Athletes, sponsors, fans and the media all stepped up this summer to make the
most of the US Women’s National Soccer Team’s showing in France, to drive home some
important social messages around equal rights and fair play. This sent a shot
across the bow of the business of sport that, let’s face it, has generally been
reluctant to seriously embrace the move to purpose that is underway across
society.
First up, the players — with Megan Rapinoe, pink hair and all, leading a
unified group of women’s soccer players leveraging the FIFA Women’s World Cup as
a platform to drill home their point that female players are not being treated
fairly by the US Soccer Federation (USSF); and that they deserve to be
paid the same as their male colleagues. The team filed a gender discrimination
lawsuit against the Federation earlier in the year and used every opportunity
during the tournament to make their voices heard.
As has become the norm in US culture today, not everyone was supportive of
Rapinoe and the team’s activist-type activity — several media commentators sided
with the Federation, and labelled Rapinoe and the team as unpatriotic and not
the kind of role models we want for our children. One media platform went as far
as to headline a story, “We all wanted to love the USWNT but the team, led by
foul-mouthed Megan Rapinoe, disgraced society.”
Despite the detractors, there were and continue to be a significant number of
supporters for Rapinoe and her teammates — the least of which are a vocal and
growing group of fans, who took it upon themselves to amplify the team’s message
with lively chants of “Equal
Pay”
from the stands during World Cup Games. This continued back home after the
tournament, with fans keeping the chant going from the Canyon of Heroes
Parade to the sold-out stadiums, where the team played on its victory tour.
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The fans took their show of support a step further by coming out in huge numbers
to purchase the official replica USWNT home team
jersey;
and in the process, established a new record for the number of soccer jerseys,
men’s or women’s, ever sold on the Nike website in one season. And it wasn’t
just women buying the jersey — record numbers of men did so, too; in a show of
male solidarity with the women’s team and, by extension, their cause.
And then the sponsors, with P&G’s Secret deodorant brand — also an
official sponsor of the USNWT — coming out in support of the team’s fight for
equal pay by gifting $529,000 to the players to help close the gap between what
them and their male counterparts.
Secret took things a step further, by taking out a full-page ad in The New York
Times urging the US Soccer Federation to "be on the right side of history and
take this moment of celebration to propel women's sports forward.” The brand
went on to urge the USSF to be a beacon of strength and end gender pay
inequality, once and for all. Given how reluctant sponsors have traditionally
been to challenge their rights-holding partners, Secret’s actions are profound
and reflect a growing recognition amongst brands that the fans expect them to
stand for something more than just profits — even if that means putting
otherwise-lucrative relationships at risk.
The media, too, embraced everything that Rapinoe and Co threw at them; and in
the process, helped to amplify their message to a deafening crescendo.
Appearances at the ESPYs and on major morning and late-night television shows
proved to be a perfect platform to further amplify the team’s message.
The whole issue around how much the USWNT team members are paid and how they are
treated is a complicated affair, but that doesn’t matter. The USSF’s attempts to
defend themselves have fallen on deaf ears, with the court of popular opinion
definitely painting them as the bad guys in this story. One can only conclude
that they must be living in a success bubble of their own making, or that they
just don’t care — or if they had been more in touch with what’s happening around
them in society, they would have seen all this coming and reacted more
proactively. But they didn’t; and instead, they have been forced to play defense
and catch up. It’s such a wasted opportunity for them, for they could have been
the heroes in this saga.
And it hasn’t ended with football. Emboldened by the success of the USWNT, other
women athletes are starting to come forward and use the power of their platforms
to make themselves heard on important social and environmental issues.
Six-time Olympic Gold Medalist Allyson Felix is one such athlete, who quite
openly credited the USWNT for giving her the confidence to speak up about what
is important. In her case, the issue is the right for women athletes to take
time away from their sport for reasonable maternity leave, and not be punished
financially for doing so by sponsors. While Nike quickly announced — in response
to Felix’s open op-ed in the New York Times on the subject — that it
was changing its policy on pregnancy in sponsorship contracts with female
athletes, Felix declined not to renew a multi-year partnership with Nike and
instead
signed
with Athleta — the Gap’s B Corp-certified, ethical women's athletic wear
brand.
In another example of sponsor activism, Athleta took full advantage of the
opportunity to sign Felix as a way to loudly signal its commitment to
championing women and girls. It was also interesting to see Athleta state that
it sees its partnership with Felix as a way of changing the way that sponsor
contracts are structured with women athletes across the board; in other words,
to leverage the opportunity change a system that treats women unfairly.
The message in all of this for executives running the business of sport is
clear: The athletes, the sponsors and the fans are getting on with it, with or
without you. They expect you to stand for something more than just profits and
will make sure you know about it if you don’t. This is not philanthropy or CSR —
this is about embracing purpose at the center of your organizational DNA and
giving this purpose authentic expression through every aspect of your business.
The exciting aspect to all of this is that those organizations that do embrace a
higher purpose in a real and authentic way outperform those that
don’t.
The athletes, the sponsors and the fans — particularly the younger ones that are
hard to reach and keep — will reward those that do with their support.
This is an excerpt from the soon-to-be-published book, Legacy $port – how to win at the business of sport in the age of
social good. Written by Neill Duffy and Fabien Paget, Legacy $port is an
important book for sports executives looking to stay at the top of their game in
a world where the fans increasingly expect more from sport that just sport. You
can pre-order the book at Publishizer.com.
Get the latest insights, trends, and innovations to help position yourself at the forefront of sustainable business leadership—delivered straight to your inbox.
Neill Duffy is CEO and founder of 17 Sport, the world’s first sports-impact company operating at the intersection of sport, business and purpose.
Published Aug 13, 2019 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST