The document explores the overlooked demographic of female sports fans, challenging the male-centric narrative that often diminishes their presence and legitimacy in sports fandom. It highlights the significant market potential represented by women, who make up at least 30% of professional league audiences, yet face gendered challenges, including suspicion and misogyny, when engaging with sports culture. The paper argues for a marketing approach that recognizes female sports fans as legitimate consumers and seeks to address the cultural and commercial barriers they encounter in the sports industry.

1. Running Head: PRACTICUM 1
Marketing to Female Sports Fans
Bessie Chu
Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
University of Southern California
Paper submitted as partial fulfillment of requirements for
CMGT 597: Communication Research Practicum
Fall 2014

2. PRACTICUM 2
Introduction
The words “sports fans” usually conjures up images of young men with facepaint
cheering wildly in stadium stands or a middle-aged dad at home yelling at the TV.
Popularized images of the typical sports fan tend to overwhelmingly represent men rather
than women. When women are in the picture, pop culture ideas revolve around a false
dichotomy that upholds a male-centric narrative of the nagging wife or girlfriend who has
been exiled from her partner during a game or women only attending sporting events to
accompany their partner, to try and meet men, or simply because they want to admire the
bodies of male athletes. Within this narrative, the virtue of male interest alone defines
women’s interest in sports. However, in spite of this dominant narrative, female sport
fans do, in fact, exist and come from various demographics and share diverse interests in
sports. In the United States alone, women consist of at least 30% of the audience of the
major professional leagues (Nielsen, 2013). 31% of real-time World Cup watchers are
women (globalwebindex, 2014). The number of women participating in fantasy football
doubled in 2011 (Dosh, 2012). Undoubtedly, women are a significant audience as
illustrated by the data above, and they represent a growing audience. The ability of these
fans to act as active consumers and participants in sports fan culture deserves attention.
Women’s increasing participation as sports fans indicate a growing market opportunity
via their increasing audience size in interest towards professional sports and participation
in sports-related activities, such as fantasy leagues. This growth in female sports fans
represents new segments of consumers from a commercial perspective.
Yet despite the unquestionable presence of female fans, these fans are often met
with suspicion. Studies on female fans has delineated different kinds of sports fans, for

3. PRACTICUM 3
instance what Markovits & Albertson (2012) term as “sportisas,” are (p. 124) those
female fans who fit the requirements of sufficient sports knowledge and love sports, not
because they are seeking connection with men. However, even though a sportisa
performs the role of the traditional sports fan, she faces a gendered dilemma in that
“while she does meet the objective requirements to enter and remain in the club, this asset
may well be for naught because, regardless of her achieved knowledge, her ascriptive
characteristics will continue to deny her real entry and complete acceptance” (p. 124). In
other words, even if a female fan performs the same norms as a male fan, as defined by
Markovits & Albertson in her level of sports knowledge, the female fan will always be
suspect because of her gender. Many male fans will reject female fans because “they are
protecting a part of their identity that is essential to a much broader consistency: namely,
their gender, their maleness” (p. 123). For the purposes of this paper, I choose to adopt a
broader definition of fandom in the Markovits & Albertson’s framework that includes
both the “affective” fan and the “knowledgeable” fan (p. 127). The affective fan may not
have as much knowledge but still has an affinity for the game. My objective is to
understand and engage different female fans as consumers rather than contest the
hierarchies within fandom. When I refer to female sports fans in this paper, I am
referring to potential customers who enjoy sports and consumers whose needs may have
not been met by the sports industry.
Sports fandom for women has been a contested space because of gender norms.
A simple Google search of “female sports fan” will yield many articles that give
perspectives on the experiences of female sports fandom in spaces on devoted portals on
blogs and newwire sites that show that popular culture does not perceive women as

4. PRACTICUM 4
legitimate sports fans in the way men are. Some examples that demonstrate the
experience of being a female sports fan include features from popular viral content sites
such as Buzzfeed or more professional sites such as EspnW. “Buzzfeed’s 20 Things
Female Sports Fans are Tired of Hearing” (Chirico, 2014) enumerates condescending
statements often thrown at female fans, such as “You’re going to bring food when you
come over to the game right?” (Par. 3) and “Who do you think the hottest player on the
team is?” (Par. 7). EspnW’s “The Right Way for Females to Fan” (Spain, 2012) tells
female fans “Don’t play dumb” (Section 3, Par. 1) and to “Mourn gracefully” (Section 4,
Par. 1) to “avoid any real dramatics” (Section 4, Par 2.). Despite the differences in
perspectives, from those that defend female fans to those that instruct female fans how to
behave properly in the two examples above, they show the spectrum of suspicion female
sports fans frequently encounter. This includes complaints about getting grilled on sports
facts trivia by men to justify their attendance or interest in a sport and accusations of only
being interested because of the attractiveness of the male players. This interpretation is
problematic in that it continues to argue that female sports fans’ participation in sports is
only a matter of men’s participation and maintains that they are not legitimate sports fans
the way men can be.
At worst, female fans face the issue of outright misogyny and harassment. The
popular sports blog network SBNation released an article titled: “10 Rules for Not Being
a Gross Misogynist During the World Cup” (Schlewiz, 2014) which includes a review of
FIFA Discrimination Statutes and criticizes FIFA for not taking a firmer stand against
sexism, explicitly stating in a tongue-in-cheek manner “9) No, I’m not going to take my
top off” (Par. 24) as one of the rules for interacting with women to not being a “gross

5. PRACTICUM 5
misogynist during the World Cup” in reference to the title of the article. The fact that
SBNation felt the need to publish this article in anticipation of what may greet female
fans during the World Cup demonstrates the challenges female sports fans face. Female
sports fans are not seen as real sports fans compared to men and thus female sports fans
are questioned or their actions even policed for the participation in sports fandom. A
cultural chasm exists in terms of the legitimacy of female sports fans, one that thwarts
commercial opportunities and the unifying power of sports. Brands could also be making
a costly opportunity by ignoring female fans by upholding male fan-dominant narratives.
Many of the most popular commercials from this last World Cup reflect cultural
treatment of female sports fans not as full participants. These commercials portray
women more as sex objects and accessories, rather than as full-fledge fans in the way
men are. For example, a popular McDonald’s ad campaign for the World Cup features
five protagonists kicking soccer balls into difficult obstacles, such as a bin on a moving
escalator. While most of the characters in the ad are males in everyday situations, the
only woman featured is in high heels, dressed for a night out. The darling of this year’s
World Cup commercial The Game Before the Game (Beats by Dre, 2014), which Tim
Nudd (2014) at industry trade publication Adweek termed as having “Out-Niked Nike,”
demonstrates clear examples perpetuating these types of images. The commercial mainly
features women in overtly sexualized or feminine roles, such as a woman putting on
Spain flag themed underwear after a sex act, American tennis star Serena Williams
blowing nail polish, and American rapper Nicki Minaj lustily looking at a magazine
feature with a shirtless picture of Brazilian soccer star Neymar. Notably, Serena
Williams and Nicki Minaj, both of whom do not have overtly feminine public images, are

6. PRACTICUM 6
feminized. These portrayals of women maintain the dominant narrative of sports being a
masculine domain and, along with preserving this sexist ideology; these representations
are particularly problematic in that they are largely geared toward male audiences alone.
The women in these commercials are not there to sell those products to women; they’re
in those commercials to heighten the product appeal to men.
This commercial exclusion is demonstrated by the lack of options for
consumption by female sports fans. A frequently named example is the smaller selection
of merchandise. Apparel for female fans is often stripped down versions of merchandise
for men or a proliferation of overly feminized merchandise such as pink jerseys (Chirico,
2014). A narrow selection of consumer goods likely creates a mismatch in the demand
by female fans, a growing segment as noted in the opening of this paper.
Recognizing the social and financial costs of ignoring female sport fans, Indra
Nooyi, the female CEO and chairman of Pepsi spoke to the value of female fans by
noting in a speech to the Sports Business Journal's Inaugural Game Changers
Conference (Nooyi, 2013) that the sports industry has not given an “authentic
experience” (Par. 36) to women. Elaborating on this issue, Nooyi explained her concern
by noting that, “too often, in very simple terms, we have been ‘pinking and shrinking’ the
man's experience to fit a woman” (Par. 36). Female sports fans are culturally and
commercially alienated from a larger world of sports fandom. The sports industry has
not put priority on commercially inclusive fan experiences despite the market
opportunity.
On a societal level, sports are a medium in which traditional barriers such as race
and nationality have been broken down to connect peoples. Women have largely been

7. PRACTICUM 7
excluded from this culturally unifying medium. Markovits and Albertson (2012) in their
book on female sports fandom write that:
“Sports fandom has been a remarkable vehicle for including the most varied and
disparate social groups into a common whole. While the inherently agonistic and
competitive nature of sports necessarily leads to partisanship and thus division,
even animosity and hatred, the equally inherent meritocratic dimensions and wide
intelligibility have given sports a power of inclusion and participation that is
second to none. Indeed, by dint of their inclusiveness and ubiquity, sports have
created ties across class, ethnic, regional, cultural, religious, and age lines that
few, if any, other forces could even approximate. By virtue of their inclusive
qualities, we have come to view sports as powerful agents of democractization.
Note that we did not list gender in our aforementioned array of categories, which,
we claim, sports include and integrate. This is precisely our point. There is one
clearly marked social group that sports have not fully integrated on either their
production on their consumption side, and that is women.” (p. 3)
The gender barrier is the line that does not get crossed by sport’s unifying power,
even though it cuts across nearly all other cultural differences. This cultural issue likely
carries over to the lack of imagination in sports franchises on how to approach women as
consumers. The importance of a more multi-faceted examination of female sports
fandom is twofold. First, sports are a cohesive global phenomenon that unites disparate
groups and arguably plays an important role in that sense for the greater good. Second, to
tie this back to the goal of this paper in targeting female fans as consumers, by not being
recognized as legitimate fans, the female sports fan market is not fully realized by the
sports industry.
On the other hand, parts of the sports industry that have begun to recognize this
market have realized strong gains. The NFL has heavily invested in marketing to female
fans. In Kristen Dosh’s (2012, Feb 2) espnW coverage of NFL’s marketing outreach, she
cites the creation of a maternity line and an NFL site just for women. Its efforts were
rewarded with “125% increase” (Dosh, 2012, Feb 2, Par. 4) in sales during the 2011

