Attend games, buy merch, and embrace “playing like a girl.”
Women’s sports are growing—but they still receive far less investment and attention than men’s sports.
Even as we have moved on from the overtly sexist media portrayals of past decades, coverage of women’s sports lags behind men’s sports not just in volume, but also in enthusiasm and excitement.
The good news is that fans can help change that. Here’s how you can support women’s sports in Pennsylvania by attending games, spending money, and working to help build a stronger culture around women’s athletics.
Get to know women’s sports in Pennsylvania
The first step to supporting women’s sports is to understand the broad landscape of leagues and levels across the commonwealth. In addition to emerging professional teams, there are also college programs featuring elite athletes and youth programs developing young players.
At the college level, Pennsylvania is home to dozens of NCAA teams competing across different divisions—these programs often have the highest level of visibility for women’s sports in the state and draw regional crowds and media coverage to games, especially playoff and championship games. The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt Panthers) and Pennsylvania State University (Penn State Nittany Lions) have two of the best volleyball programs in the country, and they both also have strong women’s lacrosse, basketball, and soccer teams.
Still, women’s teams at the college level receive less support and coverage—and far fewer resources—than their male counterparts. Women’s teams rely much more on community support and grassroots promotion.
Beyond college athletics, Pennsylvania has a growing presence in women’s professional sports as well as pre-professional and amateur sports. The women’s pre-professional USL W League has several soccer teams in Pennsylvania, including the Pittsburgh Riveters, Steel City FC, Erie Sports Center FC, Lancaster Inferno, and Eagle FC Women out of Mechanicsburg.
Other women’s sports that are popular throughout the state include roller derby and hockey—though there is likely a women’s team for any sport you can name. How about women’s tackle football? Look up Women’s Football Alliance professional team, the Pittsburgh Passion (the first women’s football team to have games broadcast on ESPN), or Division III team, the Harrisburg Havoc.
And though they may play at a lower level, youth and travel programs are essential for young female athletes, because they help continue girls’ interest in and access to sports as they grow up—as many girls stop playing sports as they enter their teens. For instance, central Pennsylvania is a powerhouse for field hockey, with many girls going on to play for competitive college teams, such as at the University of Pennsylvania. The WC Eagles Field Hockey Club is one such field hockey training ground in central Pennsylvania.
Finally, basketball fans should get excited: In 2030, Philadelphia will be the home of a new WNBA team!
Attend games
The most impactful way to support women’s sports in Pennsylvania is to get out there and see games in person! Yes, ticket revenue supports the teams, but physical attendance is even more important than your purchase, because crowd turnout influences the success of the team.
Potential sponsors and media outlets look at game attendance before choosing to invest resources in a team—and a packed arena or stadium signals the team is worth watching and supporting. Not to mention, of course, that crowd support helps athletes rally and play better.
Make a plan to attend a women’s game this summer—and bring your friends or family.
Support female athletes online
Beyond supporting women’s teams in person, you can promote these athletes online. Follow women’s teams on social media and share their posts and stories. Support news outlets that produce quality coverage of women’s sports and share their work with your network.
Even though this support may come from the comfort of your home, it can lead to more success for women’s sports. Digital engagement spurs the algorithm to keep showing women’s sports content to others—helping to build athlete visibility, which can translate into very real sponsorships, partnerships, and media opportunities.
Stream games
If you can’t attend a game in person, you can still stream it. Supporting streaming means supporting making women’s sports more accessible, outside of the limitations of geography. Plus, just as physical attendance matters for teams, viewership data also drives decisions of higher-ups when deciding the teams to feature—and how many of their games are aired. Even having a game on in the background helps!
Help promote women’s sports in your community
You can attend and watch games on your own—but you can also help promote a culture of women’s sports in your community. For example, you might ask a local bar to show a specific women’s game on the TV, which might motivate the bar to show more women’s games in the future—and also shares women’s sports with the rest of the bar’s customers.
You can also support bars and restaurants that are already invested in women’s games—especially sports bars that are explicitly dedicated to women’s sports, such as Marsha’s on South Street in Philadelphia, which opened last year. In Pittsburgh, Two Frays Brewing frequently shows women’s sports games, especially women’s hockey, while Watch Party PHL regularly hosts women’s sports watch parties in Philadelphia.
Buy merch
Buying T-shirts, hats, and other merchandise provides revenue directly to women’s sports teams. In return, you get some cool accessories, and you promote the team when you wear your merch in public. I mean, check out this incredible Pittsburgh Riveters bandana.
You can also sometimes spend your money in unique ways to support women’s sports—like by picking up Sterling Pig Brewery’s Philly is a Women’s Sports Town Pilsner, a collaboration with women’s sports advocacy group Philly Sisters and soon-to-open women’s sports bar and hub the Stoop Pigeon (a project of Watch Party PHL).
Get involved with youth sports
One of the best ways to promote a culture of women’s sports in the long run is by supporting young female athletes. That could mean donating money to organizations that help girls enter sports, but it could also mean volunteering with organizations dedicated to young female athletes, such as Girls on the Run, which promotes empowerment through running, or your local YMCA, which offers community sports programs for kids of any gender.
Supporting young women in sports is supporting the future of women’s sports!
