1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're manifesting 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:07,600 Speaker 1: a long sunny fall this year, first Indian summer, long 3 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 1: Indian summer, but then real actual fall, several months of it. 4 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:13,399 Speaker 2: Please. 5 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: It's Monday, September eighth, and on today show, we'll be 6 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,080 Speaker 1: talking to Resa Eard, the director of Research at Parody, 7 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: about the biggest takeaways from two new reports on women's sports, 8 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,479 Speaker 1: plus the history of racism and WNBA media coverage, and 9 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 1: why women's sports fans are the most valuable fans. 10 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 2: And we're not just saying that the research proves it. 11 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,239 Speaker 1: That conversation with Resa is coming up right after this, 12 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 1: joining us now. 13 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 2: She was recently hired. 14 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: As the director of research at Parody, a company that 15 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: helps connect athletes in women's sports with businesses interested in 16 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:47,840 Speaker 1: sponsoring them. 17 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 2: Before that, she spent a whole lot of time. 18 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: In classrooms, including two years as a professor of sport 19 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: management at Yukon. While an undergrad at Duke, she created 20 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: her own major social change at the intersection of culture, 21 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:00,959 Speaker 1: gender and sport. And then we got her PhD from 22 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: the University of Massachusetts with their dissertation that actually sounds interesting. 23 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: Women's professional sport and stigma. Her hobbies include surfing and 24 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,760 Speaker 1: making educational children's worksheets about Title nine, it's Resa Iard. 25 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: I'm not surprised you when producer Alex our friends if 26 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 1: your hobbies include making worksheets. 27 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 3: It was such a great day. It was such a 28 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 3: great day. 29 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: As I mentioned in your intro these days, you're the 30 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,320 Speaker 1: director of research at Parody, but you've been in the 31 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:28,479 Speaker 1: women's sports space for a long time, even though I'm 32 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: guessing no one else was making Title nine worksheets for 33 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 1: you growing up. Now you have filled that hole amongst others. 34 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: Can you tell us about how you first got interested 35 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 1: in researching women's sports? 36 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you know. 37 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 4: I got interested in researching really just because for a 38 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 4: long time I was a fan, and so for me, 39 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 4: I think it actually all goes back to nineteen ninety seven. 40 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 4: I was a really impressionable young girl growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, 41 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 4: surrounded by the energy that launched the w like the 42 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 4: most successful women's sport league that we've had in US history, 43 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 4: and so I saw really early up close in personal 44 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 4: like how powerful women athletes were and what they meant 45 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 4: to me as a girl athlete. But I also saw 46 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 4: the disparities at a really young age, and so from 47 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 4: that moment on, I was really just committed to doing 48 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 4: whatever I could, wherever I was, with whatever I had. 49 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 4: And you know, I was never someone who like dreamed 50 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 4: of being a pro athlete. I think I was a 51 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 4: largely above average but basically mediocre athlete, and I loved sports, 52 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 4: but in the classroom I had good grades, and so 53 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 4: it was really just you know, what are the skills 54 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 4: or the talents or the areas that I can excel 55 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 4: in that I'm passionate about where I can hopefully help 56 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 4: make a difference for women's sports. And so that led 57 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 4: me down a lot of rabbit holes, you know, early 58 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,079 Speaker 4: jobs with the Mercury, reading the collective bargaining agreement in 59 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 4: the eighth grade at bedtime, just like you know, being 60 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 4: really nerdy really early and soaking it all up so 61 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 4: that hopefully I was prepared for a moment like this. 62 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: Oh my god, I love that we need people like you, 63 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: because that's not my wheelhouse, digging through cbas and understanding 64 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: the nitty gritty of contracts. But okay, so you're rising 65 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: up the academia, and I imagine if you're a smart, 66 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: accomplished person. There plenty of folks trying to pull you 67 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: in different directions or suggest areas of focus. Did you 68 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,639 Speaker 1: ever have any trouble convincing people that women's sports were 69 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: worth researching and worth your time? 70 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 4: Honestly, I feel like probably pretty lucky to say no. 71 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,519 Speaker 4: I think the folks I surrounded myself with like saw 72 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:22,679 Speaker 4: that this was something I was really passionate about, and 73 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 4: we're just like, we're going to get out of her 74 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 4: way whether we get it or not. 75 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 3: Like she's she's doing something, she's going somewhere. 76 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 4: I actually remember years ago I was talking with an 77 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,360 Speaker 4: undergrad mentor and I wasn't sure yet about getting my PhD. 78 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 4: And you know, I was like, I don't know about 79 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 4: this whole thing, and he was like, look, you're actually 80 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 4: going to study something that really matters, Like you're not 81 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 4: going to just be another He was a historian, so 82 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 4: he was kind of, you know, self deprecating. He was like, 83 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 4: you're not just going to go be another historian of 84 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:50,839 Speaker 4: like you know these ten years. And don't get me wrong, 85 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 4: I love history. My undergrad honor thesis was on the 86 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 4: history of Title nine, so like here for all of 87 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 4: the history of women's sports. But I think people saw 88 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 4: that this moment was going to come, and I think 89 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 4: they just saw how much I lit up when I 90 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 4: was doing this work. 91 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 3: And you know, if all else sales like go do 92 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:07,080 Speaker 3: what makes you light up? 93 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 2: Yeah? I love that and it's so true. 94 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: Especially even just five six, seven years ago, there was 95 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: such a dearth of both coverage and research and interest 96 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: in this space that has since blown up, and so 97 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,159 Speaker 1: I imagine it was difficult in some cases to find 98 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: the information you were pursuing or to get access to things, 99 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: if not that many people were asking for it. So 100 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: part of what you're doing now is creating the kinds 101 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: of studies that everyone can look at and pull from, 102 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: especially when they're trying to make pitches or arguments as 103 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: to why investing in women's sports is smart. So this 104 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,160 Speaker 1: new role director of research for Parity. For folks who 105 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: aren't familiar, can you give us kind of an overview 106 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: of what Paroity is and the work that the company does. 107 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 3: Absolutely? 