8. PRACTICUM 8
playoff season. Dosh also cites her interviews of marketing experts who say “women are
a prized demographic for the NFL because of their value to advertisers (Par. 7) … and are
brand loyalists (Par. 10).” Ann Bastianelli, senior lecturer of marketing at Indiana
University’s School of Business whom Dosh interviewed explains women make up “70
percent of ‘important family decisions,’ such as the purchase of big ticket consumer
goods, are made by women” (Par. 7). Cecamore, Fraesdorf, Langer, & Power (2011) in a
FIFA study on female fans reiterates these points looking at the gender disparity between
money spent on merchandise in the UK, arguing that this disparity could be due to the
“lack of a sufficient range of products that satisfy women’s needs” (p. 16) and also point
that that women are more likely than men to recommend “products and services they
have consumed” to their friends, families, and co-workers (p. 16). Female sports fans are
a consumer segment that has demonstrated potential and that sports franchises and
advertisers in the industry underserve. The business potential is a worthy case study for
examination.
So, how do we market to female sports fans in a way that isn’t patronizing and
engages women as a multi-faceted demographic? This paper will significantly focus on
this topic and examine the structural conditions in which female sports fandom exists.
This exploration will inform how to dig into the narratives that will appeal to female
sports fans commercially. Understanding female sports fans will be done through a
review of literature on sports fandom in general, female sports fans, sports marketing, and
the movement of sports fandom online. Secondly, this topic will be explored using the
World Cup as a case study through ethnographic interviews and observations and an
international survey.

9. PRACTICUM 9
Literature Review
Why Do People Engage in Sports Fandom
To examine female sports fandom, we must explore the structural context of what
it means to be a sports fan in general. British sociologist Gary Crawford (2004), a sports
fan scholar, notes that to understand sports fandom, we need to avoid what he calls
“reductive dichotomies (such as those of fans vs. consumers)” and must instead examine
how “sport is located and experienced in everyday life and social interactions.” (p. 34).
This idea of looking at sports fans as multi-faceted individuals whose fandom is deeply
interwoven into their daily lives needs to be carried over to thinking about female sports
fan. An overall theme in his book Consuming Sport: Fans, Sport, and Culture, a primary
framework I’m using to approach sports fandom, centers around the idea that while most
scholarship on fandom examines more extreme cases of fandom, such as the underlying
sociological reasons for why people go to live games or even football hooliganism, true
understandings of what it means to be a sports fan have to do with the tedium of daily
life. I argue what being a sports fan means in the everyday lives of female fans will be
central in understanding how to relate to them as consumers.
Crawford’s thesis revolves around the central theme that individuals participate in
sports fandom primarily as an outlet for performances of identity, connection, and
consumerism to cope with everyday living. People participate in sports fandom to show
who they are. For example many sports fans often cheer on for the team of their
hometown, tying them to where they’re from and to their community, often making
purchases of items such as jerseys and other apparel to express this facet of their identity,
the connection to a community and place. In fact, elaborating on the cultural significance

10. PRACTICUM 10
of fandom, Crawford writes that part of “being a sport fan, particularly demonstrating
certain sporting allegiances, can help define who a person is, and say a great deal about
them to other people” (p. 106). Sports fandom can be regarded in this argument as a
crucial constructor of identity for some sports fans. This includes demonstrations of
consumption, such as making costumes, banners, flags, and other “performances for
others around them” (p. 118). Sports fans show their allegiance and their identity by their
devotion to a sports franchise for themselves and for others, which can be seen as
demonstrations that look for connection through consumerism.
These performances of allegiance and identity are facilitated by the consumption
of consumer goods. Consumer culture plays an important role in sports fandom by
providing the proper merchandise, such as jerseys or banners for fans to purchase. What
goods are purchased and how they are used “convey a wide array of meanings, such as
signifying membership to a local community, social class” (p. 125), with Crawford
naming the example of wearing sport clothing as “fashion items” (p. 124) an important
part of North American youth culture. Sports fandom plays a role for many sports fans in
defining who a person is and where he or she belongs in multiple vectors of society. This
interplay and demonstration of identity in connection to others, from sociological
perspective, is important in a society that operates as sites of “imagined community” and
even as sites of “social exclusion” (p. 54). Sports fans act out their identity to signify
group membership, even sometimes to the exclusion of others.
Showing membership is also facilitated by the interaction between technology and
sports fandom. Especially among those “individuals who may feel a loss of ‘traditional’
forms of community, such as those based upon geographical, family, or social

11. PRACTICUM 11
backgrounds, which they may have left behind, can find communities that complement
their specific interests and lifestyles (or even desired lifestyles) readily available on the
Internet” (p. 144). For those who lack traditionally defined affinities and loyalties, sports
fandom facilitates a role that can fill that gap, one that increasingly doesn’t require
physical connection to initially join. In Crawford’s research, he argues that these
interplays of identity, social connection, and consumerism are how and why individuals
engage in sports fandom. Having said this, who are female sports fans?
Female Sports Fans
To segue the discussion from sports fandom in general to female sports fans,
Crawford acknowledges that “women have remained largely marginalized, particularly as
followers of the majority of male mass spectator sports” (p. 56) even if in more
acceptable roles such as spectator rather than participants. He repeatedly notes the lack
of research in this area, which has largely examined the white male affluent demographic.
We have to dispel the notion that women haven’t been active participants in sports
fandom and haven’t demonstrated agency in their relationship with sports. Sports
journalist John Doyle (2010) writes about an example with Iran having to relent and let
Irish female fans attend a soccer game, which was “not customary” (p. vii). He also
wrote about the 2002 Japan/South Korea World Cup and how it was the young women
who carried the cheering for the South Korean team. His account paints the picture of “a
vast number of the Korean supporters, and some of them the leaders, are young women.
It’s the young women, some of them teenagers and some of them in their twenties, who
are the most vocal and who are completely unselfconscious about the vigor of the chants
and movements. They look confident and cool, empowered by the occasion and their

12. PRACTICUM 12
role. They're more intense than any group of male soccer fans I've ever seen" (p. 73).
Female sports fans are a legitimate group to pay attention to, one that has lacked both
broad scholarship and commercial respect.
In discussing the female sports fan, a first step is to dispel the idea of a monolithic
female sports fan whose fandom is defined only by her relationship to the men who are
directly invested, as fans, in the sport. By approaching female sports fans as a monolith,
marketers potentially face missed opportunities that a more nuanced approach would
provide.
While some female sports fans engage in sports because of their significant
others, many other segments of female sports fans engage in sports for other reasons and
in different ways. Just as male sports fans aren’t marketed to as one segment, female
sports fans should not be either. Pepsi CEO Nooyi (2012) concluded in her speech that,
“I don't want pink jerseys, and I don't want dumbed-down content. I want to be treated as
a real fan--because I am proud to be one” (Par. 75). She expands on this saying on
determining how to best reach this untapped demographic that “the solution is simple.
Speak to women. Do it authentically. Give them the real sports experience they want.
They will respond” (Par. 78). In other words, in order to understand how to reach female
fans as an audience, marketers must discover how different female sports fans engage in
their fandom and learn how to authentically tell their brand stories to particular segments
to capture the attention of these fans to tap into a potentially huge market. It can’t be a
one-size fits all merchandising perspective nor can it be just mimic the archetypes of
male fans of a sport. Authentic fan experiences must be catered to different types of
female sports fans.

13. PRACTICUM 13
The next section of the literature review will focus on the specific fan experiences
of female sports fans.
Understanding Female Sports Fans
Pope (2013) divides female sports fandom in “two binary oppositions: hot–cool”
(p. 179). Women who are “hot fans” (p. 179) emphasize their sporting allegiance as an
important part of who they are. Their loyalty to a football club is part of how they
describe who they are and team performance is very important to them. Others are more
“cool fans” (p. 179), who don’t spend as much time in their sport and aren’t as invested.
An interesting part of Pope’s scholarship is the discovery of how female sports fandom is
used as a means of escaping gendered identities. Pope wrote, “some female sports fans
identified intensely with the sports club as a means of escaping other identities (as mum,
daughter, etc.). This reflected back to their own preferred sense of self, which was often
masked or damaged by these other constraining responsibilities” (p. 185). What’s
fascinating here is that these women engage in sports fandom ostensibly as escapism
from more traditional gendered roles into space that is traditionally masculine. She
writes about how some female fans adopted “tomboy” identities to counter “what they
perceived to be extreme forms of conventional femininity” (p. 189). The women in
Pope’s study overlap in characteristics described in Crawford’s framework as sports as an
escape from the mundane, but with a gendered dimension in terms of their identification
and performance. Like male sports fans, the female sports fans Pope describes engage in
sports fandom as a way to cope with everyday living.
This is in contrast (or perhaps in parallel) to some of the accounts in Markovits &
Albertson’s (2012) scholarship on female sports fandom on the role of the “special-

14. PRACTICUM 14
nature” of relationships between fathers and daughters that parallel those traditionally
imagined between fathers and sons in engaging through sports (p. 205). The difference in
their study, as echoed in Dietz-Uhler, Harrick, and Jacquemotte’s (2000) scholarship on
sex differences in sports behavior and fandom, is that unlike men who often bond with a
sport through play, the bond with a sport for female fans comes more from following the
sport rather the participation. For women, falling in love with the game has to do more
with spectatorship and viewing experiences rather than a traditional trajectory of a young
man growing up to love a sport by playing it as child. They explain that “sport has
traditionally been defined as a male domain” (p. 226), a domain that women may find
threatening to participate directly in through playing the sport.
Markovits & Albertson (2012) expand on this idea when they write on how some
elements of sports culture create a space that specifically enables men to essentially be on
their worst behavior. They note historically that sports is a realm where “one can really
behave badly - one can be racist and sexist - in other words, one can really be a man in
one’s element, unconstrained from the feminized discourse of empathy and civilization
that many men feel to be ubiquitous, hegemonic, and, at times, constraining. It is also not
by chance that such unruly male behavior exists in soccer and no other European sport
since it is soccer that represents by far the most important- in many countries sole-
constituent of hegemonic sports culture” (p. 69). They acknowledge that sports culture
traditionally has been a place for men to let off steam, even in ways that are anti-social.
Women’s entry into that space threatens the existence of that previous social sphere.
The entry of women into sports fandom is also shaped from existing gender
norms involving the division of household labor. These gender norms impact how

