Right now ESPN is showing back-to-back WBB games. Wouldn't women be better severed with their own channel? Sunday afternoon on ESPN isn't exactly TV Siberia. Women must have some pull with the networks or the President or the conferences. Plus there is Title IX.

I'm sure if ESPN could figure out a way to even have a donkey's chance in an elephant orgy of monetizing women's sports as a going concern, they'd invest more than a subsite in it.

It could even backfire if women's sports advocates claim that you're marginalizing it by using a digital-tier channel as a containment vessel so that you don't pollute the "real" ESPN channels with girlball.

No one will watch a network solely dedicated to women's sports.

There's an ESPNW website, though. http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/
I can't find any web traffic data on ESPNW, only ESPN is listed on sites like Alexa.

(01-12-2014 05:50 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  I'm sure if ESPN could figure out a way to even have a donkey's chance in an elephant orgy of monetizing women's sports as a going concern, they'd invest more than a subsite in it.

It could even backfire if women's sports advocates claim that you're marginalizing it by using a digital-tier channel as a containment vessel so that you don't pollute the "real" ESPN channels with girlball.

Something close to that happened once:

(01-12-2014 05:50 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  I'm sure if ESPN could figure out a way to even have a donkey's chance in an elephant orgy of monetizing women's sports as a going concern, they'd invest more than a subsite in it.

It could even backfire if women's sports advocates claim that you're marginalizing it by using a digital-tier channel as a containment vessel so that you don't pollute the "real" ESPN channels with girlball.

Yep.

The WNBA on Lifetime is probably as close a we'll ever get to an all-women's sports channel. I'm not sure when that fell by the wayside, but the WNBA has largely been demoted to RSNs as a filler for when there is no MLB game to show.

Since conferences control most of the inventory for college athletics, you'll always see at least some women's contests on TV. It's also why you'll see other sports slip in from time to time-it simply is part i the price of admission. Of course, even ESPN knows there is no competing with NFL football, so a lot of it will get relegated to Sunday afternoons between August and January. The best the networks can hope for is to find something that won't compete for the same viewers that are watching NFL games.

Women's basketball draws 6,000+ at a number of schools as well (Connecticut, Baylor, Tennessee, Louisville, Kentucky, Notre Dame, etc.) so some are managing to monetize their programs. Ironically, schools that are powers in the men's game may be best poised for the biggest growth in the women's game, as tickets to men's games at those schools increasingly fall short of demand.

I want the Lingerie Football League on ESPN. The pre-game show could use the cast from The View.

(01-12-2014 05:54 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(01-12-2014 05:50 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  I'm sure if ESPN could figure out a way to even have a donkey's chance in an elephant orgy of monetizing women's sports as a going concern, they'd invest more than a subsite in it.

It could even backfire if women's sports advocates claim that you're marginalizing it by using a digital-tier channel as a containment vessel so that you don't pollute the "real" ESPN channels with girlball.

Something close to that happened once:

That was a one-time deal and last we checked, Chef isn't around to make it happen again.

(01-12-2014 05:52 PM)OrangeCrush22 Wrote:  No one will watch a network solely dedicated to women's sports.

There's an ESPNW website, though. http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/
I can't find any web traffic data on ESPNW, only ESPN is listed on sites like Alexa.

Volleyball would do well.

(01-12-2014 05:20 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  Right now ESPN is showing back-to-back WBB games. Wouldn't women be better severed with their own channel? Sunday afternoon on ESPN isn't exactly TV Siberia. Women must have some pull with the networks or the President or the conferences. Plus there is Title IX.

Title IX just says that educational institutions which receive federal money can't discriminate based on sex. It has nothing to do with what a private cable network decides to broadcast.

I guess the only way Title IX could influence cable programming was if the school owned the network. Does the Longhorn Network or the Big 10 Network have to air women's sports since they're partially owned by public schools?

Little interest. Look at the ratings, if you can find them.

(01-12-2014 05:20 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  Right now ESPN is showing back-to-back WBB games. Wouldn't women be better severed with their own channel? Sunday afternoon on ESPN isn't exactly TV Siberia. Women must have some pull with the networks or the President or the conferences. Plus there is Title IX.

While I don't doubt women play sports and might enjoy watching women play sports, I don't think the tv market demographics are there for a broadcast channel for women's sports only. Maybe a internet streaming channel.

And what women's sports could you use?

Women's volleyball?
Sand Volleyball?
Women's NCAA ice hockey?
Is there a women's hockey pro league? I know they do Olympics.
Women's NCAA basketball
WNBA
Tennis
Golf
Track and Field
I guess the dance/gymnastics stuff.
Ice Skating?
Swimming and diving?

I just don't have any idea of what women sports enthusiasts would watch in terms of women's only sports.

I just can't see too many men wanting to watch some of the women's sports

https://www.facebook.com/HoustonLadyOilers

Enough said.