Underwire Umpire

In a recent interview with Dan Patrick, Hope Solo addressed how much sex sells sports and what her role was in the marketing of her sexuality.

When I read about the interview (i.e. before I listened to it for myself), my initial reaction was to be offended that Patrick ‘took it there.’ Here is a successful goalie for the U.S. Women’s National Team and he’s got to waste time talking about what photo shoot she may or may not be doing? Not cool.

Then I actually heard it, and ended up being more offended by Solo’s quasi-denial (then semi-backtrack) of it than of the question itself. When asked, she basically said that before the tournament, all marketing was based on the team and their skills, rather than how sexy the girls were.

Solo goes on to say that after the tournament, it is their “duty” to capitalize on any opportunity that will “bring attention to the sport.” I take issue with this, because I’m sorry, but no one who doesn’t already care about sports is going to watch you on Dancing With the Stars and then suddenly: A) give a crap about what you do on a soccer field, or B) go out and learn anything at all about women’s soccer. It’s just true.

No one who doesn’t already care about soccer is going to check you out nude in the body issue of ESPN The Magazine and suddenly realize they forgot to program their TiVo for your next soccer game.

It doesn’t bring attention to the sport, it brings attention to you. Don’t try to justify it with altruism. Just admit it…It’s sexier.

Solo did make some good points, though. She said people don’t watch the games because they’re cute on the field. I agree wholeheartedly. But I also argue that, really, not too many people are watching, relative to men’s sports, during any given performance.

The fact is, there is simply less money in women’s sports than there is in men’s athletics. It’s also a fact that in women’s sports, there is usually more money to be made in the long-term commercial advertising deals than any prize, purse or athletic contract to be had. Hope Solo will probably profit more from the exposure through Dancing than she ever has through her soccer skills.

Earning those deals is more often than not determined by the athlete’s marketability, and for women, that means, basically, how hot is she? I’m not arguing that she’s a bad person for doing it, I just wish she were a little more straightforward about it.

For me, it boils down to this: these women have spent their whole lives working their way up to the pinnacle of their craft, and we wouldn’t be even discussing how hot or not they are if they hadn’t.

That being said, I don’t blame anyone for making the most of what they have and turning that into dollars. Way to go ladies, you earned your places at the top… Go ahead and make some money while you’re there. It certainly doesn’t last long – does it, Jennie Finch and Amanda Beard?

I guess the larger question is whether it matters. Does it hurt the image of the female athlete on a whole?

I say no, it really doesn’t.

First of all, we seem to make a much bigger deal about when women athletes exploit their sexuality. Male athletes are not shy about selling sex in magazine ads and commercials all the time. Hello Tom Brady and David Beckham…

Second, for most women, college is the end of the road for athletics in the first place. If people like Anna Kournikova, Danica Patrick, Natalie Gulbis and Hope Solo are what it takes to create a post-collegiate market that allows young women to at least hope they might see a financial reward at the end of all the time and dedication they have put into their skill, then so be it. I think in terms of keeping girls interested in sports, the more high-profile women athletes we have out there, the better.

Really, while we all fantasize about how great it would be to be a professional athlete, in the end, to this handful of people who are lucky enough for that to be the case, it is also a job, and they deserve to make all of what the market says they are worth, even if some of that is based on aesthetics. They have earned it. Remember, they didn’t get those gorgeous bodies sitting around and reading blogs all day.