15. PRACTICUM 15
female fans connect with the sport differently from men, especially in the case of valuing
social connection and inclusion rather than more the typical male fan behavior of
indulging in it almost as a hobby to learn many facts as possible about the sport.
Markovits & Albertson (2012) note that men “were free to relax at home and tend to his
hobbies, among which watching and following sports took pride of place until work the
next morning” (p. 141) while women had to continue taking care of domestic tasks in
maintaining the home, making it unrealistic for many women to engage in the level of
acquiring sports knowledge demonstrated by men. Despite these gender norms,
“participation in the consumption of sports, as fundamental a part of contemporary
American culture as it can be, is important to most women because of the opportunities
that such participation offers for social inclusion” (p. 160). Many female fans participate
in sports because of the social value and are simply not able to immerse themselves as
fully as men in terms of learning about the sport as deeply because of structural
constraints. For many female fans, it’s possible that it’s not that they don’t want to be as
immersed in sports knowledge as male fans, but women don’t have time to invest in
accumulating knowledge because of structural factors involving traditional divisions of
labor.
In another study that provides additional dimensions in female sports fan
practices, Jone’s (2008) ethnography of female sports fans in England highlights three
trends in which female soccer fans have responded hostile behavior. Jones emphasizes
the long-standing participation of female fans even during the heights of the hooliganism
in English soccer, though her study took place from 2001 and 2006, a time considerably
removed from the infamous violence of earlier decades. Still, she characterizes the

16. PRACTICUM 16
environment in English stadiums as such where outright racism, homophobia, and sexism
can be prevalent. The first trend in response by female fans to this environment is by
condemning it, with refusal to participate in abusive chants. These fans actively resisted
what they saw as inappropriate practices and some even “argued for a definition of
fandom: They are real fans, rather than those who practice abusive hypermasculinity” (p.
524). These female sport fans refused to go along with the status quo and practiced
fandom on their own terms without perpetuating what they saw as abusive practices.
Another trend manifested by female fans was a form that was “both compliant and
resistant: they disapproved of the atmosphere at football matches, but they did not want
anything to change for them” (p. 523). These fans accept the status quo as part of the
game. Although they feel uncomfortable with the conduct, they don’t take any action on
that discomfort. The third group of female sports fans accept “gender stereotypes as part
of the game “ (p. 528) and consider themselves “real or authentic fans” (p. 528) versus
other female fans who do not understand the game to their standards. Jones writes that
“these women want to be seen as gender-neutral football fans and not as women” (p. 529)
who often downplay their status as women and play up their status as soccer fans and will
even participate in abusive chants. Jone’s study shows the diverse attitudes and
differences in how different female fans operate in relation to gender in negotiating a
complex and often hostile environment.
Female sports fans have been marginalized because of larger cultural reasons that
likely impact why they haven’t been considered fully as consumers. The literature
review above shows complexity in different types of female fans and their fan practices

17. PRACTICUM 17
that should be examined with nuance from a marketing perspective. This next section
will give a quick primer into what is branding and why marketing segments are important
Marketing Practices and Unique Female Fan Preferences
To discuss sports marketing practices in relation to female sports fans, we first
must define the objectives and basic practices of marketing. According to the American
Marketing Association (2013) “marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes
for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (Para. 2). In other words, marketing is
about explaining a product offering. Marketing to female sports fans has an objective in
communicating added value to their sports consumption through merchandise or better
fan experiences.
In order for marketers to effectively reach female sports fans and show the value
of their product offerings, they must understand reaching the right audiences through
segmentation and how to attribute value to the market via branding.
In Milne & McDonald’s (1999) book Sports Marketing: Managing the Exchange
Process, they define segmentation as “identifying the various types of people who are
attracted to certain sport products and services… creating specific groups of customers or
potential customers based on similar characteristics” (p. 3). By segmenting, certain
product offers or services are tailored to particular groups of potential customers. In the
context of this study, marketers need to define the characteristics that differentiate
segments of female sports fans. Segmenting these niches is “an attractive means of
focusing on the most receptive audiences for the product or message” (p. 69).
Determining which groups to deliver focused messages to will increase the likelihood the

18. PRACTICUM 18
targeted audience will respond well. Milne & McDonald (1999) also point out
“consumers have different sport options. As such, it is important for sports marketers to
understand which sporting options are competing for customers’ attention” (p.3). This
can be taken as a warning that sports marketing is a crowded landscape, one that has
largely treated women as an afterthought, but marketers who continue this pattern do so
at their peril in ignoring important segments that consist of female sports fans. By
identifying the right group of people to appeal to, brands can be most effective in selling
their products.
Marketing to the correct group also means that branding is important. Branding is
the process of attaching “identity” or “personality” to a product (Klein, 2008, Para. 1).
Brands are about what a certain product or company “stands for and what it is known for”
(Para. 8). This means when customers see a shirt with a branded logo, they do not just
see a shirt, they see a product that has meaning and values associated with a particular
brand, for example Nike’s tagline “Just Do It.” Spillecke & Perry (2012), in their book
Retail Marketing and Branding: A Definitive Guide to Maximizing ROI, explain, “Every
brand is a promise. And like any promise, brands attract and excite us; they capture our
hearts and minds; they give us a glimpse of a better life. But most important, brands
create tangible value. They are a retailer’s most powerful connection to the outside
world” (p. 3). Brands assign meaning and identity to products. Female sports fans are a
group that so far has not had brands that fully articulate meanings and identities to appeal
to them specifically.
Another framework for understanding branding in the context of this study is
through the “lived experience meaning platform” (Sherry, 2005, p. 47), which provides

19. PRACTICUM 19
an additional definition of branding. Sherry (2005) explains that brands are part of the
“lived experience of customers, from which all those meanings relevant to the brand
arise, provides the platform from which brand strategy can be launched” (p. 47).
Customer interactions through advertisements for products targeted toward them or
experiences using a brand’s product inform the meanings assigned to the brand. Brand
meanings through these “lived experiences” (p. 47) determine the appeal of particular
brands. Marketers who find the right meanings to design experiences for female sports
fans have the potential to capture this market.
This section will now review how sports literature has analyzed specifically
marketing to female sports fans. Even though sports fandom is a traditionally male
domain, female sports fans participate in consuming sports for many of the same reasons
as men do and that is no “archetypical female sports fan” (Cecamore, Faesdork, Langer,
& Power, 2011, p. 9), although gender considerations must be taken into account.
Many studies of female sports fans still emphasize female sports fans in more
traditional gender roles, although they make valid points worth noting. Eden, Upright, &
Hey (2013) as well as Crawford (2000, p. 97) emphasize the safety measures, such as the
presence of security measures such as guards and fences, for games and fan events for
families. Eden, Upright, & Hey (2013) go to lengths to advocate for safety as a
marketing strategy to appeal to women to show the needs of these female sports fans
matter. While this group of female sports fans who attend events with families as a
marketing segment who take safety seriously is important to consider, it is also crucial
not to stop at this group as the primary representation of female sports fans that many
studies may have had the tendency to overemphasize.

20. PRACTICUM 20
The preferences of female sports fans also tie into more general scholarship on
purchasing behaviors, or why individuals purchase certain products. Chen, Lin, & Chang
(2013) found in their experiments on team-licensed merchandise that “group
cohesiveness” (p. 84) or in other words, peer influence, strongly motivates sports fans to
make additional purchases. Marketers should take this into account in their marketing
activities toward female sports fans, many of who engage in sports fandom for the social
value and inclusion. For example, people buy merchandise such as jerseys to feel
socially connected to their sports fandom. Lee, Trail, Lee, & Schoenstedt (2013) found
in their study of purchase intentions of athletic team merchandise that “personal values
impact team identification” (p. 45) as a preference for why sport consumers purchase
athletic team merchandise. Moore & Homer (2008) found that women tend to emphasize
a stronger relationship to the “perceived brand meaning (including image and brand
personality), and the consumer’s self-concept” (p. 708), especially when it comes to
“female-oriented brands” such as the WNBA (p. 709). In other words, women tend to
hold strong opinions about a brand’s perceived values and ethics, especially if the brand
has a gendered focus toward women. Female sports fans can feel a deeper positive
connection to brand they perceive as ethical or negatively to a brand they perceive as
unethical. Women are markedly different from men in this regard. By ignoring this
market dynamic, brands could be losing out on this audience. Sports franchises could use
this insight to market to female fans by understanding that they could leverage social
connection and a brand’s ethical values as a way of appealing to female sports fans.
Another important point to acknowledge in identifying best practices reaching
female fans is notion of sexual objectification. Female sports fans do not appreciate the

21. PRACTICUM 21
perpetuation of the sexual objectification in commercial portrayals of female athletes,
female sports fans, and female interactions with sports media in general. While
Markovits & Anderson (2012) emphasize that while being female sports fan does not
automatically mean support of women’s sports (p. 10), women are sensitive to the
sexualization of female bodies in the rhetoric of sports, such as those depictions named in
the Beats by Dre and McDonald’s commercials in the introduction. Banet-Weiser &
Baroffio-Bota (2006) explain that “gender representation of women in the media are
driven by the commercial market, and revenue is generated through tried and true
formulae so that normative conventions of femininity are the surest bet for networks” (p.
496). The sexualization of women is business as usual. Many advertisers stick to this
tried and true formula because it is been the norm in sports marketing. These approaches
only use women as a sexualized body. However, by sticking to this convention,
advertisers may be alienating potential customers. Duncan (2006) wrote in her study on
gender and media that “since women received only a tiny amount of coverage that men
received, the effects of sexual objectification and sarcasm were that much more
powerful” (p. 239). The overrepresentation of women’s bodies as sexualized can cause
female sports fans to feel alienated. Because women are so poorly represented in general
in sports media, from athletes to sports commentators to fans, female sports fans can
respond negatively to the objectification of women in sports marketing.
Going back to Cecamore, Fraesdorf, Langer, & Power’s (2011) study on female
sports fans for FIFA, they also mention that some advertising intended to appeal to
women as “too easy and simplistic” (p. 53) and, as a way to clarify, they name the
attachment of a sports franchise to a “high-profile ‘women’s issue’ such as the fight