108 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 2: So. 109 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 4: Parody was founded in twenty twenty and our mission is 110 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 4: to close the gender, income and opportunity gap in professional sports. 111 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,919 Speaker 4: So everybody who's listening here today knows pretty obviously that 112 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 4: women athletes make up just a fraction of global sponsorships 113 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 4: and media coverage, and they're often excluded from the most 114 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:07,039 Speaker 4: meaningful brand deals, and so Parody works directly with athletes 115 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,239 Speaker 4: and brands to address this inequity by connecting our roster, 116 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 4: our community of more than eleven hundred athletes over three 117 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 4: hundred lilympians across eighty five plus different sports, with purpose 118 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 4: driven brands that really want to tap into the women's 119 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,160 Speaker 4: sports audience, that want to put their money where their 120 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 4: mouth is. And in doing that, we're really focused on 121 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 4: the financial empowerment and visibility for women athletes across our research, 122 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 4: our partnerships, the campaigns we work with them, all of that. 123 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: So you represent the athletes, but you're also contributing to 124 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,840 Speaker 1: the space by creating information and data that allows not 125 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 1: just the connections with your athletes and brands, but just 126 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: the overall space to be better informed. 127 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 2: Yeah. 128 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean, I think we do our job best 129 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,679 Speaker 4: if the research that we're doing contributes to the broader ecosystem. Certainly, 130 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 4: right with our partners, we can run some proprietary analyzes. 131 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 4: We can make sure that you know the latest and 132 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 4: greatest is going towards them and directing their strategy and 133 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,720 Speaker 4: their partnership deals. But above all else, we believe that 134 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,479 Speaker 4: a rising tide lifts all boats. So we absolutely want 135 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 4: our research out there as far and wide as it 136 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 4: can be to support every single person, brand, leader, athlete 137 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,679 Speaker 4: in the women's sports ecosystem to do what they're doing 138 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 4: as well as they can do it so that women 139 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 4: athletes make as much money as they can. 140 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 1: Director of research sounds pretty fancy schmancy, So what exactly 141 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: do you do and did that exist before you were hired? 142 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 4: So Parody did have a person that was leading some 143 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 4: research for them before I joined this role. They did 144 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 4: a lot of things, and so I am the first 145 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:33,280 Speaker 4: person at Parody to kind of be focused on research 146 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 4: twenty four to seven. And so my job is really 147 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 4: to think about what's our strategy and research, what are 148 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 4: the studies we want to run, and then go do 149 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 4: those studies right? So, what's our data, what's our analysis, 150 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 4: what's the story we're telling? 151 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 3: How are we putting it out there? 152 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 4: I have an amazing team of colleagues who are so 153 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 4: good at all of what they do too, to help 154 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 4: inform the research and make sure it's serving our clients 155 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,160 Speaker 4: and then you know, using that data, like I said, 156 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 4: both externally so that everybody in the women's sports ecosystem 157 00:06:57,880 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 4: can be as smart as we can be, and then 158 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 4: using really also to drive extra value to our brand clients. 159 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 2: There was just a new report that was released. This 160 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 2: was pretty fascinating. 161 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: It was about fan behavior and beliefs in the women's 162 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: soccer space. This is your baby, if you will so 163 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: tell us some of the big takeaways from this particular report. 164 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 4: Absolutely, you know, I think everyone who's listening here, we've 165 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,120 Speaker 4: all seen the data that the women's soccer audience is 166 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 4: super engaged, loyal, passionate. I mean, I think probably everyone 167 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 4: listening to this is that right, Like my guess is 168 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 4: a huge number of you know, your listener, Sarah, have 169 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 4: been the folks that are actually spending against brands, Like 170 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 4: I can't count the number of brands I have bought 171 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 4: from because they sponsor women's sports. 172 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 3: And so we know that's happening across the board. 173 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 4: What's really interesting about the women's soccer audience is like 174 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 4: they're over indexing even above and beyond like your baseline 175 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 4: women's sport consumer who was already so loyal so passionate, 176 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,559 Speaker 4: so engaged. We've kind of been joking like the women's 177 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 4: sports fans might just be the most valuable audience in 178 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 4: sports because they're not just watching, they're acting, and they're 179 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 4: doing so at a rate even greater and higher and 180 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 4: faster than other women's sports fans, which we just think 181 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 4: is an awesome. 182 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 3: Story to tell. 183 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 4: It's not actually a story we set out to tell, 184 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 4: but it was just in the data and it was 185 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 4: kind of screaming at us, and we really wanted to 186 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 4: name it and give women's soccer fans their flowers and 187 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 4: let brands know this is a great place to spend 188 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 4: your money. 189 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 2: Yeah. 190 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a prime example of someone who has 191 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: been intentional about using products and buying products that I've 192 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: seen step up when leagues needed it, step up and 193 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: support the players that I care about. Dumb it down 194 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: for folks who are not in this space, who maybe 195 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: don't understand how the research is conducted and what you're 196 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:38,839 Speaker 1: looking for, and then we'll come back to some of 197 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: the details you just spelled out. 198 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 4: Absolutely, So, I think every great research project just starts 199 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 4: with a question when I talk about it, you know, 200 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,079 Speaker 4: in my undergrads it's like, what are you noticing or 201 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 4: what are you curious about? 202 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:50,079 Speaker 3: What do you want to know more about? 203 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 4: Like it's just a question, and then you think about, Okay, 204 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 4: if this is my question, what do I need to 205 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 4: do to find the answer to that? What data can 206 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 4: I collect? What data's already out there? Need to collect 207 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 4: new data? Who do I need to hear from to 208 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,079 Speaker 4: be able to understand that? And so at parody for 209 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,559 Speaker 4: our last several reports we've partnered with survey Monkey. They've 210 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 4: been fantastic for us in helping us survey a really 211 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 4: strong gen pop audience so that we're not just hearing 212 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:17,560 Speaker 4: from women's sports fans. We're not just hearing from you know, 213 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 4: listeners of Good Game with Sarah Spain. We're actually hearing 214 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 4: from anybody who's ever taken a survey on survey Monkey, 215 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 4: which is, you know, like more than two million people 216 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 4: that they have serviced, and. 217 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 3: So we're hearing from those folks. 218 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,320 Speaker 4: We're asking them questions about what sports are they watching, 219 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 4: and how do they think about athletes, and what about 220 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 4: these different brands and brand categories? And then that all 221 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,199 Speaker 4: comes back in a spreadsheet and I spend a lot 222 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 4: of time writing fancy formulas or just doing some other 223 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,560 Speaker 4: kind of analyzes with those numbers to arrive at some 224 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,320 Speaker 4: answers as to what are we seeing here, how are 225 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:52,280 Speaker 4: fans engaging, what are they telling us about themselves? 226 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:55,959 Speaker 1: Yeah, and certainly what we understand about the relationship between 227 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: sports fans and brands and sponsors is that the goal 228 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: is to first get eyeballs on your name, your company, 229 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: be familiar, maybe recognize it on a shelf, and you 230 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: choose it because you remember hearing about it. But there's 231 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: a difference in the way that might operate for fans of, 232 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:12,840 Speaker 1: say men's sport. I always make the example of if 233 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: a beer sponsors the NFL, I'm not like, oh my gosh, wow, 234 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: oh my gosh, that's so good of them to make 235 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: sure the NFL is going to succeed. I'm going to 236 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: go out and buy that beer. They're going to get 237 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: millions of eyeballs. But maybe fans don't see them in 238 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,319 Speaker 1: a different light because they are supporting the NFL. 239 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 2: That's not the case for women's sports. 240 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: People do change their opinions about brands, often as a 241 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: result of their decision to get into the women's sports space. 242 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 1: So you mentioned that women's sports fans potentially are the 243 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 1: most valuable because one of the findings of the report 244 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: is not just now we've heard of your brand, or 245 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:46,839 Speaker 1: now we know what your brand does, but we actually 246 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:49,680 Speaker 1: actively change our buying behaviors as a result of you 247 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,440 Speaker 1: showing up. So more than one in four women's soccer 248 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 1: fans have made a purchase because of a brand sponsorship, 249 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: making them fifty eight percent more likely to do so 250 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:01,719 Speaker 1: than other women's sports. So this isn't just women's sports fans, 251 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,960 Speaker 1: which we know over index compared to everyone else, but 252 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,199 Speaker 1: soccer fans specifically. What do you think it is about 253 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: the soccer world? Disposable income? Is that part of it? 254 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 2: Is that what we learned? 255 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 3: You know, it's a great question. I really think it's 256 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 3: a few things about women's soccer. 257 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:17,559 Speaker 4: I think first and foremost we have to talk about 258 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 4: the supporter community in women's soccer and just the way 259 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,560 Speaker 4: that teams are already building really deep and meaningful and 260 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 4: authentic relationships with these fans, and so when brands enter 261 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 4: that space, fans are there for it. And so there's 262 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 4: a community around being a women's soccer fan that's different 263 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,679 Speaker 4: than what you might find in other women's sports. I 264 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 4: think that's a huge part of it. I also think 265 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:45,239 Speaker 4: women's soccer has had its moments of really deep important 266 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 4: reckoning of times that we all know the players were 267 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:50,560 Speaker 4: not treated with the respect that they deserve, and the 268 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 4: brands that stuck by those players, the brands that are 269 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 4: investing in that, I think there's a little bit of 270 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 4: extra gratitude and appreciation and recognition for stepping up for 271 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 4: these athletes who haven't always had people who had their backs, 272 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:06,560 Speaker 4: and so I think those combined really help women's soccer 273 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,880 Speaker 4: fans step up over and above how all other women's 274 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 4: sports fans are. 275 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the community aspect is really smart because 276 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:16,319 Speaker 1: one of the things that we hear about women's sports 277 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: fans is they sometimes feel isolated. They don't have as 278 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:22,319 Speaker 1: many people to talk about their favorite teams and players too, 279 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: and in the soccer world, there is a built in 280 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,440 Speaker 1: sort of place to join to create community around this 281 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 1: thing that you love and care about, and then in 282 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: that they can have discussions about supporting and working with 283 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: brands that seem to be doing right by the. 284 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 2: People that they care about. 