160/90’s Leigh Rich and Pam Rappaport give an inside look on the 2022 espnW Summit

Leigh Rich and Pam Rappaport here to tell you about our day at the 2022 espnW Summit. We were able to attend this inspiring event and wanted to share some insights, thoughts and highlights from the day!

Key Takeaways from the event

  • Grow Women’s Sports with:
    • Audience/Viewership Growth
    • Sponsorships/Investments
    • Women in Leadership
  • Sports are sports…not Men’s sports with Women playing them
  • Support Female athletes by:
    • Educating all youth
    • Attend games
    • Watch games on TV or other media
    • Follow social channels
  • Favorite quotes:
    • “Women don’t just need a seat at the table, they need a voice in every room” – Allison Glock (ESPN)
    • “Attach yourself to your purpose, not your position.” – LaChina Robinson (ESPN)

Julie Foudy & Lynn Olszowy interviewing Olympic Champion Eileen Gu

  • We all cheered for freestyle skier Elieen Gu during Beijing 2022, but at the summit she spoke about how she pulled off her gold medal winning double cork 1620, never having landed or even trying the trick prior to that day. She did not decide until the moment she started her run that she would attempt the trick, telling herself that the worst failure is not to try. She did try and she ended up winning Gold, becoming the youngest Gold medalist in freestyle skiing at an Olympic Games. Huge takeaway for us, sometimes you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone!

Fifty/50 Documentaries to Watch

  • “37 Words”
    • Tells the inspiring story of Title IX – the hard-fought battle to push for equal rights in education and athletics; the decades-spanning effort to nullify its impact; and the rippling impacts of the landmark civil rights law that continue to resonate today.
  • “Let Noor Run”
    • Ohio student-athlete Noor Abukaram championed Senate Bill 181, signed into Ohio state law by Gov. DeWine, after her own experience of being disqualified from her high school track meet because of her hijab.
  • 30 for 30: “Dream On”
    • A three-part documentary telling the story of how the dominating run to a gold medal by the 1996 United States women’s Olympic team cemented the birth of the WNBA, and inspired generations of stars to follow.

Women’s Sports in the Media

  • Media coverage for women’s sports has always been challenging, but recently there have been amazing strides forward. A few stats we wanted to share:
    • The NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship was moved to an earlier time slot to accommodate ABC’s new Saturday afternoon NHL package. . .then it outdrew the NFHL package in both ratings and viewership (NCAA Gymnastics: 92,000 viewers vs NHL: 786,000 viewers)
    • During Tokyo 2020, Women’s sports on The Olympic Channel outperformed men’s sports in viewership
    • The 2021 Women’s College World Series on ESPN averaged 1.2M viewers, the Men’s World Series averaged $775,000.
  • “Solve the problem of Women’s sports investments and exposure with data to support the mission and backing from decision makers.” – Nicole LaVoi (Director at Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women Sport, University of Minnesota)

50th Anniversary of Title 9

  • On June 23rd of this year it will be the 50th anniversary of Title 9 (prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex). The theme throughout much of the day was around how far we have come in women’s sports, but also what more still needs to happen. We felt inspired for 160/90 to help continue moving things forward for women’s sports and are working alongside our ERG Women of Endeavor to help pull together programming and initiatives. Stay tuned for more!