22. PRACTICUM 22
against breast cancer” as an example of this simplicity (p. 53). In the example above,
women are approached in relation to an illness specific to women, which Cecamore,
Fraesdork, Langer, & Power (2011) pointed out as problematic because it the campaign
essentially reduces the female sports fan audience to a women-specific disease. While
using an issue such as the fight against breast to appeal to women maybe altruistic,
female sports fans want to be approached as female sports fans, and not simply just as
women. Female sports fans “have grown impatient with initiatives which play on
stereotypes and generalisations (sic)” (p. 50):
“Female fans do not want to be forgotten about by the media. They want to see
and hear authentic women‘s voices with a deep sports passion and knowledge,
women like themselves, who can address men and women from behind the sports
desk instead of this role falling to weather girls turned sports presenters. They do
not want to be the butt of ̳in-house media jokes, but want to be acknowledged as
a credible presence by the sports media” (p. 48).
Many female sports fans want inclusion in the realm of sports fandom with
acknowledgement not of just as sports fans, and not just as women, but as female sports
fans.
Sports franchises should take these demonstrated cases in marketing and apply
them in conjunction given the importance of environment, identification, and social
connection for female fans in considering their marketing strategies. Additionally,
marketing initiatives need to acknowledge the diversity of approaches to fanship among
female sports fans. Marketers must practice caution not to patronize and pigeonhole
female sports fans with simplistic campaigns and instead create the right brand meanings
that appeal to different types female sports fans.
The Role of the Internet

23. PRACTICUM 23
One key component of sports fandom is the movement of sports fandom online.
In revisiting Crawford’s (2004) framework, he writes that, “the Internet (along with other
technologies) […] can strengthen existing communities, but can also expand the scope of
these and help create and nurture new ones. Individuals can now connect and form
affiliations and allegiances to sport via solely electronic means” (p. 143). Cecamore,
Fraesdork, Langer, & Power (2011) found that many female sports fans “have taken to
the web to start conversations about their fandom” (p. 24). Sutera (2013) writes in his
book Sports Fans 2.0, which explores sports fandom on social media, “the desire for
recognition is one of the most important motivating factors in our participation in sports,
both as athletes and fans” (p. 25). For female sports fans who may often face open
hostility in traditional spaces for participation in sports fandom, such as stadiums and
sports bars, the internet provides another venue for interaction and space for recognition.
Marketers should take care in identifying how participation is happening in different
online spaces. Sutera (2013) emphasizes that social media eliminates the “boundaries
and restrictions at live sporting events” (p. 41) and “operates as an intricate web of
information exchange between media consumers and producers as opposed to the simple
linear ‘trickle-down’ model of the past” (p. 41). Female sports fans participation in social
media and other spaces on the internet is an area worth further investigation as an
additional opportunity to reach female sports fans.
Study Purpose
In the literature above, we can see that one-dimension views of female sports fans
or outright exclusion of female sports fans in consumer marketing and sports culture
remains an issue. The literature also provided some examples of sports marketing tactics

24. PRACTICUM 24
in general. Additionally, the review showed some female sports fan specific marketing
examples that have been successful. I argue that a deeper understanding of female sports
fans is needed in order for marketers to successfully construct brand identities and stories
that account for the female fan and her consumer value. In order to reach the female
sports fan effectively, the previous literature suggests that segmentation of the sports fan
market must be driven by a careful appreciation for how gender politics impacts and
frames the fan identity and the consumer. Aiming to identify best marketing practices for
reaching and successfully marketing to female sports fans, this study strives to produce a
complex picture of female sports fans that moves beyond both normative gender
stereotypes that view female fans simply in relation to male fans and family values, and
ensures that female sports fans are recognized and addressed as valuable participants in
the consumption and practice of contemporary sports, sports fandom, and sports related
commercialism. While it appears the literature recognizes, to an extent, the diversity of
female sports fans and their motivations, how to reach them and how to present them
with brand stories that will motivate them to consume more goods and be more involved
in sports franchises has not been explored as deeply. Additionally, the internet has
potential as an additional space in reaching these fans. The internet provides not only a
medium with more marketing channels, but also a space for fan participation in
engagement. Fans can not only receive more marketing messages, but also can express
their sentiments online by spreading the marketing message in affirmation or even
challenge marketers if brand content is not well received. Marketers now have another
opportunity and another content channel to run different narratives.

25. PRACTICUM 25
At the heart in finding deeper insight in this entire study, I expect to discover the
types of stories that appeal to different segments of female sports fans can be found
looking at the intersections of identity, social connection, and consumerism.
Study Framework
The system I am using to explore the types of stories that may appeal to female
sports fans is the Leveraging Engagement Framework of the
FANS.PASSIONS.BRANDS Study by HAVAS Sports and Entertainment in conjunction
with the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab, where I work as a Project Manager and
Researcher. The Leveraging Engagement Framework uses eight logics of engagement
consisting of a “set of principles that categorizes the relationship between fans and their
passions” (HAVAS Sports & Entertainment, p. 1). These eight logics include:
“Entertainment-enjoyment of the overall experience and atmosphere”, “Immersion – will
to lose oneself in the emotion of the game/plot”, “Social Connection – desire to create or
deepen relationships with other fans”, “Play – virtual or real life participation in activities
related to one’s passion”, “Identification – self-association with the team,
players/characters and their emotions”, “Pride – reflection of the action/results in one’s
attitude and outward appearance”, “Mastery – interest in learning and understanding the
details behind strategies and stories”, and “Advocacy – championing on behalf of one’s
passion” (p. 1). I expect that research results will reveal that female sports fans may
engage in the logics of Identification and Social Connection more strongly than other
logics.
Methods
Objective

26. PRACTICUM 26
The objective of this study is to discover what actions the sports industry could
take to appeal to female sport fans. In order to identify what types of branding to
possibly deploy toward appealing to female sports fans, I used mixed methods to examine
female fan behavior and preferences. My goal is to understand female fans based on how
strongly they identify with certain logics of engagement to provide recommendations for
the sports industry.
First, I used the method of ethnography, via interviews and observations, to gain
qualitative and nuanced insight about why and how female sports fans engage in sports
fandom. The data produced via the ethnographic method is understood to provide real-
life examples of their sports experience, for example, stories of how female fans
participate in their fandom, and how they perceive sports brands. Second, I analyzed an
international survey I co-wrote and launched in May 2014 for The Annenberg Innovation
Lab and HAVAS Sports and Entertainment’s FANS.PASSIONS.BRANDS study to
provide a quantitative basis for how strongly female fans interact in the context of logics
of engagement to see how their survey responses coincide with the qualitative insights
from the ethnography. By combining mixed methods, I look to paint both a deep and
broad picture of how female sports fans engage with sport. I will now dive into a detailed
explanation of the ethnographic portion of the data collection.
Ethnographic Methods
Our research team for the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab and HAVAS SE joint
project conducted 53 interviews of sports fans at soccer viewings before, during, and
after the World Cup. I worked with a team of four researchers in addition to four
Brazilian translators for the portion of research done in Rio de Janeiro. A total of 20

27. PRACTICUM 27
female sports fans were interviewed, many of whom by me. The use of ethnographic
interviews of these fans expands on understandings of what it means to be female sports
fans as discussed in the literature review. I interviewed these fans to discuss specific
examples about their experiences as female sports fans and their opinions towards sports
brands.
The majority of respondents were women our research team struck up
conversations with at different venues showing soccer matches. We also interviewed
female sports fans from our social circles because of their self-identification as female
sports fans.
Participant
Pseudonym
Participant
Nationality Participant Age
KL Brazil 25
BZ Brazil 31
IM Brazil 42
RM Brazil 30
PB Brazil 33
PC Brazil 31
PV Brazil 48
JY Canada 25
PD Colombia 32
RH France 26
AD Germany 31
VC Italy 33
JC USA 44
TB USA 42
MC USA 58
CB USA 35
JB USA 27
SB USA 30
SD USA 51
SH USA 28

28. PRACTICUM 28
The respondents consisted mostly of Americans in Los Angeles and Brazilians in
Rio de Janeiro. Their ages ranged from their mid-twenties to late-fifties.
In sharing the experience of watching the games as a fellow female sports fan, I
established “conversational partnerships” with other female sports fans (Rubin & Rubin,
2011, p. 6). The key behind this methodology and successfully completing ethnographic
interviews was our mutual respect as female sports fans embarking on a “joint process of
discovery” in understanding female sports fandom (p. 6). While conducting these

29. PRACTICUM 29
interviews, I did have to take into account cultural differences of the different
interviewees and the context of the different settings we were in. For example, I had to
acknowledge and work with the different dynamics of interviewing a Brazilian mom in
her home in suburban Petropolis outside Rio de Janeiro versus talking to a German expat
at a crowded bar in the urban hip Silverlake neighborhood in Los Angeles. As a result,
the German expat might have spoken more to me because we sat next to each other at a
bar for an entire match and did not need a translator versus talking through a translator to
the Brazilian mom hosting a busy home viewing party. However, I believe it helped that
I was an “insider” and respondents may have felt more comfortable talking to me as
another woman (p. 76). As someone immersed in the world of soccer fandom like my
subjects of study, it likely made it easier for my subjects to open up to me and have a
conversation. I met many respondents organically by talking to people I sat next to
throughout the viewing of a match and sharing the experience of being female sports
fans.
We went where the fans were for observations and interviews, such as bars,
theaters, restaurants, and private homes in Los Angeles during matches. Additionally, we
attended match viewings with a Los Angeles-based soccer fan club, the Real Madridistas.
We found the Real Madridistas through Meetup, a website that helps coordinate groups
with shared interests. The Real Madridistas invited us to their viewings of the European
Champion’s League for initial observations and to test our methodologies prior to the
World Cup. The bulk of interviews and observations were conducted in bars, stadia,
public outdoor venues, and private homes in Rio de Janeiro during the World Cup.