285 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:39,000 Speaker 1: For this study specifically about women's soccer fans, are there 286 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:41,280 Speaker 1: any unanswered questions that you're hoping to do a future 287 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: reporter or understand better in the future. 288 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 3: That's a great question, you know. 289 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:46,840 Speaker 4: I think we just kind of want to track this, 290 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 4: Like I am excited to continue to see how this develops. 291 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:54,440 Speaker 4: I'm excited to see how brands activate off of this 292 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 4: and what great stories we can tell. And I also 293 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 4: think Parody's really well positioned, given our community of nearly 294 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 4: twelve hundred athletes, to really shine a light on the 295 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 4: athlete experience and what is it for them, And so 296 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 4: I'm excited for us to continue doing work not just 297 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 4: with fans and not just with brands, but also making 298 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:14,959 Speaker 4: sure that athlete voices are heard and elevated as part 299 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 4: of these conversations. Everything we do at Parody is about 300 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 4: women athletes and elevating them and their stories and closing 301 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 4: that gender and income opportunity gap. 302 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 3: So I'm excited for our research to do that too. 303 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:28,439 Speaker 1: We got to take a quick break more with Risa 304 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: right after this. Earlier in the summer, Parody released a 305 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 1: broader report. This was on marketing and fan purchasing behavior 306 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:44,880 Speaker 1: just in women's sports in general. So what conclusions can 307 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:46,320 Speaker 1: you share from that Broader Report. 308 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, So we spent a lot of time talking 309 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 4: about soccer across the board. Basketball leads the way in 310 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 4: terms of the number of fans across the US for 311 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 4: women's basketball, and so we think that's really exciting and 312 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:02,439 Speaker 4: a story worth elevating. And also we can't ignore all 313 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 4: of the new leagues that are emerging, you know, as 314 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,240 Speaker 4: part of this incredible movement, that are making a huge impression. 315 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,960 Speaker 4: And so we've seen a lot of traction actually with 316 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 4: the GSL, with the PWHL, right with Unrivaled, with a 317 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 4: lot of leagues that are emerging really kind of getting 318 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 4: off to a great start, and so that was a 319 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 4: really exciting part of that report as well. 320 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:24,720 Speaker 1: The GSL, the Gamebridge Super League. We've talked about that 321 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: a few times on the show, though not super in depth. 322 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:30,240 Speaker 1: That's sort of the league competing to be alongside the NWSL, 323 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: though most of the best players in the US are 324 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: still choosing the NWSL. You mentioned those emerging leagues. What 325 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: I think we're finding from some of them is incredible 326 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: dexterity as a result of being brand new and because 327 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: of their size, not being regulated quite the same way, 328 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: not having sort of like traditional history or connection to brands, 329 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:51,239 Speaker 1: and they're not connected to men's leagues that have relationships 330 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: that they're required to be beholden too, like we often 331 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 1: see with say the WNBA Unrivaled feels a little more 332 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: dexterous right now, although we'll see how that changes as 333 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: they continue to age and grow. When you look at 334 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: that larger study of women's sports, I think we hear 335 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: at the show and you've probably talked about them a 336 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 1: million times, But are there a couple quick takeaways that 337 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: maybe the average person doesn't realize when you talk about 338 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: how fans of women's sport above and beyond anyone else 339 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: might be the most valuable. 340 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,280 Speaker 4: Yeah, so trust in women athletes is at an all 341 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 4: time high. Year over year, we have seen the trust 342 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 4: in women athletes grow. We call this the believability boosts, 343 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 4: Like consumers believe women athletes believe in the products that 344 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:33,280 Speaker 4: you know they're endorsing. And this is actually, you know, 345 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 4: true even for people who tell us they never watch 346 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 4: women's sports. Fifty eight percent of people who never watch 347 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 4: women's sports actually tell us they still have pretty significant 348 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 4: trust in women athletes when it comes to kind of 349 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 4: the products they're promoting and the collaborations they're part of, 350 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 4: and I mean, I think that's a phenomenal statistic, Like 351 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 4: more than half of people who literally are never watching 352 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,239 Speaker 4: this actually care what these folks have to say as influencers, 353 00:15:56,280 --> 00:16:00,240 Speaker 4: as endorsers for products, and so I think that's really exciting, 354 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,080 Speaker 4: especially paired with all the research we know about how 355 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 4: sponsorship drives purchase intention and the fact that like fans 356 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 4: just want more, they want more brands in this space. 357 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 4: I don't know a lot of places that consumers are 358 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:15,360 Speaker 4: saying please, I'd like more advertising, like please feed me more, 359 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 4: But in women's sports were like, please, I would like 360 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 4: you right to feed me some advertising. And so I 361 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 4: think it's a great opportunity for brands to do that, 362 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 4: and to do that in partnership with women athletes, because 363 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:28,479 Speaker 4: we know that those athletes first strategies really resonate most. 364 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, there's been a lot of research into that that 365 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 1: just putting a female athlete in the campaign changes how 366 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: much people click on it, watch it, and then buya 367 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: as a results of it. 368 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 2: I think women athletes areu on this. 369 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: Really cool sweet spot where I think a lot of 370 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: us are kind of tired of quote unquote just influencers. 371 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 1: It started out with, Oh, we believe you because you're 372 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: the average person, and now we're like, we don't believe 373 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:51,280 Speaker 1: you because you're the average person who will just get 374 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 1: paid to tell us that you like literally anything that 375 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: anyone will pay you to tell us about, you probably 376 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: haven't even tried it, and also probably just photoshop is 377 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: why you like look better in the APA photo. 