Statistics

Note: The recent statement from the Women's Sports Foundation (United States) about Annika Sorenstam playing in the PGA also contained some interesting statistics about media coverage in the United States.

Women's Sports Foundation Statement : Annika Sorenstam Playing in the PGA
February 13, 2003

Annika Sorenstam has accepted a sponsor's exemption to play the PGA Tour event in Fort Worth in May. Connecticut pro Suzy Whaley previously announced she would play the Greater Hartford Open in July after winning a sectional tournament last year, from the women's tees, to qualify. Now Sorenstam will be the first female to compete in a PGA event since Babe Zaharias qualified for the 1945 Los Angeles Open. Recently, Sorenstam has dominated the LPGA Tour, winning 13 of 25 tournaments last year and eight tournaments in 2001.

The Women's Sports Foundation is in full support of Annika Sorenstam competing in the PGA. "This is a great opportunity for Annika to take her game as an athlete to the next level and bring much-needed attention to the accomplishments of female athletes," said Dawn Riley, president of the Women's Sports Foundation. "Very few women get the opportunity to compete with the very best men, and we hope that the focus is not about men vs. women and male dominance in sport. The focus should be on an athlete challenging herself to become the best. This opportunity should be celebrated."

Sorenstam's participation in the PGA will help elevate media coverage of women's sports. Today women's sports receive only 8.7% of television coverage. It is unfortunate that Sorenstam's amazing abilities have not garnered media attention to the likes of her male counterparts.

Founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King, the Women's Sports Foundation is a charitable educational organization dedicated to ensuring equal access to participation and leadership opportunities for all girls and women in sports and fitness. The Foundation's Participation, Education, Advocacy, Research and Leadership programs are made possible by individual and corporate contributions. The Foundation is located in Nassau County, N.Y. For more information, please call the Foundation at 800-227-3988 or visit www.WomensSportsFoundation.org or AOL Keyword: WSF.

INTERESTING MEDIA COVERAGE FACTS

• Of the 10 highest-rated sports broadcasts on network television during the first quarter of 2002 (ended March 31), the winter Olympic women's figure skating long program was ranked third behind the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl Kickoff Show. The NCAA Women's Final Four Championship game, UCONN vs. Oklahoma, was ranked third among the 10 highest-rated sports broadcasts on cable television. The NCAA Men's Final Four Championship game, Duke vs. Maryland, was ranked sixth. (Street and Smith's SportsBusiness Journal, April 29 - May 5, 2002)
• Of the 20 "Outstanding Sports Personality" nominees for the 2001 Sports Emmy Awards, none were women. (National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, 2002)
• In the Nov. 25, 2002, issue of ESPN The Magazine, the "2003 NCAA College Hoops Preview" covered the top 65 men's teams and only eight women's teams. (ESPN The Magazine, Nov. 25, 2002)
• A study reviewing school reading text found that boys were represented in physical activities 65% of the time, while girls were represented 35%. In addition, boys dominated throwing and catching activities, while girls dominated dance and swing-set activities. (Henschel-Pellet, H.A., Physical Activity Gender-Role Stereotyping: An Analysis of Children's Literature, Research Quarterly, March 2001, Vol. 72, No. 1)
• In 1989, women's sports received only 5% of television coverage. The 1999 numbers show an insignificant increase to 8.7%. (Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, Gender in Televised Sports: 1989, 1993 and 1999, 2000)
• There were 47 WNBA games telecast nationally in 2002 and 109 telecast regionally. Over 60 million people watched WNBA games or programming in 2002. (WNBA, Dec. 2002)
• For the 2002 season, one WUSA game aired nationally on PAX TV every Saturday for the 22-week season. (SportBusiness Journal, Dec. 24-30, 2001) Also, 55 games were broadcast regionally for a total of 77 games shown on television (approximately 153 total broadcast hours). None of the nationally broadcast games were televised on ESPN. (WUSA data, Nov. 18, 2002)
• The Sanex WTA Tour planned to broadcast more than 800 matches (1,500 hours) worldwide during the 2002 Tour. ESPN and ESPN2 were scheduled to broadcast 93 of the 187 U.S. televised events. (Women's Sports Foundation research compiled from 2002 WTA Tour U.S. Television Schedule)
• In 2000, there were 335 male and 81 female sportscasters working in national network and cable television. ESPN numbers are not included because the network would not reveal the number of its male announcers. It had 46 female announcers. (USA Today research, USA Today, Sept. 7, 2000)
• In ESPN's list of the top 100 athletes of the 20th century, only three women were listed from number 51-100. (#69 Bonnie Blair, #64 Althea Gibson, #59 Billie Jean King) The top 50 included five more women - Chris Evert (#50), Wilma Rudolph (#41), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (#23), Martina Navratilova (#17) and Babe Didrikson Zaharias (#10). (ESPN, 1999)
• In a study at Vanderbilt University, researchers found that in three newspapers, The Tennessean, USA Today and The New York Times, men received 82% of all sports coverage and women received 11% (6% of sports coverage included both genders). (Coaching Women's Basketball, Jan./Feb. 1997)
• In 53 weeks of Sports Illustrated (1996), four women were awarded cover shots. The first three could be characterized as sensationalism (the swimsuit issue, bloodied boxing newcomer Christy Martin and Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott) and the last was the Olympic preview issue that featured women from the U.S. Basketball Team. In 1997 three women made the cover: a swimsuit model, Venus Williams and Jamila Wideman, who shared the cover with her father. In 1998 four women were on the cover: a swimsuit model, Michelle Kwan, Pat Summit and Chamique Holdsclaw. In 1999 four women were on the cover: a swimsuit model, Serena Williams, Brandi Chastain, and the U.S. Women's World Cup Team. In 2000 seven covers featured women: a swimsuit model, a ticket price issue featuring a "nuclear" family; an L.A. Clipper fan with a bag over her head, Shea Ralph, Anna Kournikova, Megan Quann and Marion Jones. In 2001, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders were the only women on the cover of Sports Illustrated. (Women's Sports Foundation research, 1996-2001) In 2002, women appeared on three Sports Illustrated covers. The first was the swimsuit issue and another was the top sports colleges issue, which showed men and women college athletes. Sarah Hughes, Olympic figure skating gold medalist, was the only cover female athlete to have a featured article. (Women's Sports Foundation research, 2002)
• The Australian paper, the Herald Sun, created a 200 Greatest Sports Stars top 50 list, which included only eight women (#3 Dawn Fraser, #5 Margaret Court, #6 Betty Cuthbert, # 9 Shane Gould, #14 Heather McKay, #18 Evonne Cawley, #30 Marjorie Jackson, #34 Shirley Strickland). (Herald Sun, Nov. 21, 1998)
• Only four women made the list of Sport Magazine's Players of the Half-Century - Billie Jean King (#12), Martina Navratilova (#22), Chris Evert (#33) and Jackie Joyner-Kersee (#36). (Sport, Sept., 1996)
• In TV Guide's list of TV's 50 Greatest Sports Moments, only 3½ featured women -Torvill & Dean's gold medal winning performance at the 1984 Olympic Winter Games (#10), Kerri Strug's courageous vault at the 1996 Olympic Games (#14), Bonnie Blair's history-making performance at the 1994 Games, becoming the first U.S. woman Olympian in any sport to win more than four gold medals (#20) and Joan Benoit's victory in the first Olympic marathon for women in 1984 (#26). (TV Guide, July 11-16, 1998)

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