30. PRACTICUM 30
In these contexts, the interview questions related to the logics of engagement
framework. We also included questions about brand perceptions and a fan checklist for
observations. The checklists tracked fan behavior involving brands that fans engaged
with in some form, for instance the behavior of fans wearing sponsor jerseys or when
they booed at the TV when the commercial sponsor of a rival team came on. This
methodology gave us deep insight into the psychology and personal opinions of fans that
could not be gained from the use of pure quantitative data in the survey.
The questions for the ethnographic interviews can be found in Appendix A
(excluded from this version on Slideshare for proprietary reasons).
Survey Methods
I analyzed an international survey taken of sports fans for research conducted in a
joint study between the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab and HAVAS Sports and
Entertainment. I co-wrote many of these questions working as part of the research team
as a project manager. The online survey, called the FANS.PASSIONS.BRANDS Global
Survey, was carried out by research firm YouGov on our behalf in Argentina, Brazil,
Chile, Columbia, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Russia, and
the United States (including a focus on US Hispanics) in May 2014. The entire survey
included 21,868 respondents with an age range of 13 to 65+. The female portion of the
survey consisted of 11,343 respondents.
I started the process of analyzing this survey by first eliminating all the data
irrelevant to my goals for this paper and normalizing all reversed questions. My specific
focus for the survey looks at female sports fans in what logics of engagement they
primarily practice in their fandom, their feelings towards brands, and how they consume

31. PRACTICUM 31
media, in other words, how to reach them through different media channels to give
insight in how to reach these fans. Multiple offices and markets across HAVAS are
leveraging this survey for different purposes, and thus it contains a plethora of data, such
as looking at interests outside of sports, that are not relevant to this study. My goal is to
advise sports brands specifically on how they could engage female sports fans. Thus, I
first used Select Cases in SPSS to eliminate all extraneous values, such as responses by
men and those who responded to the survey who said that they were “Not at all interested
in sports.” I also removed all questions that did not pertain to sports.
Once I removed all those respondents that said they were not at all interested in
sports, I was left with 8,807 female sports fans for analysis. I did not further eliminate
from the sample since the rest of the respondents were all still at least “slightly
interested” in sports. Given the stigma female sports fans face and the perceived
hierarchal nature of sports fandom as discussed in the literature review, I believe women
are less likely to confidently respond with higher values on the Likert scale. However,
they still are “affective fans,” (Markovits & Anderson, 2012, p. 127) those fans have an
affinity to sports that marketers can reach.
After taking out unnecessary data, I pulled basic information such as the age
distribution and countries represented in the international survey, shown below. I used
descriptive statistics to analyze survey questions related to the ethnography. These
findings follow in the survey results and discussion sections.
The survey questions can be found in Appendix B (excluded from this upload on
Slideshare for propriety reasons).
Age Distribution
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent

32. PRACTICUM 32
Valid 13-17 744 8.4 8.4 8.4
18-24 1208 13.7 13.7 22.2
25-34 1878 21.3 21.3 43.5
35-44 1692 19.2 19.2 62.7
45-54 1388 15.8 15.8 78.5
55-64 1240 14.1 14.1 92.5
65+ 657 7.5 7.5 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0
Country
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid UK 500 5.7 5.7 5.7
France 599 6.8 6.8 12.5
Germany 545 6.2 6.2 18.7
Italy 478 5.4 5.4 24.1
Poland 493 5.6 5.6 29.7
Portugal 515 5.8 5.8 35.5
Russia 527 6.0 6.0 41.5
Spain 470 5.3 5.3 46.9
Argentina 542 6.2 6.2 53.0
Brazil 525 6.0 6.0 59.0
Chile 478 5.4 5.4 64.4
Colombia 476 5.4 5.4 69.8
Mexico 502 5.7 5.7 75.5
South Africa 508 5.8 5.8 81.3
China 537 6.1 6.1 87.4
US Hispanic 590 6.7 6.7 94.1
US Non-
Hispanic
522 5.9 5.9 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0

33. PRACTICUM 33
Results and Discussion
Ethnography Results

34. PRACTICUM 34
The ethnographic interviews consisted of questions on engagement with sports
fandom in general, media use, and the participants’ perceptions about brands. The first
interview questions consisted of general questions on fan experiences, such as how did
the respondents become sports fans and what activities they engage in their sports
fandom. The media usage section covers questions on how fans access media content,
such as the importance of watching on TV or what social networks they use. A last
section focuses specifically on brand recognition and probed the respondents’ feelings on
brands.
I coded the ethnographic interviews based how many times and how strongly
logics were mentioned and split the analysis into two sections, one on fan engagement in
general and one specifically on brands. Lastly, I took extra stock of consistent trends I
saw that could be important for marketers to take note of, such as particularities in media
use, the importance of the live viewing experience, and attitudes towards brands and
ethical behavior.
As an example, if one of the participants mentioned activities that fall under
Social Connection five times, I coded that logic as a five for that participant. An example
of activity around Social Connection would be if the participant mentioned that getting
together with friends to watch a game at a bar is an important part of her fan experience.
To provide more color on the coding with another logic, if a fan mentioned that knowing
the stats behind players was an important activity for her, that activity would be coded as
an instance of Mastery. There were a few instances where participants focused deeply
about one aspect strongly and in-depth, so I scored those statements as two mentions.
One of the women I interviewed spoke at length about how she got into soccer because

35. PRACTICUM 35
her family immigrated to the United States from Argentina. She grew up watching
soccer as a child spoke at length about how that connects her to heritage and considers
herself a huge fan. She wore an Argentina jersey and scarf but also spoke at length
about how Team USA was very important to her. She spoke more about Identification
than most of the participants and it was clearly the most important part of her fan
experience, so I scored that as two mentions even though that was just a response to one
question.
I fully admit there is a degree of subjectivity in this method, but I strove for the
most consistency possible to maintain the integrity of this study. As a way to present and
analyze the data, I summed the mentions of the logics to show appearances the logics of
engagement on a scale. I used Excel to code and organize the data and Tableau to create
visualizations.
In the general fan experience questions, as a whole, Social Connection ranked the
highest with 65 mentions, followed by 56 mentions of Entertainment, 54 mentions of
Identification, 46 mentions of Advocacy, 45 mentions of Mastery, 43 mentions of Pride,
29 mentions of Immersion, and lastly 23 mentions of Play.

36. PRACTICUM 36
This additional Tree Map of the logics broken down by proportion show
Immersion and Play are far less prominent than the other logics.

37. PRACTICUM 37
In addition to coding the logics on female sports fans self-described fan histories
and behavior, I compiled the mentions of logics separately for questions on their feelings
specifically toward brands. Advocacy, the logic of championing, ranked the highest at 15
mentions, mostly involving statements approving of brand’s sponsoring certain teams the
fans liked or disapproving of some behavior by brands. Identification and Pride followed
with seven and six counts respectively. Mastery had four mentions. Entertainment, Play,
and Social Connection each had two mentions and Immersion only showed up once
under the brand logics section of the ethnographic interviews.
To examine further insights on logic counts surrounding general questions on fan
behavior and logic counts on questions related specifically to brands, I went back and
counted mentions in several areas of interest showed up prominently that I consider
worthwhile for discussion, such unexpected results from the media usage section.

38. PRACTICUM 38
The first measure of Brand Ethics and Values relates to any statement made
about preferences based on positive or negative brand associations based on ethical
values, which 17 of the 20 participants mentioned, if at least in passing. Two other
measures that could be useful to those creating sport fan experiences are the importance
of TV viewings, 14 mentions, and going to the stadium, 10 mentions. Additionally, eight
participants (not mutually exclusive) mentioned that they followed sports news using
official channels, such as official e-mail newsletters from Paris Saint Germain, a soccer
club, or official social media, such as following the US Soccer League Major League
Soccer, on Twitter. However, an equal number mentioned they specifically searched out
sports news about their favorite teams using aggregated newsfeeds they create themselves
or search for specific content specifically from fan sites. Lastly, an aspect that did not
show up much in the literature review, eight of the participants mentioned the importance

39. PRACTICUM 39
of family connections in their fandom, but not because of their significant others, but
because of family members, particularly siblings and children.
The interpretations of these results follow below.
Ethnographic Discussion
The results of the ethnography demonstrate a gap between fan practices and how
brands currently engage with female sports fans. I discuss the results in detail below in
relation to the literature review and also give brands recommendations to take to engage
with female sports fans.
From a raw numbers perspective, Social Connection features the most examples.
This could be interpreted on the lines of stereotyping female sports fans accompanying
their partners to tagalong with their male significant others, which is one of the taunts
against female sports fans mentioned by Chirico (2014) in the literature review or that
they only care about the social experience. However, none of the female sports fans
interviewed mentioned boyfriends or husbands as the sole or most important person they
shared their sports experience with. Additionally in observations in the field, we saw
many women with groups of friends, including many groups of only women going to
bars or attending viewing parties together. Two of the respondents mentioned watching
sports with their brothers and three of the respondents with children mentioned
connecting with soccer through their sons. The female sports fans we spoke to and
observed practiced Social Connection with groups of friends or with their families,
mostly through parental and sibling relationships. Sports brands should take note that in
potentially planning a social experience that relates to female sports fans, it isn’t just
about the guy she might be with, they should be able relate potential fan experiences to

40. PRACTICUM 40
other dimensions, such as family and friends. This calls back to importance of positive
experiences for families as emphasized by Eden, Upright, & Hey (2013) and Crawford
(2004). However, the real-world examples of female sports fans going and enjoying
sports in groups of friends, including exclusively with other female sports fans, have not
been as explored in the literature surrounding sports fans and likely is a missed
opportunity on part of sports brands. Especially given Chen, Lin, & Chang’s (2013)
findings about influence of peers impacting purchasing behavior, this is an area worth
exploring. The importance of live stadium experiences for some of these fans is an
opportunity worth further exploration.
Two other logics, Entertainment and Mastery, provide additional opportunities for
engaging with female sports fans. Brand experiences mentioning these two logics had a
low number of mentions, with Mastery having four mentions (ranked fifth to last place)
and Entertainment only having two mentions (tied for second to last place), although they
ranked relatively high in terms of how fans engaged outside of branding, with 55
mentions of Entertainment and 45 mentions of Mastery, ranking second and fifth in times
mentioned respectively – the difference in number of mentions of Mastery and other
ranked logics is low, as seen in the graph in the results section above. Entertainment and
Mastery in sports often go hand-in-hand in sports fandom. Entertainment in sports
fandom involves relishing the game, even without other people around. Mastery in sports
fandom involves learning the history and or facts, such as statistics, of a particular team.
Female sports fans are not portrayed in engaging with sports in this fashion in popular
media, for instance in the World Cup commercials mentioned in the introduction. While
the men in the commercials engage in watching and knowing sports, female sports fans

