culture will only change when efforts are made to create change. Recognize there are obstacles. Does the organizational leadership really care about having women represented in the organization? Let’s be honest about it. Too often it’s more comfortable for guys to go with the status quo. But the status quo is an obstacle. Little things, like not including a woman’s voice or opinion in key matters. This communicates to women in the organization that they are not respected or valued.

WITTENBERG: I used to think encouraging more women in law and business to make lateral senior moves made sense, and that can result in opportunity in cases like Michele Roberts as head of the NBA players association. Of late, I think it may be more helpful for women to move into sports earlier in their careers, five to 10 years within graduating college or graduate school, as experience in a given industry and within college athletics or sports marketing can be helpful in breaking in to the senior ranks.

What can sports leagues and teams do to increase their female fan base?

KAHLER: I was with the Cleveland Cavaliers when we secured one of the eight original WNBA franchises, the Rockers. One of our top female corporate sales reps and I were having a discussion on season-ticket sales when she told me, “Jim, you don’t get it when it comes to women and season tickets.” She said it’s not an issue of affordability but rather an issue of time poverty and all of the responsibility that goes along with being a mom. She was right and we found that mini plans for moms were the way to go. If teams really want to increase sales to women and small businesses owned by women they need to be more creative with their ticket packages. Also, target organizations with female leadership and enrollment.

ORENDER: It’s critical to take the time to research and understand how women think and what they value and prioritize if there is serious intent to move the needle. We are not talking about pink gloves on the field or a weekly women’s golf outings. We are talking about a full audit of an industry’s touch points in what is essentially a cultural and business transformation process. There is no one-off here.

WITTENBERG: When it comes to events in a stadium, make it easier for moms to want to go to games and want their kids to go to games: clean stadiums, healthy food choices, family sections.
 
LOUGH: Not all women are the same. Too often you read broad sweeping statements about women. With analytics, we can identify and target groups of women with common interests, attitudes, likes and buying habits. The days of “soccer moms” needs to be over, because it became generalized as a way to target all women. Just like the “pinkification” of things needs to be over. …  Women are sophisticated consumers looking for value from a number of different lenses.
The sport media does not cover women’s sport adequately or respectfully. When a sport fan has to seek out coverage, it’s much easier for the fan to lose interest along the way. EspnW is a good step forward. Making it possible for fans to livestream women’s sporting events would help. A lifeline is needed to keep fan interest growing. Another positive step is paying attention to the research that has demonstrated that “selling sex” does not work when it comes to selling women’s sport. Fans want to see athleticism on display, the drama of competition and all of the aspects used to build audiences for mainstream sport. The traditional male sport fan may be intrigued by the sexualized images of a woman athlete, but this strategy will not make him a fan of the sport.

DONNA ORENDER: The fact remains that sports is deeply rooted in male culture. Much of the culture, language and business tactics have been devised around a male model, leaving women relegated to the sidelines. In order to achieve gender equity we need to talk about transformative thinking and strategies. In order to take the meaningful steps, we have to recognize our hidden biases, what I like to call the “purple elephants.” Gender is a hot topic. Emotions can flare, defenses are raised, self-interest trumps all, and there is an uncomfortable fear. It is just as true for women as it is for men. What do we really fear? Perhaps it is our biases? Or perhaps it’s the concept of change? Shifting sands do create a sense of imbalance but they also can create new and even stronger foundations.

JIM KAHLER: If women want a balanced lifestyle with a family that includes children, sports doesn’t seem to be as progressive as other industries. Time sharing, working from home and other considerations could provide teams with a great talent pool if they were more open with some of their one-size-fits-all HR policies.

Getting women in more leadership posts:
LOUGH: The pathways to leadership need to be clear, and open. Often the skills and/or experiences needed for the next step may be made available to male employees, while they are not made as available to women. Again, this is not typically intentional. A great example is the noon run, pickup basketball game, golf round, or similar experience. The guys share tidbits, inside information and often mentor younger men in this process. The women are left out, and in many cases like this, decisions are made and opinions are formed, which completely leave the women out. A focused and intentional approach to providing training and experiences in an unbiased and fair manner would do more to advance the next generation of leaders, both men and women. Having said that, more men need to mentor women. This is the intentional part of growing future leaders. Women should not be expected to only learn from other women.

ORENDER: The research is conclusive that when women are part of a leadership team and or participate on corporate boards, the return on investment and the return on equity of that company is double digits higher than those that don’t. It should also stand to reason that if you have a chance to grow your consumer base by double digits, especially when your current fan and consumer bases are somewhat stagnant, then you would do what it takes to accomplish that.
Stephanie Cheng: We are headed in the right direction, and the statistics are improving throughout the business world in a general sense. However, I think the challenge remains both in sports and in the general business industry — How do you increase the percentage of female executives in senior leadership roles? We can take our cues from traditional business industries and some of the great thought leaders in this space. Additionally, we need to hold everyone accountable for “glass ceiling” attitudes. In private meetings and C-level discussions, it cannot be shrugged off when inappropriate comments and decisions are made around any type of diversity issues. We all have to hold ourselves to the standards that we represent to the public — walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

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