Less than 30 years ago, the future aspirations of women were limited to wife, mother, nurse, teacher or social worker. The thought of widespread public acceptance of girls and women as amateur and professional athletes was a young girl's unattainable dream at best and heresy at worst.
My -- have times changed! In 1970, only one of every 27 girls played high school varsity sports; compared to one in three today. More girls play soccer today than all the girls who played in all of youth sports in 1970. Today women outnumber men as active sports/fitness participants.
Better yet, corporate America is stepping up to the plate. Since 1991, women have out-purchased men in athletic shoes and apparel. Women participate in most purchasing decisions for men and families as well as their own and buy disproportionate to their participation in sport. Women golfers comprise only 20% of all golfers but buy 50% of all golf product with the exception of clubs. While the men's sporting goods market is becoming oversaturated and leveling off with regard to growth, the women's market is huge and virtually untapped.
So, the future for women's sports means more attention, more product and better sports products for women. Only during the last two decades have a few sporting goods manufacturers truly offered quality products designed for a women's foot or her anatomical structure. The female consumer has been ignored for so long that when a company does come out with a serious product and treats her like a serious athlete, she responds with both appreciation and loyalty. Major corporations have already changed their advertising from portraying women in stereotypical ways to recognizing women as serious athletes. And those corporations who were the first to commit themselves to women in fitness, like Reebok, have now expanded into high performance women's sports products.
The future looks equally promising on the spectator front. In big-time college sport and professional sports, families have been priced out of the picture and male athletes have often engaged in conduct unbecoming role models. This upward cost spiral coupled with the public perception of elite male athletes as spoiled, selfish and lawless has created a vacuum in its wake. Women's sports is already stepping into the vacuum, providing events that are attractive to families, men and women with more discriminating values and those who are ready to reassess their entertainment choices.
The public is demonstrating that women's sports is a new, different and appealing product. Men's basketball and women's basketball are different. The former is a contact sport and power game often played above the rim. The latter is more technically akin to baseball with regard to strategy and precision. These different games appeal to different spectators. And the spectators of women's sports are another lucrative and virtually untapped market. There are college women's programs averaging 6,000-8,000 spectators a game and women's sports at many universities are generating over $1,000,000 annually. The men and women attending women's sports are different than those attending men's sports events. This vast and untapped market will attract more and more sponsors.
These spectators are responding to a diversified value presentation that includes quality sports performance, exemplary graduation rates, high standards of ethical conduct and articulate young athletes who made contributions to their communities. These latter values are being used to market the women's sports product and are being extremely well received. Women's sports will deliver the promise of sportswomen as role models.
The parents of today are the first generation of mothers and fathers who expect that their daughters are guaranteed equal opportunity in everything from sport to business. These parents are supporting and encouraging their daughters sports and fitness participation. As older generations disappear, this grassroots support will only increase the number of women who become involved in sport at earlier and earlier ages.
Title IX, the federal law prohibiting discrimination in varsity interscholastic and intercollegiate athletics, will continue to produce generations of women who will pursue sport as well as fitness activities. The fitness movement for women will be propelled by two factors: (1) a concern for women's health and (2) recognition that learning the lessons of sport contribute to being competitive and successful in business.
We are in the middle of a dramatic lifestyle change. Girls and women have embraced sport. They will participate in the same numbers as men and, maybe more importantly, they will change sport to be more congruent with their values.