41. PRACTICUM 41
are criticized for not practicing sports fandom in this manner. The image does not match
the reality of these fans. Sherry (2005) emphasized the “lived experience platform,”
(p.47) meaning customers to attach meanings to brands through their interactions with
brands. Given that female sports fans discuss enjoy watching and learning about the
sport, enough that they are seeking out information on their own by curating newsfeeds
online, yet don’t associate brands with this behavior, shows sports companies are not
focused on fandom carried out with these two logics by female sports fans. Therefore,
brands miss the opportunity to create aligning experiences tapping into Entertainment and
Social Connection given how these female sports fans practice their fanship.
The third logic pairing to think about is Identification, which is closely related to
Pride, as Pride is most often the outward expression of Identification, for instance by
wearing a team jersey. Identification and Pride by female sports fans in particular
appears to be similar to sports fans in general as discussed in the literature. Crawford’s
(2004) approach to sports fandom is about the performance of identity and belonging
with the interplay of consumerism to validate those performances through the purchase of
symbols such as apparel to show allegiance outwardly. AD, 31, expressed she loved
Adidas because, “They’re super German. It’s so German. The colors are German, and I
really identify with the nation. It’s really sticking out for me.” KL, 25, Brazilian, also
spoke fondly of Adidas sponsoring her local home team, Flamengo, “I think Adidas is
good because they have a solid history of engaging with Flamengo. In the past, they’ve
been present in victorious moments. This is the memory we have about Adidas with
Flamengo. We are happy to have this brand back again.” Doyle (2010) wrote about the
intensity and power of female soccer fans as much as and in some cases even more so

42. PRACTICUM 42
more than male soccer fans during World Cup games. While these feelings toward
Identification and Pride may not manifest characteristics as gendered in how female
sports fans engage with the other logics, sports companies that sell merchandise to female
sports fans should take note in this level of enthusiasm in relation to sports-related
products. Many interviewees complained about the lack of appropriate gear for female
sports fans as too overtly feminine, mostly maternity-related clothing, or just not having
the right availability of sizes. Nooyi (2012) spoke about how she wanted to be treated as
a true fan, meaning she didn’t want over-feminized jerseys or “dumbed-down” content
(Par. 75). Chirio (2013) as well as Cecamore, Fraesdorf, Langer, & Power (2011) also
commented lack of merchandise to fulfill in relation to demand from female sports fans.
Female sports fans have been documented in their intensity in identifying with sports as
parts of their identity and desire to express it outwardly. Companies should take note in
additional possible sales beyond the current limited range of items and considering
creating merchandise for larger range of female sports fans, not just the pink jerseys or
maternity wear crowds.
The logics of Play and Immersion ranked far less for these female sports fans than
the other logics both in fan participation practices outside branding and in relation to
branding. The logic of Play involves engaging by playing the sport physically or through
digital games. The low mentions of Play fall in line with Markovits & Albertson (2012)
and Dietz-Uhler, Harrick, and Jacquemotte’s (2000) scholarship in that female sports fans
don’t often become fans through Play. This likely has much to do with gender dynamics,
especially given the different cultures covered in the study. The ethnography shows a
split between countries where women play more organized sports, such as the United

43. PRACTICUM 43
States and Germany, versus countries in Latin America that do not emphasize Play by
women as much culturally. Immersion is about being so absorbed in the sport that
nothing else matters. This is a turn-off for many women because of the implications of
hooliganism inherent in Immersion and losing control in the sport, although some women
do participate in Immersion. This aspect calls back to what Pope (2013) wrote about the
dichotomous nature of the female sports fans she studied, where some are very invested
that can be seen in terms of Immersion versus those who are not so invested. The varying
levels of intensity of female sports fans in Jone’s (2008) study also speak to this dynamic
of deeply contrasting levels of Immersion on among different types of female sports fans.
Two of the interviewees AD, 31, from Germany and JB, 27, from the United States, both
mentioned disliking overly immersive behavior, AD specifically mentioning a boyfriend
that was “too into it” and JB not liking “fans setting couches on fire after a win.” In
questions of Play and Immersion, these are factors that might be suited specific
opportunities for brands rather than broad marketing tactics. They should still not be
overlooked, especially in countries like the United States, where female rates of
participation in playing sports are higher. Anecdotally, the most Immersive female sports
fan I interviewed, an American, SH, 28, said, “Sports are pretty much my only hobby
outside of work” and owns an entire closet of sports team wear. Fandom around Play and
Immersion are niches that some brands may find important.
One last prominent dynamic that warrants discussion is attitudes were toward
brand ethics, as coded under the logic of Advocacy. Female sports fans overwhelming
mentioned how important good sportsmanship between players in matches and fans with
each other as well as the importance of ethical practices when they were asked brand

44. PRACTICUM 44
questions. TB, 42, American, said she would imagine not liking a player or a team if she
knew something negative about them. KL, 26, Brazilian, specifically pointed out she
disliked the Brazilian soccer club Corinthians because they are “too aggressive.” SB, 30,
American said, “good sportsmanship is one of my favorite parts of soccer. I love Lionel
Messi because he exemplifies this” in reference to the Argentinean soccer player. She
also complemented fans of the opposing team she was rooting against in friendly banter
while we at a bar. Some sort of vague statement came from 17 out of 20 respondents
when asked about possible positive impact of brands, for instance VC, 33, Italian said,
“Brands in general should be doing more good.” Nearly all the Brazilians respondents
liked it when a brand that operates ethically and has a good reputation sponsors their
home team. JB, 27, American from Baltimore said she liked how Under Armor
supported the city by sponsoring local initiatives and hiring locally. Many respondents
echoed these sentiments of how they liked it when sports franchises included local
businesses and community foundations in some way and could name brands that did so.
The negative comments were much harsher and very specific. Two notable complaints
from a German respondent and a Brazilian respondent talked about a perceived mismatch
in terms of a potato chip company and a supermarket sponsoring local soccer teams,
respectively. They both expressed that it was odd that food companies that didn’t
necessarily represent values of healthy eating sponsored a sport. In the backdrop of
controversy around corruption in the World Cup, SB, 30, an American added,
“Budweiser is disgusting specifically because of forcing laws to change to sell alcohol
during the World Cup” in reference to how alcohol can create an unsafe environment at
stadiums. She pointed to her beer and told me she takes care to not order anything made

45. PRACTICUM 45
by Budweiser. Moore & Homer (2008) found that women tend to have stronger feelings
toward brand values and ethics in comparison to men, both positively and negatively.
Another specific aspect of brand values that relate to female sports fans is the negative
reaction to sexism in sports. JB, 27, American said she “pays attention when I find things
sexist in sports. I take exception to that, such as in the Superbowl when they bring on
GoDaddy ads. Superbowl ads are sexist, but GoDaddy is the worst offender.” Nearly all
of the American participants I talked to after domestic violence scandals broke out in the
NFL, such as those surrounding Ray Rice, expressed disappointment in how professional
sports leagues handled violence against women. Moore & Homer (2008), Markovits &
Anderson (2012), Banet-Weiser & Baroffio-Bota (2006), and Duncan (2006) all wrote
about the continual practices of approaching sports marketing using women as sexualized
bodies or other approaches that marginalize women, which, in turn, alienates female
sports fans. Brands should take note in not just how to market more to female fans in
terms of advertising leveraging the logics in the previous paragraphs, but also about their
conduct in general, because female sports fans take notice. It is likely not enough to just
make more merchandise available, but also practice what female sports fan consider
ethical business practices to gain their loyalty.
Looking at female sports fans through the lens of ethnography, their lived
experiences, combined with the literature review provide insights in terms of specific
expressions of broad values that furthers what sports brands could use as principles to
bring better experiences to female sports fans. This paper now pivots to the quantitative
side in looking at how female sports fans responded to survey questions about their
fandom.

46. PRACTICUM 46
Survey Results
In this section, I provide top-line commentary of selected survey questions that
relate to the logics of engagement toward general fan practices and branding. Much of
this survey is out-of-scope and will provide needless complication to the purposes of this
paper on advising brands on broad values and strategies. I use selected parts of the
survey to provide greater context and examples to how female sports fans feel and to
confirm and expand upon the specific issues mentioned by the interviewees in the
ethnography in an attempt to paint a more complex picture that could be generalized to a
much larger sample of respondents.
Survey Discussion
In approaching the survey, I chose several groupings of questions to discuss
several themes. First, women do enjoy participating in sports fandom on their own.
Second, female sports fans experiences when they do decide to watch with the company
of others needs improvement. Third, I show the potential missed opportunities for
merchandise for female sports fans. Fourth, I comment briefly on the aspect of
participating in a sport itself on part of female fans through Play. Lastly, I round out the
discussion on the importance of ethics to female sports fans.
Women as Sports Fans Questions
ENTERTAINMENT: How much do you agree or disagree with the
following statement? - Whether I'm watching a game by myself or
with a group of people, I still have a great time watching.
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
381 4.3 4.3 4.3
Disagree 711 8.1 8.1 12.4

47. PRACTICUM 47
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
1733 19.7 19.7 32.1
Agree 4544 51.6 51.6 83.7
Strongly Agree 1438 16.3 16.3 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0
ENTERTAINMENT: And how much do you agree or disagree with the
following statement? - I attend, or would like to attend events
organized by the sponsors of my team because they improve my fan
experience around football
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
679 7.7 10.3 10.3
Disagree 1102 12.5 16.6 26.9
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
2349 26.7 35.5 62.4
Agree 2097 23.8 31.7 94.1
Strongly Agree 393 4.5 5.9 100.0
Total 6620 75.2 100.0

48. PRACTICUM 48
Missing System 2187 24.8
Total 8807 100.0
IMMERSION: How much do you agree or disagree with the
following statement? - When the game is close, I focus totally on
what's happening on the field/court.
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
532 6.0 6.0 6.0
Disagree 778 8.8 8.8 14.9
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
1862 21.1 21.1 36.0
Agree 4267 48.5 48.5 84.5
Strongly Agree 1368 15.5 15.5 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0

49. PRACTICUM 49
MASTERY: How much do you agree or disagree with the following
statement? - I love learning stories about the teams and/or players I
follow
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
680 7.7 7.7 7.7
Disagree 1183 13.4 13.4 21.2
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
2478 28.1 28.1 49.3
Agree 3620 41.1 41.1 90.4
Strongly Agree 846 9.6 9.6 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0

50. PRACTICUM 50
MASTERY: And how much do you agree or disagree with the
following statement? - Content produced by my team's sponsors is a
good source of information about my team
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
628 7.1 9.5 9.5
Disagree 1288 14.6 19.5 28.9
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
2857 32.4 43.2 72.1
Agree 1599 18.2 24.2 96.3
Strongly Agree 248 2.8 3.7 100.0
Total 6620 75.2 100.0
Missing System 2187 24.8
Total 8807 100.0

51. PRACTICUM 51
The responses to the above questions destroy the notion that female sports fans
care only about a social experience. The high levels of agreement, 5,982 (68%)
responded Agree or Strongly Agree, in enjoying the sport even without others around
attest their enjoyment of the sport itself. Female sports fans also responded they can be
immersed, 5,635 (64%) responded Agree or Strongly Agree to an Immersion question of
not being able to focus on anything but the sport they’re watching, which demonstrates
the high-level of attention and commitment to the sport by these fans. Furthermore,
they’re not clueless about sports in the way popular culture views them to be, the positive
responses in the questions about Mastery shows the passion of female sports fans in
learning about sports. 4,466 (51%) of the respondents Agree or Strongly Agree with
wanting to learn more about the team or players of the sport they follow. By extension,
there are also important implications for those behind sports content creation in the
second Mastery question: “Content produced by my teams sponsors is a good source of

52. PRACTICUM 52
information about my team.” This question ties in with the female sports fans seeking
out their own content online in the ethnography. 2,857 (32%) participants responded
Neither Agree nor Disagree, possibly showing a lack of awareness of such content if it
exists, followed by 1,916 (21%) answering Disagree or Strongly Disagree. Given the
context that female sports fans are not as welcomed in enjoying the sport in live venues
and Sutera’s (2013) emphasis on the importance of online communication in the
relationship between fans and producers, which is not happening here, these results have
implications for content creation or marketing existing content online for female sports
fans. Crawford (2004) also called out this type of marginalization of female sports fans
in his scholarship. Thus, sports brands should understand female sports fans do engage
with sports deeply for the love of the game and create experiences and content inclusive
of these fans, both physically and digitally.
Social Connection Underserved
SOCIAL CONNECTION: How much do you agree or disagree with
the following statement? - Pre or post-game rituals, such as
meeting friends or going to a bar are important aspects of being a
fan.
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
1074 12.2 12.2 12.2
Disagree 1635 18.6 18.6 30.8
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
2730 31.0 31.0 61.8
Agree 2776 31.5 31.5 93.3
Strongly Agree 592 6.7 6.7 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0

53. PRACTICUM 53
SOCIAL CONNECTION: And how much do you agree or disagree with
the following statement? - I can connect with other fans through
brands that sponsor my team or player
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
784 8.9 11.8 11.8
Disagree 1477 16.8 22.3 34.2
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
2512 28.5 37.9 72.1
Agree 1595 18.1 24.1 96.2
Strongly Agree 252 2.9 3.8 100.0
Total 6620 75.2 100.0
Missing System 2187 24.8
Total 8807 100.0

54. PRACTICUM 54
Social Connection plays a key role in the fan experience for many female sports
fans. The survey confirms this dynamic in the numbers above with 3,368 (38%) who
Agree or Strongly Agree that rituals around meeting friends or shared viewing
experiences are important. By contrast, another survey question also implies a lack of
action taken by sports companies to take advantage of Social Connection, with 2,512
(28%) respondents who neither Agree or Disagree and 2,261 (26%) respondents who
Disagree or Strongly Disagree with the survey statement “I can connect with other fans
through brands that sponsor my team or player.” Similarly, this gap shows up in the
ethnographic interviews in the disconnect between how important Social Connection was
for some female sports fans and how little they associate that aspect with brands. In
addition in our field observations, we saw many groups of female sport fans going to
viewing parties together or to watch games together at various venues. Markovits &
Anderson (2012) stated the importance of “social inclusion” (p. 160) as a motivating

55. PRACTICUM 55
factor for participation in sports for female fans. Brands should take notice of the gap
and think about how to create fan experiences that could be more inclusive of female
sports fans who partake in their fandom with others.
The Lack of Merchandise for Expression
IDENTIFICATION: How much do you agree or disagree with the
following statement? - The team or sport I support says something
about who I am.
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
837 9.5 9.5 9.5
Disagree 1603 18.2 18.2 27.7
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
3067 34.8 34.8 62.5
Agree 2729 31.0 31.0 93.5
Strongly Agree 571 6.5 6.5 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0
PRIDE: How much do you agree or disagree with the following
statement? - I wear clothing that identifies myself as a fan.

56. PRACTICUM 56
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
1543 17.5 17.5 17.5
Disagree 2288 26.0 26.0 43.5
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
2084 23.7 23.7 67.2
Agree 2112 24.0 24.0 91.1
Strongly Agree 780 8.9 8.9 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0
PRIDE: And how much do you agree or disagree with the following
statement? - I know which brand makes my favorite team/player’s
clothing and shoes
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
806 9.2 12.2 12.2
Disagree 1394 15.8 21.1 33.2
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
1977 22.4 29.9 63.1
Agree 2023 23.0 30.6 93.7
Strongly Agree 420 4.8 6.3 100.0
Total 6620 75.2 100.0

57. PRACTICUM 57
Missing System 2187 24.8
Total 8807 100.0
Female sports fans lament the lack of merchandise available for them to purchase
to express their sports fandom. Women in the ethnographic interviews complained about
everything from the lack of sizes to remarking that clothing was either too masculine or
too feminine or also not appropriate for their age or peer group. Nooyi (2013) declares
that the sports industry just “pinks and shrinks” (Par. 26) and Chirico (2013) complains,
“clothing items are in pink for no good reason” (Par. 14) in reference to sports-related
apparel. Cecamore, Fraesdorf, Langer, & Power (2011) posited that the gender disparity
in money spent on merchandise could be because of the limited types of products
produced for women. Consumption plays an important role in fandom because by
providing items for sports fans to purchase to outwardly express their identity (Crawford,
2004). While 3,067 (35%) female sports fans Neither Disagree or Agree that “the team
they support says something about who I am,” 3,300 (37%) Agree or Strongly Agree.

58. PRACTICUM 58
Additionally, 2892 (33%) Agree or Strongly Agree that they wear “clothing that
identifies me as a fan” and 2,443 (34%) Agree or Strongly Agree that they know “know
which brand makes my favorite team/player’s clothing and shoes.” These low numbers
imply an opportunity to reach out to female sports fans with more merchandise. As
mentioned in the introduction, given the success of the NFL in their expansion of female-
oriented merchandise (Dosh, 2012, Feb 2), that women make up nearly 30%, a growing
number, of audiences for all major professional leagues in the United States (Nielsen,
2013) and the World Cup (globalwebindex, 2014), sports franchises should act on this
growing opportunity. There are many types of female sports fans whose consumption
needs are currently not met. Hence, sports merchandisers should take notice of female
sports fans desire to outward express their Identification and Pride and expand their range
of merchandise.
Women and Play
PLAY: How much do you agree or disagree with the following
statement? - I get involved with the sport I follow by participating in
local recreational leagues or playing with my friends.
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
1523 17.3 17.3 17.3
Disagree 2309 26.2 26.2 43.5
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
2043 23.2 23.2 66.7
Agree 2234 25.4 25.4 92.1
Strongly Agree 698 7.9 7.9 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0

59. PRACTICUM 59
Before getting into the final section on values and the logic of Advocacy, I do
want to briefly address the Logic of Play among female sports fans. As mentioned in the
ethnographic interviews section and the literature review by Markovits & Anderson
(2012) and Dietz-Uhler, Harrick, and Jacquemotte (2000), female sports fans may more
often bond with a sport more from following the sport rather by playing it the way many
male sports fans become sports fans. Moreover, the aspect of cultural differences in Play
emerged in interviewing female sports fans. Namely, some countries encourage young
women to play sports more than others, such as the prevalence of organized sports
described by American and German interviewees in contrast to lack of organized sports
by the Brazilian and Italian interviewees. This dynamic is further addressed in the
Limitations section of this paper. This question in the survey had a noticeable split,
displayed in the graph above, 3,832 (44%) respondents who Strongly Disagree or
Disagree versus 2,043 (23%) Neither Agree nor Disagree with the aforementioned
statement. 2,932 (33%) who Agree or Strongly Agree with “participating in local

60. PRACTICUM 60
recreational leagues or playing with my friends.” This aspect visualized in the chart
above may well demonstrate these differences among cultures. Brands should be aware
of these differences culturally in the markets they operate in. While many female sports
fans have gotten to know a sport more by following it, certain nationalities and age
groups maybe more invested in the logic of Play. In short, for some makers of sports
equipment and gear or brands operating in certain markets, this could be an important
niche opportunity.
The Importance of Values
ADVOCACY: How much do you agree or disagree with the following
statement? - If I see a fan of a team my favorite team is playing
against, I will tell them they're going to lose.
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
2201 25.0 25.0 25.0
Disagree 2811 31.9 31.9 56.9
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
1842 20.9 20.9 77.8
Agree 1396 15.9 15.9 93.7
Strongly Agree 557 6.3 6.3 100.0
Total 8807 100.0 100.0