378 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 2: Whereas women athletes. 379 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,399 Speaker 1: Are more relatable than men's in that they're not millionaire 380 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 1: billionaires who are probably just driving cars we can't afford 381 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: and wearing watches we can't afford, they're more likely to 382 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:17,000 Speaker 1: be closer to our economic kind of status, but they're cooler, 383 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:22,680 Speaker 1: more talented, more visible, more fit. Like they they're aspirational, 384 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:24,479 Speaker 1: but in a way that we feel like we can 385 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:26,639 Speaker 1: still touch, and so then we believe them and we 386 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: want to be like them in a way that I 387 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,120 Speaker 1: think it's very hard for male athletes to pull off, 388 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,560 Speaker 1: because we're just like cool, Lebron, you love sketchers. I 389 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: know he's not a sketchers but like anytime many athletes 390 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:37,400 Speaker 1: like sketchers, that's the only thing I wear. I'm like, sure, 391 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 1: no offense sketchers come support the show. 392 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:42,719 Speaker 2: We're always looking for sponsors. All right. Back to you. 393 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: A few years back, you were you're actually pursuing your PhD. 394 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,840 Speaker 1: You published a study looking at race in WNBA media. 395 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 1: Your finding's got a lot of buzz, including pagebackers giving 396 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 1: you a shout out on stage at the SP's that 397 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:56,199 Speaker 1: famous speech that we all remember where we were like, 398 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,159 Speaker 1: holy how house page backers already this evolved at that age. 399 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 2: But talk about that research for folks who aren't familiar 400 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 2: with it. 401 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: Can you give us a little overview of what you 402 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:06,160 Speaker 1: and your co author found and why it stood out 403 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: to so many folks, including page. 404 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:11,119 Speaker 4: Absolutely, and that was pretty exciting. My phone was blowing up. 405 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 4: People were like, did you see pages speech? And I 406 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 4: was like, I have no idea what you're talking about. 407 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,119 Speaker 4: I wasn't in a time zone that was very friendly 408 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 4: for watching the SP's at that time. 409 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 3: And then I went and I was like, wait, wait, wait, 410 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,160 Speaker 3: I know that data. That's really cool. 411 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,359 Speaker 4: So yeah, absolutely, we were in a study based on 412 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,919 Speaker 4: the twenty twenty WNBA season affectionately known the Leubble season 413 00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 4: less affectionately right this summer that our country was embroiled 414 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:37,399 Speaker 4: in a really important racial reckoning following George Floyd's murder, 415 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 4: following you know, Breonna Taylor's murder, and media companies and 416 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,919 Speaker 4: brands and leagues and you know, basically everybody at the 417 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,200 Speaker 4: time was saying black lives matters and say her name. 418 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 4: And actually the WNBA court and worn up shirts reflected 419 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:56,760 Speaker 4: this sentiment, given players vocal advocacy around it, and so 420 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:01,000 Speaker 4: that was really exciting. And also black wa players, who 421 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:04,040 Speaker 4: that season made up approximately eighty percent of the league. 422 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 4: They also won eighty percent of the postseason awards. They 423 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,440 Speaker 4: were MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, 424 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,840 Speaker 4: Most Improved Player, and six women. They weren't getting credit 425 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 4: in the media so overwhelmingly. We ran a study where 426 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:18,920 Speaker 4: we just actually counted the number of times that players 427 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:22,160 Speaker 4: got mentioned in the media across a six month period 428 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 4: from shortly before the season was supposed to kick off 429 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:27,880 Speaker 4: until a bit after the season ended. We looked at 430 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 4: it across the entire league, We looked at it across 431 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 4: that like I said, those six months, and across three 432 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 4: different media partners, two of whom were actually official partners 433 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 4: media partners. 434 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 3: Of the WNBA that season. 435 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 4: And what we found, even when you control for on 436 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 4: court production like points and rebounds, is that white athletes 437 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 4: got significantly more coverage than their black counterparts, their black teammates, right, 438 00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:50,640 Speaker 4: the people who are literally playing these games with them 439 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 4: making up the majority of the league. And you know, 440 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 4: there's some other nuances there about what we found too, 441 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 4: when you think about not just a player's race, but 442 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 4: also how they expressed themselves. Right, who's a little bit 443 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 4: more masculine, who's a little bit more feminine. And I 444 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 4: just also want to connect this to how important this 445 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:09,720 Speaker 4: is when it comes to pay equity, because media coverage 446 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 4: is just free advertising, like. 447 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 3: That's all it is. 448 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:15,560 Speaker 4: And so when you have this kind of disparity in 449 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,719 Speaker 4: media coverage, you're going to see that kind of disparity 450 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 4: in the kinds of endorsement deals and contracts that players 451 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 4: can command. And so we kind of felt like it 452 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 4: wasn't surprising that at the time Stewie was actually the 453 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,199 Speaker 4: only w player in a decade to have a signature shoe. 454 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,760 Speaker 4: Nothing against Dewey, She's an amazing player, but that feels 455 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:34,720 Speaker 4: a little bit off in a league that has so 456 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 4: many amazing players, you know, eighty percent of whom are black, 457 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:41,159 Speaker 4: So big picture about the study and you know the 458 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:43,159 Speaker 4: findings and really the implications on it. 459 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:48,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember really soon after college because I wasn't 460 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: in the marketing advertising space learning about ad equivalency and 461 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 1: really understanding what it means to say, we would have 462 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: spent this much money for you to see this, and instead, 463 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: because media covered it for we got the equivalent of 464 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,399 Speaker 1: this many dollars. And that's such a great point to 465 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:06,919 Speaker 1: make because of course that's not the intention of media, 466 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:09,360 Speaker 1: but it's a result of it. And so when athletes 467 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 1: aren't covered and given publicity and talked about, and their 468 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: efforts and accolades and points and rebounds and all the 469 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,120 Speaker 1: things they are accomplishing aren't the stories aren't told, they 470 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:20,639 Speaker 1: end up not being just harmed in terms of people 471 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:22,880 Speaker 1: not knowing who they are, but the kind of sponsorships 472 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,639 Speaker 1: that they're offered, and even sometimes subconsciously, the way the 473 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,800 Speaker 1: refs call the game, the way teams think about signing 474 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 1: them as free agents, like, all of it becomes part 475 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,639 Speaker 1: of their story in a way that is unfairly weighted, 476 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: very heavily on how the media does their job, which 477 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 1: is why this show is so important to us and 478 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:41,400 Speaker 1: why I think things are changing. 