America is to some extent a sports or in a more vague term competition driven society. Last year eight of the top 10 most watched single broadcasts according to Neilsen were sporting events. Yes it was football, both pro and college. The point is we like our sports and or shows that have some level of competition. This article is not about women’s sports being on TV, although that is an area we could improve, it is about the need for a successful female professional organization. The most successful to date has probably been the WNBA, and we use the term successful very loosely here. It has struggled with attendance, viewership and fan support. Most pundits and experts would agree that there are three things that make a sport successful: a balance of consumer, media and commercial appeal. The National Pro Fastpitch League (NPF) may be in a position to be the first truly successful women’s professional sports league, but the support of the fans needs to grow.
Professional Women’s Fastpitch first got going all the way back in 1997 by Jane Cowles. To learn more about the history of professional women’s fastpitch go to the NPF Here. Here we are in 2016 and the league consists of six teams: Akron Racers, Chicago Bandits, Dallas Charge, Pennsylvania Rebellion, Scrap Yard Dogs and USSSA Pride. League play begins in early June and ends in mid August, followed by the NPF Championship Series. Some of the best players from the college ranks are showcased in the NPF. The 2015 season was a success with attendance up, TV coverage and viewership on the rise and expansion into a major metropolitan market, Houston. Now the NPF is looking for that balance of consumer, media and commercial appeal. So where do they stand in meeting those three areas?
Where is the NPF at with consumer appeal? We have stated in previous articles that the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) is now more popular on ESPN then it’s male counter part, the Men’s College World Series. That is exciting news and shows that the fan base for women’s fastpitch softball is growing. With that said it is so important that the NPF capitalize on the success of the college game. It is also important that fans show support since we make up one third of the formula to make a sport successful. A while ago we had done an interview with NPF Commissioner Cheri Kempf and we asked Kempf what fan’s could do to support the NPF. Kempf responded “Fans can impact the league positively by having a presence on things that don’t require you to be in the playing venue. Following the league and teams on social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram will help increase follower numbers and make a positive impact on corporate America, who are always looking for how a product “reaches” the consumer. Watching the live streams or listening to the radio streams is also a way to show your support. When we are selling NPF to corporate partners, one of their biggest concerns is how many “impressions” we make and that is gauged on the aforementioned. Television will be a big part of the future professional softball so fans that follow the games on CBS Sports Network this season and let that also be widely known, can have a big impact too. No one should feel like they are insignificant in our quest to secure this sport at the professional level. Everyone can help. I encourage people to get involved and talk about pro softball and the NPF.” Kempf lays out a great road map how fans on a national level can help grow the league and even do their part in luring major sponsors and increased media coverage. Finding the balance with consumer should not be an issue, but fans need to take notice and engage.
The NPF has a relationship with CBS Sports Network who will be airing games again in 2016 culminating with the NPF Championship August 19-23. This will be the third year and the broadcasts have been great. We the fans need to tune in though, worse case do what we do and record the games to be watched when you have the time. On the media front, the NPF is headed in the right direction, as stated earlier viewership is up so the balance needed is there. One area we would like to see growth is more internal coverage. What does that mean? The entire off-season should be dedicated to growing the brand and creating brand awareness. The league is doing some of this and does, for the most part, a nice job of leveraging social media. We would like to see more “get to know them” player profiles, coaches profiles, and seasonal recaps. Selling the dream is something that can bring in the younger players and fans. How many boys grow up dreaming of playing in the majors? They do a great job of “selling the dream”. But all in all the NPF is headed in the right direction when it comes the media.
Finally we look at commercial appeal. This is the one part of this triangle that needs some work. Well, we can not say for certain that its a lack of “appeal” but there is a lack of non-sport related sponsorship in the NPF. We could sit and guess at the reasons, but we are not privy to what efforts are being made etc… But one thing we do know is that our support as fans can definitely help the NPF attract more major sponsors. If it has not been made clear yet, this is a circle of life and at the core is the fan support. If major sponsors see the fan interest and following grow, they know they have a market they can reach. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSA) 364,103 young women played high school softball in the 2014-15 season. Now imagine what that number looks like if we add youth and college players and their parents and fans. Would it exceed a million? Our guess is yes, yet the NPF Facebook fan page has only 98,523 likes and on twitter they sit with 38,000 followers. These are not terrible numbers but it could and should be much larger to show our support. As a product, and yes we may be a bit biased, the NPF is just as, if not more, appealing than the WNBA. At the very least it is on par from an overall product standpoint. The WNBA has 810,000 likes on Facebook and 504,000 Twitter followers. Let’s say we can estimate the potential fan base at one million (we are not being scientific, just a very rough estimate). Looking at Facebook roughly 9% of the possible fans are engaged with the league and with Twitter roughly 3.8%. We as fans can help bolster those numbers, which is something Kempf touched on with her comments above.
In the end, we the fans, can have a direct impact on the future of the NPF. How many things can you say that about in today’s crazy world? This is not intended to be a promotion of the NPF or some kind of advertisement. It is meant to be a call to all softball fans that we have a chance to help the NPF become the first successful women’s professional sports organization. The growth is there, the interest is growing and now is the time to be proactive.
