Women Tackling the NFL
September 4, 2008
By Christianna McCausland
Photography By Shawn Hubbard
High-ranking women within the Ravens organization include (left to right): Gabrielle Dow, vice president of marketing; Theresa Abato, director of corporate sales and suites management; Pam Lund, office manager and executive assistant to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti; and Michelle Andreas, director of new media.
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YahooMyWebLast October, thousands of fans lined up outside M&T Bank Stadium in the purple jerseys of their favorite Ravens players waiting to get inside for “A Purple Evening.” Attendees participated in football clinics on the field, toured the locker rooms and got the autographs of players like tight end Todd Heap and quarterback Kyle Boller. These fans weren’t swilling beer and chowing down on hot dogs; they sipped purple passion martinis and enjoyed grilled chicken paninis while listening in to a coach’s tutorial on special teams. On this night, the fans were all women.
“My husband doesn’t even watch football,” says Karen Kirkwood, 43, who attended last season’s event with a group of friends from Pasadena. “I love the game – the contact, the sound of the helmets crashing. And it brings the family together because our sons all played.”
Women are fast becoming football’s biggest devotees, as evidenced by events like “A Purple Evening,” where the Ravens court their burgeoning female fan base.
“The NFL has said their biggest growth market right now is women fans,” says Betsy Ross, president of Game Day Communications, a sports public relations and events company. Ross was one of the first women to break into national sports news and is a play-by-play announcer for ESPN.
“You could see that, for example, last year when Reebok came out with a line of women’s clothing related to specific teams and football. … It’s a growing, growing fan base and the NFL is taking advantage of it, which is a good move on their part,” Ross adds.
It is no wonder football is waking up and taking notice of its women fans. Research shows that the majority of women who watch football have a household income above $50,000. They own nice homes, often have children and control a good portion of disposable family income.
“You can’t ignore their buying power,” says Gabrielle Dow, vice president of marketing at the Ravens. “We came to the realization that they’re a great resource with a passion for our brand.”
Women come to the game for a variety of reasons. Many women say that by learning about the game it improves family time with husbands and sons who already love the sport. Some women were born and raised in football families and are diehard fans. Others get into the sport to meet men.
“There is an ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ mentality to it,” says Lauren Hopple, 30, an event planner who attended A Purple Evening. “It consumes most guys for six months of the year if they’re into it.”
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