479 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:41,639 Speaker 2: You know. 480 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:46,400 Speaker 1: Asia Wilson was the twenty twenty WA MVP. She received 481 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: half as much media coverage that season as Sabrini and Escu, 482 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:51,639 Speaker 1: who was the first pick in the draft, played in 483 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: just three games before she got a season ending injury. 484 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:57,400 Speaker 1: A lot of enthusiasm about Sabrina the triple doubles coming 485 00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: out of Oregon the end of her season prematurely there was, 486 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: of course, there's a lot of excitement about her arriving, 487 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,879 Speaker 1: but she got hurt, she didn't really play, she's white 488 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:06,879 Speaker 1: and ends up getting twice as much covered as the 489 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: person who was the MVP. That's a great example of 490 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: how you can build mythology around a player at the 491 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: expense of another player who is more deserving of creating 492 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,919 Speaker 1: those myths. Do you think things have changed since this 493 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 1: is a topic that has been covered and talked about since, 494 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 1: particularly in part because of your research. 495 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 4: Yeah, I will just I also always want to say too, right, 496 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 4: like the players aren't to blame for this. Nobody who's 497 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 4: a player did anything wrong to get media coverage right 498 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:34,920 Speaker 4: like this. What we were able to do and what 499 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 4: I think is so important about the research that we 500 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,160 Speaker 4: ran is like we can look across at the time, 501 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:41,120 Speaker 4: one hundred and forty four athletes, right, we can look 502 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:45,120 Speaker 4: across twelve teams, across six months, across three media partners, 503 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 4: and so you're really seeing like a system of patterns, 504 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:52,000 Speaker 4: not and you can see a great kind of point 505 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 4: examples on these one on ones that we've just talked about, 506 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 4: and those are true in the data. But this isn't 507 00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 4: always a one on one comparison, Like this is just 508 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 4: a pattern across the board, and I think that's so important. 509 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 4: And no, I don't think we've made a lot of 510 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 4: progress on this, you know. I laugh sometimes that like 511 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 4: maybe a little bit of hubris. In the title of 512 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 4: the op ed where we launched this was make this 513 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 4: the season we end discriminatory sports coverage. 514 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 3: That was May of twenty twenty one. 515 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 4: And I think people who have tuned into the W 516 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,399 Speaker 4: in the last few years knows that this issue hasn't 517 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 4: gone away. We're still seeing preferential treatment of several athletes. 518 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 4: We're seeing black athletes, you know, not always having their 519 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:35,280 Speaker 4: names pronounced correctly. Like we're just seeing these kinds of 520 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,679 Speaker 4: biases continue to be perpetuated. I do know from some 521 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 4: media executives who reached out to me afterwards that some 522 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 4: companies have actually taken steps to put different policies and 523 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 4: practices in place to like make some progress. And so yes, 524 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 4: I think in small ways we've made progress, and I 525 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,080 Speaker 4: think in big ways we've had in conversations. 526 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:54,680 Speaker 3: But on the whole, I think if. 527 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,080 Speaker 4: We ran this study again, I don't think we would 528 00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:00,440 Speaker 4: find very different outcomes. 529 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 1: Do you think that would be really statistically offset by 530 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,360 Speaker 1: Caitlin Clark in particular, though, because while I do believe 531 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,480 Speaker 1: there's no doubt that she has swallowed a giant percentage 532 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,239 Speaker 1: of coverage, particularly coverage in spaces that did nothing at 533 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,679 Speaker 1: all before and have stepped in to do a little bit, 534 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: And it's really just about her, because I think there 535 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: are some really great pieces of progress, Asia Wilson's signature shoe, 536 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: the incredible campaign around her from Nike, the statues. I 537 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 1: think that we've had a lot more moments now. Part 538 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 1: of it also might be that, you know, the last 539 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: year and a half, I've spent all of my time 540 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,679 Speaker 1: on women's sports instead of my previous jobs where I 541 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:43,439 Speaker 1: spent some on women's and some on men's, and I 542 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: wasn't as deeply invested. So I'm seeing more personally surely 543 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:49,400 Speaker 1: as a result of that, but it also feels like 544 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:51,959 Speaker 1: we're more aware of it and more thoughtful about it. 545 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 1: It's just that the Caitlin Clark of it all is 546 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 1: so giant that you'd almost have to take her out 547 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: just to see if everything else settled a little more 548 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:01,800 Speaker 1: evenly than it used to. 549 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:02,680 Speaker 2: Is that fair? 550 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 3: Yeah? I do think that's fair. 551 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 2: Let's talk about twenty twenty three. 552 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,439 Speaker 1: You publish some research about the sort of isofans in 553 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,679 Speaker 1: the WNBA. First of all, can you tell us what 554 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,159 Speaker 1: an isofan is and what your research found about it? 555 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:15,680 Speaker 2: And I have a feeling it relates to what we 556 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:16,400 Speaker 2: just discussed. 