61. PRACTICUM 61
And how much do you agree or disagree with the following
statement? - I appreciate when my team or favorite player is involved
with brands that make a difference for my community
Frequency Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Strongly
Disagree
416 4.7 6.3 6.3
Disagree 619 7.0 9.4 15.6
Neither
Disagree nor
Agree
1961 22.3 29.6 45.3
Agree 2932 33.3 44.3 89.5
Strongly Agree 692 7.9 10.5 100.0
Total 6620 75.2 100.0
Missing System 2187 24.8
Total 8807 100.0
The last logic of engagement covered in the survey as it relates to the ethnography
is Advocacy, the action of championing. This logic can manifest itself negatively
through taunting other fans or can present itself positively through taking a stand on
certain ethical values. The survey question worded, “If I see a fan of a team my favorite

62. PRACTICUM 62
team is playing against, I will tell them they're going to lose” received 5,012 (57%)
responses of Strongly Disagree or Disagree. This aligns with much of the sentiment from
the women interviewed in terms of a strong preference for good sportsmanship as a part
of enjoying the game and dislike of bad conduct by teams or fans. In addition to good
sportsmanship among players of the sports they like and amongst fans, this notion of
Advocacy as it relates to values carried over when asked about players or brands making
a difference in their community, 3,624 (55%) Agreed or Strongly Agreed. Along the
same lines, these results coincide with the many statements made in the ethnographic
interviews and in the literature review regarding good sportsmanship. In fact, the
importance of ethical behavior is a particular trait that Homer (2008) found unique in that
women put greater weight into a brand relationship as it related to their values, in
particular in relation to portrayals of their gender. In sum, the importance of ethical
behavior is a unifying strand in female sports fandom. Female sports fans, like all sports
fans among them, have variations in how they approach their fandom, as seen in the
ethnography and the survey questions above, but this is the one factor that is nearly
universal among female sports fans. The sports industry should take note of this in both
their tone in how they formulate their marketing messages, what athletes and teams they
attach themselves to in relation to positive behavior, and the practices they themselves as
a company adhere to in order to not get on the wrong side of watchful female sports fans.
The above survey responses fall in line with the statements of female sports fans
we interviewed and the content of the literature review. Namely, women do actively
enjoy the sport on a purely entertainment level. Better social experiences by sports
brands also have potential to appeal to more female sports fans. Furthermore,

63. PRACTICUM 63
merchandise is lacking for female sports fans. Additionally, play has a bimodal and
niche dynamic among female sports fans. Lastly, as a whole female sports fans care
deeply about ethical values.
The next section will go over some of the gaps the sports industry needs to
overcome as expressed by this information and give some recommendations.
Gaps and Recommendations
This section briefly brings together the literature review with results and
discussion from the two research methods to present basic recommendations for the
sports industry in creating better business relationships with female sports fans in relation
to live events, the entertainment enjoyment aspect of female sports fans, the expansion of
content, need for more merchandise, and the need for recognition of the multi-faceted
nature of female sports fans.
First, female sports fans in this study do not have the most positive opinions about
live events and viewing, even though the interviewees and survey show they want better
fan experiences in this area. This includes safety from hostility and other adjustments to
the environment that promotes inclusiveness at places like stadiums and bars. Those
female sports fans that prize the social aspect of participating in sports should also be
paid attention to, perhaps by special deals on group discounts that are targeted to women.
Second, the sports industry overlooks female sports fans truly into the game
without the need for companionship. These are the fans that will sit at home alone and
wear her team gear to enjoy the game on TV. These fans deserve acknowledgment
through better commercial experiences. It follows then, that these fans should not be
overlooked in promoting marketing publications or online newsletters with deep content,

64. PRACTICUM 64
such as analysis of player statistics, as an example. Many female sports fans care about
this aspect of Mastery as well, and brands should take notice.
Third, while many female sports fans do engage with existing official channels in
relation to sports, such as watching SportsCenter on ESPN or following the official social
media feeds of teams and players, many actively seek out their own content. One of the
more surprisingly aspects of this study was the sheer amount of information aggregation
described by the female sports fans we interviewed and the glaring gap in discoverable
content by brands in the survey. Female sports fans clearly care about content, and that
content currently does not exist or is not marketed to female sports fans properly. Brands
should take stock that this demand for content represents a unique opportunity.
Fourth, the lack of merchandise available for female sports fans to buy is one
visible glaring market demand that has not yet been met. Insufficient products to express
fandom have been a wide complaint in the literature, ethnography, and survey. Female
sports fans strongly recognize brands and are cognizant of this lack of options. They are
a diverse group and want a wide range of merchandise that fits them to express their
devotion to the teams they love.
This last aspect calls back to Cecamore, Fraesdork, Langer, & Power’s (2011) in
recognizing that some marketing to women in sports is “too easy and simplistic” or
“stereotypical” (p. 53). Female sports fans want to be treated not simply by
acknowledging their gender or lumped with male sports fans, but as multi-faceted female
sports fans. Female sports fans are not a monolith.
Although I gave the above recommendations because these aspects have not as
deeply covered in previous literature, they are also limited and very general. Admittedly,

65. PRACTICUM 65
more nuanced research has not yet been done on these aspects of female sports fandom,
but that doesn’t mean that these fans do not deserve to be seen without complexity in
their fan behavior. Acknowledgement and further segmentation by brands could gain the
respect and dollars of female sports fans. I move on to discuss the limitations of this
study and possibilities for more research in the following two sections.
Limitations
Several limitations to the ethnographic interviews include the sample size,
composition of the interviewees, and bias due to the timing of this study. First, we only
interviewed 20 participants for the ethnographic interviews. The participants skewed
American and Brazilian.
Consequently, cultural dynamics are an issue here, particularly for the logic of
Play. In many countries, particularly some of those in Latin America and parts of
Southern Europe, women’s participation in playing some or all sports is more limited
compared to other parts of the world. The Italian and several of the Brazilian
interviewees stated that “soccer is for men” in their countries. Meanwhile, women’s
sports are much more normalized in North America and Northern Europe. However, in
general, the logic of Play is lower among women. This dichotomy appeared on the
survey questions as well with the visible split on Agree and Disagree answers on the Play
question. Gender roles in each country may have played a role in shaping fan practices.
Identification might also be more heavily weighted because of the strong ties to
identifying with a local soccer club as a part of Brazilian culture as described by our
Brazilian respondents. This affiliation is about more than just a hometown or school
preference to compare to Identification in the United States, but may also speak to

66. PRACTICUM 66
tradition passed down generationally and take on deep meaning in terms of family
histories, social class, status, and regional identities.
An additional element to be aware of in this study is the timing and conditions in
which we conducted the study. Both the ethnographic interviews and surveys were
carried out specifically to coincide with the World Cup. People are likely to have
become much more partisan to their national teams, and expats may have felt particularly
so. Dynamics particular to soccer might have been overemphasized with dynamics
particular to other sports underemphasized. We also had mixed gendered teams of
interviewers and translators, so some of the respondents may have felt they could speak
more freely on certain topics to female interviewers versus the male interviewers. Unlike
the survey, the ages in the ethnography do not have quite as a normal distribution and
definitely skew more mid-twenties to middle-aged, and thus are women that are more or
less in similar life stages. The ethnography lacked perspectives of teenage women and
women in their early twenties as well as audiences over the age of 60.
The biggest limitation in how I have presented the survey data is by relying
heavily on simple descriptive statistics to analyze a selected group of questions
surrounding fan engagement and brand logic questions. For the purposes of this study, I
searched for more universal themes that have not been fully examined in the literature
and sports industry at large at a very basic level. Therefore, I used this methodology to
generalize the ethnography look at a possible bigger picture. I acknowledge the
limitation in that these insights are likely better suited to mass marketing
recommendations. This study does not break out these fans into particular segments and
uses aggregate data, though that would be worthwhile exercise to undertake with this

67. PRACTICUM 67
data. What I have identified are general values that these female sports fans studied
share, facts that dispel stereotypes of female fans in their fan practices, and confirmed
and added to the literature written about female sports fans. While I used the logics of
engagement as my framework, there may also be other frameworks and theories that can
approach this data as well.
On that note, I freely acknowledge that I am combining data from a variety of
cultures and age groups using one framework. However, while brands will need to be
culturally specific in their targeting, the language of brands is universal and not
necessarily culturally driven. Even though there is still much more learning that could be
gleaned from this data, I focused on those universal themes to advise the sports industry
on gaps and opportunities in how they can better serve female sports fans and possibly
increase the bottom line. The next section will summarize this study and discuss some
possible further work that could be done on this topic with this data.
Possible Expansions of Study and Conclusions
This paper challenges the notion that female sports fans only care about sports to
relate to men. Moreover, female sports fans don’t engage more strongly in the logics of
Identification and Social Connection as I had hypothesized, but participate in sports
fandom in a complex interplay with all the logics of engagement. The survey and the
ethnography together disprove popular notions of female sports fans as passive. The
combined research validates and adds to the information covered in the literature review,
as well as identifies areas in how female sports fans practice their fandom and their
attitudes toward how they want brands to behave. The nuances female sports fans
expressed in the ethnography and on the survey demonstrate that their unfulfilled

68. PRACTICUM 68
consumer needs in terms of intangible experiences in their sports viewing and
participation as well as need for more tangible goods for purchase. Much of this is
because female sports fans are largely still seen in simplistic stereotypes like those of the
clingy girlfriend, stereotypes too simple to reach the wide spectrum of female sports fans.
A future step in this study outside of the scope of this paper would be to run a
factor and cluster analysis on the survey to determine individual segments that may group
these fans strongly in certain logics or characteristics across certain demographic groups.
A side-by-side comparison to male fans in terms of the ethnography and survey could
reveal possible overlaps as well as differences to consider for marketers. This additional
analysis could have important consequences for marketing teams with more specific
information to target certain age, demographic, and psychographic groups. Additional
interviews of female sports fans of ages that did not get covered or focus groups could
reveal more insights in how sports fandom is practiced among women.
One last point to speak on to wrap up this paper outside of the need for more
marketing studies: respecting female sports fans and perceiving female sports fans in
more complex manners as true sports fans uplifts sports and society. Markovits and
Albertson (2012) wrote extensively about the role sports has crossing boundaries and
creating unity, except on gender. Giving female sports fans a better consumer experience
will not only provide better fan experiences and create opportunities for the sports
industry, but also gives female sports fans greater legitimacy in sports fandom and
extends the uniting power of sports through recognition of female sports fans as an
essential part of the sports fan universe, a universe that brings different people together.

69. PRACTICUM 69
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