The next four years in women's sport...
My predictions on how a Trump presidency could impact women's sports
I don’t really want to write about politics because it’s Sunday and we are all already tired from a heavy week of news.
But it’s also an important topic, so I am briefly going to share my thoughts on what I think we are likely to see more of in women’s sports amid a Trump presidency.
Before we kick off, I don’t have a stake in the race. I am not a US citizen, but for what it’s worth I would have voted for Kamala Harris if I were a US citizen. I lived in America during the final year of the prior Trump presidency and I think there’s a collective amnesia going on amongst Americans about how great America was under his leadership. It was a complete mess during Covid.
I’d have voted for Kamala Harris because I care about women’s rights, I care about having a level-headed and eloquent leader in the White House, and I care about democracy.
But my vote doesn’t count. And even if it did, I doubt it would make a difference. The general consensus, based on the election results, is that 50.4% of Americans want Trump as their president.
In Blueprint 2024’s analysis of why voters did not support Harris, among the top three reasons was “Kamala Harris is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues than helping the middle class.”
In the three months that Kamala Harris had to pull together her presidential campaign, I don’t ever remember her focusing heavily on transgender issues. The only politicians I see continually bringing up transgender issues, particularly in relation to women’s sports, is Republicans.
I expect we are going to see even more of this in the next four years. Discussing transgender participation in sports has proven to be an effective scaremongering tactic that Republicans can leverage against the general public and it’s only going to continue, especially if conservatives feel any type of threat coming from the left. As recently as Nov. 3, Trump promised to keep “men out of women’s sports.”
I am reluctant to spend time in my newsletter discussing transgender issues in women’s sports because I don’t want to give any more oxygen to the subject. Yes, I think it’s something we need to be cognizant of and to start thinking about in women’s sports, but it also shouldn’t be our main talking point. We have much larger issues in women’s sports, and in the wider world, that need to be tackled first.
I play a lot of sports. I watch a lot of sports. I have yet to come face to face with any of the trans issues that Republicans scream about. From where I am sitting, it’s not a big deal and if it becomes a big deal then I trust sports organizations to adapt.
I believe in trans rights, but I also believe in fairness in sports. There’s no doubt that men have an advantage over women in sports and that’s something that needs to be taken into consideration when it comes to the inclusion of trans athletes. But it’s a nuanced and complex issue that is going to need to be tackled on a sport by sport basis. I believe that athletes, researchers, and professionals who have been involved in those sports for years should be having those conversations with the trans community when the time comes. I, however, don’t believe politicians who wouldn’t have been caught dead at women’s sports events a few years ago should now be given a microphone on this subject.
Whenever someone tries to discuss topic of trans issues in sports with me I ask the following questions:
When have you been impacted by a trans athlete or individual in your life or in your sport? If you have real-life experience of the issue then I want to hear about it and the challenges you’ve faced. If you haven’t and can only parrot stories from the media, which may not even be factually accurate, then I don’t want to know.
How long have you been in sports? How frequently are you showing up and supporting women’s sports? If you aren’t actually involved with women’s sports and just want to jump on the bandwagon then sorry it’s not a perspective I will be taking onboard.
These two questions are often revealing and will demonstrate whether the person wants to have a conversation in good faith and has a desire to see the fairest outcome in sports rather than for purposes of fear mongering and propaganda. Sticking to those two questions has served me well so far and I suspect I will be using them more amid Trump’s presidency.
The other area I suspect we will see a major impact in women’s sports is Trump’s geopolitical influence and whether he will allow the Middle East to make further inroads into western sports leagues and events. This was highlighted by PGA Tour golfer Rory McIlroy who said he believed Trump might be able to “clear the way” for the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger (LIV Golf is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.) The merger had been facing scrutiny from the US Department of Justice. Trump’s passion for golf and ties to Saudi Arabia could make way for both this deal and the merger between the LPGA and LET, which Golf Saudi reportedly blocked.
The hesitance about Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries becoming heavily involved in western sports leagues comes from concerns about sportswashing, which is the use of large sporting events to improve a country’s reputation. Saudi Arabia has a horrendous track record with human rights, particularly surrounding its treatment of women.
We’ve seen two women’s sports events take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in recent weeks — the WTA Finals and the Aramco Team Series — and both were poorly attended. Arguments from participating athletes say that it’s good for women in Saudi Arabia to see independent women participating in sports, but that’s not such a great argument when so few women are actually in attendance.
As a staunch believer in democracy, it’s scary to see America choose to elect Donald Trump again, especially after witnessing what happened on January 6. It’s a decision that could move the country toward a governance model that is closer to Saudi Arabia than that of a democracy. And it is a particularly scary time to be a women in America. I hope that over the next four years, women’s sports will become a place of solace and of community rather than division.
The best of the rest
Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang’s investment firm Kynisca led a $2 million seed round in IDA Sports, a brand focused exclusively on designing high performance footwear for female athletes.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes wants to continue his investment in women’s sports with the potential launch of a WNBA expansion team in Kansas City. Mahomes’ wife Brittany is a founding owner of the NWSL team Kansas City Current and then Patrick followed suit joining the ownership group in 2023.
Actress and The View host Whoopi Goldberg is launching a 24/7 women’s sports network. It remains unclear how the network intends to compete against cable and streaming titans for sport viewership rights.
Nearly 60% of last season’s WNBA’s head coaches lost their jobs during the offseason. While the statistic is striking, The Athletic reports that this isn’t an anomaly within the modern sports landscape and demonstrates the league’s growing maturity.
The new 3x3 basketball league Unrivaled is still pushing for WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark to join its roster in the offseason. The league has been able to expand to 36 players due to “outperforming” their financial projections. Front Office Sports reports that the league is preparing a “Lionel Messi–like” deal to bring Clark on board.
UK broadcaster Sky Sports has inked a five-year deal with the Women’s Super League to show nearly 90% of the league’s games. The BBC also renewed its deal with the WSL, however, it will show one fewer game than at present. The Guardian reports that the Sky Sports deal is worth around $83 million.
Across the pond, the NWSL hit a new attendance record with 2 million fans heading to league games. The San Diego Wave FC secured the highest NWSL average home attendance. NWSL fans are also consistently showed up to watch the sport on the TV network Ion, which boasted about its successful first season broadcasting the NWSL.
Image source: 首相官邸ホームページ, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