557 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 1: Yeah. 558 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:21,400 Speaker 4: Yeah, So ISO fans are fans who when you ask them, 559 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 4: who do you share your fandom with, they say nobody, 560 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,159 Speaker 4: Like I don't have anyone to talk about it with. 561 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:28,400 Speaker 4: I don't have anyone to watch games with. I don't 562 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,439 Speaker 4: have anybody to go to games with. I'm just a 563 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,119 Speaker 4: fan in my own bubble, and I don't know anyone 564 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 4: else to share this passion with. 565 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:38,280 Speaker 3: And so we did. 566 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 4: We ran a study with myself and some co authors, 567 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,280 Speaker 4: and we really just wanted to understand how WNBA fans 568 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 4: were connecting to one another, to teams, and then like what. 569 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,159 Speaker 3: That meant for their engagement. 570 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,560 Speaker 4: We were caught really by surprise when we got this data, 571 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 4: because even when you look at it in men's sports, 572 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:55,240 Speaker 4: the numbers are fairly low. 573 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 3: When you look at WNBA fans. 574 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 4: In this initial study, twenty eight percent of told us 575 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 4: that they were ISO fans, and that was four times 576 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:08,600 Speaker 4: as high as a comparable NBA sample and much much 577 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,639 Speaker 4: higher than really anything like you see in men's sports. 578 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 4: And so we actually kind of thought it was a fluke, 579 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,280 Speaker 4: such that we recollected data and ran it again. 580 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 3: And found the same thing. So it was not a fluke. 581 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 4: What is exciting is that when we recollected data just 582 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,600 Speaker 4: more recently in partnership with Wasserman and the Collective, we 583 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:33,359 Speaker 4: found that the number of isofans has declined, but we've 584 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,760 Speaker 4: also seen a greater emergence of we call them duo fans, 585 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 4: so people who say, like I had someone, I have 586 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 4: one person. 587 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 3: To share my fandom with, but I don't have a 588 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:43,639 Speaker 3: whole club. I don't have a whole crew. 589 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 4: I'm not like rolling deep to games or the sports 590 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,199 Speaker 4: bra or wherever I'm going to watch it. 591 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm actually not surprised by that. It's something that 592 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: I've noticed across the space for a long time, and 593 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:58,879 Speaker 1: I've encouraged things like companies to start doing company outings 594 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: to women sporting events because the natural cultural practice is 595 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,879 Speaker 1: let's go to a Cubs game. Oh, let's all go 596 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:09,920 Speaker 1: to a Bulls game. It's like a thing that's part 597 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:14,120 Speaker 1: of life. And that's from media coverage. That's from traffic, news, weather, 598 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: and sports and every day it's just the men's games. 599 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 2: And here's what's happening. 600 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,159 Speaker 1: It's from advertising, it's from marketing spend, it's from it 601 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 1: being a part of your life all the time, to 602 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:23,119 Speaker 1: the point where even if you don't care about it, 603 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,200 Speaker 1: you kind of know about it. And women's sports requires 604 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 1: going to find it, and so you can do that alone. 605 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: And you might do that alone if you don't know 606 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 1: that other people are also interested. But thankfully you mentioned 607 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 1: the sports bra. There are women's sports bars popping up 608 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,240 Speaker 1: all over the country. There's some companies and brands that 609 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 1: are starting to align around bringing people together to watch together. 610 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: There is an understanding from brands that women like to 611 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 1: watch in communal spaces. Even if that means something like 612 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:52,359 Speaker 1: a message board or a Twitch stream that's running alongside 613 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,320 Speaker 1: a life broadcast. So do you think that's going to 614 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 1: change just as a part of the larger storytelling that's 615 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 1: being done around women's sports welcoming more people under the ten? 616 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, I do. 617 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 4: I mean I think that's what the shift in the 618 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 4: data has shown us, right, is that we have fewer 619 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 4: ISO fans now. They are still far more prevalent in 620 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,639 Speaker 4: women's sport than they are in men's sport, but the 621 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,040 Speaker 4: number is shifting. I also think in the second data collection, 622 00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 4: we really wanted to better understand who isofans were, like, 623 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:21,960 Speaker 4: what is this experience because we didn't expect to find 624 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 4: them in the first studies, so we did an admittedly 625 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:26,800 Speaker 4: terrible job at learning anything more about them other than. 626 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 3: That they exist. 627 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 4: And so I think what's interesting is actually, like, there's 628 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 4: some folks who say that they want to be an 629 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 4: ISO fan, Like it's not a problem to solve. But 630 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:39,320 Speaker 4: what is interesting is even in that case isofans engage 631 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 4: much less they have They're like less strong in their 632 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 4: fan identity, they consume less, they spend less, And so 633 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 4: what that says to us is that even if someone 634 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 4: wants to be an isofan, and not all of them do. 635 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 4: Some of them said they wish they had more people 636 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 4: and that they would choose to join a group. But 637 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 4: in all cases isofans are just underserved, like they're not 638 00:28:57,680 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 4: being met where they're at, whether they want to stay 639 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,880 Speaker 4: an ice sofian or not. There's an opportunity here for 640 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,320 Speaker 4: us to invest in these fans who are showing up, 641 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 4: overcoming the barriers alone, to show up for women's sports 642 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:12,560 Speaker 4: and deserve to be seen in our spaces. 643 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,160 Speaker 1: Rees, is there anywhere people can read this research of 644 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 1: yours or find it publicly? 645 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:18,959 Speaker 3: It's a great question. A lot of it. 646 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 4: It's in some academic journals, some of it lives in 647 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 4: sports business journals, off eds. I'll definitely share links with 648 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 4: your team and you can put them in the show 649 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,680 Speaker 4: notes for folks. And then, of course, parody actually just 650 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 4: debuted a new research page. I'm super stoked about it. 651 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:39,120 Speaker 4: It's parody noow dot co slash Women's Sports dash research. 652 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 1: Okay, nobody wrote that down, So we'll put it in 653 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 1: our show notes and we will direct them to the 654 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: link there where they can find it. You know, I'm 655 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 1: so grateful you came on. I love talking about this 656 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,000 Speaker 1: stuff and I think it's so fascinating and interesting for 657 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: folks to know how much what they're doing is actually 658 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,360 Speaker 1: helping the leagues and the players that they like, but 659 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,640 Speaker 1: also for brands and sponsors that are listening. And to 660 00:29:57,680 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: the last point that you said, I want to give 661 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:01,880 Speaker 1: a shout out to super Slice Marcus Sisson, who has 662 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: written in asking for us to create a community around 663 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: this show, and so I want everybody listening to know 664 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:09,400 Speaker 1: that we're actually talking about it behind the scenes. 665 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 2: We are just not sure about where. 666 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:14,200 Speaker 1: And when we'll be able to bring everyone together, but 667 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: she suggested potentially a slack or a discord or somewhere, 668 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 1: and we do want to be able to bring all 669 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 1: of our slices together to talk about episodes of the show, 670 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 1: what they want to see more of, just get to 671 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:26,000 Speaker 1: know each other, because we do understand that women's sports 672 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: fans are looking for more community and for more folks 673 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 1: that are knowledgeable to talk about this stuff with, and 674 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 1: they're all gathering to listen to us, and now we 675 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:33,800 Speaker 1: just have to connect them to each other. 676 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 2: So we promise we're working on it. 677 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:37,520 Speaker 1: And this interview with Reesa is just going to push 678 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 1: our little butts along to get moving on it and 679 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: make it happen faster. 680 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 2: Thanks so much for the time. I appreciate it. 681 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:44,959 Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Sarah. I look forward to being at 682 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 3: your gatherings with your slices. 683 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 1: Thanks again to Resa for hanging out. We got to 684 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,320 Speaker 1: take another break when we come back. The email bystander 685 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: effect is real, y'all. 686 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 2: Welcome back, slices. 687 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 1: We love that you're listening, but we want you to 688 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 1: get in the game every day too, So here's our 689 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,200 Speaker 1: good game play of the day. Check out Reesa's research. 690 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,560 Speaker 1: We'll link to both of the reports Parody published this 691 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 1: summer in the show notes, along with a bunch of 692 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:16,960 Speaker 1: other op eds Resa has written over the years, including 693 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: the ones about isofans in the WNBA and the role 694 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: of race in media coverage. And you know we love 695 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: to hear from you. We'll be back next week with 696 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: our regular Monday through Friday schedule, so in the meantime, 697 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 1: send us a note with things you'd like to see 698 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,200 Speaker 1: us cover this fall. You know, we tell you every 699 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: single episode that we love to hear from you, and 700 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: some of you write us on the daily, but some 701 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:37,800 Speaker 1: of you are like, nah, I don't need to reach 702 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:39,720 Speaker 1: out with my thoughts and feelings. I'm sure other people 703 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 1: are doing it. Come on, we want to hear from you, 704 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 1: specifically you the person right now listening to this. That's 705 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: like I always have things to say, but I never 706 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 1: really actually send an email. 707 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:50,959 Speaker 2: Send that email. We want to get it. 708 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 1: Our email as always is good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, 709 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: or you can leave us a voicemail at eight seven 710 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:02,040 Speaker 1: two two oh four fifty seven, and don't forget to subscribe, 711 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:03,280 Speaker 1: rate and review. 712 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:04,920 Speaker 2: It's real easy slices. 713 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:08,560 Speaker 1: Watch a fresh batch of pens, rating ten out of 714 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: ten perfect lines drawn review. Even though I no longer 715 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,840 Speaker 1: have a reason to buy perfectly color coordinated school supplies 716 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: matching binder, notebook pen for each subject, obvi, I still 717 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,760 Speaker 1: find ways to celebrate back to school shopping, including a 718 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 1: gorgeous new pack of multi colored paper Mate flare felt 719 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: tip pens every fall. The best of all the pens, 720 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: in my opinion, writes like a marker, but sharper, bold 721 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,600 Speaker 1: and beautiful, but doesn't bleed through the page. Adds a 722 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,479 Speaker 1: bit of whimsy and delight to any written correspondence. Paper 723 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:43,680 Speaker 1: calendar entry or birthday card. Ah. I miss the joy 724 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,240 Speaker 1: of writing things on paper, but on the rare occasion 725 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:48,960 Speaker 1: that I still do, it's a paper mate moment for me. 726 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,720 Speaker 1: This was not an AD, but it should have been 727 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:57,240 Speaker 1: paper mate moment. Call me paper mate. Now it's your turn, 728 00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: rate and review. Thanks for listening. We'll see in a 729 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 1: couple day. Good Game, Resa, Good Game, ISO fans for 730 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:06,960 Speaker 1: staying committed even when you're watching alone. You super cute 731 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 1: daily planners taunting me from the shelves, tempting me into 732 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: buying you, even though I know I'll never ever use you, 733 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: because my phone is in my pocket all day and 734 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:17,960 Speaker 1: you're in some room I can't remember and not conveniently 735 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,160 Speaker 1: located when my schedule changes for the eleventeenth time in 736 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: one day. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart 737 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:29,320 Speaker 1: women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. 738 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:32,720 Speaker 1: You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 739 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, 740 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive 741 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. 742 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:48,480 Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rutter, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and 743 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:52,800 Speaker 1: Gianna Palmer. Our associate producer is Lucy Jones. Production assistance 744 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,800 Speaker 1: from Avery Loftist and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain