Taylor Swift’s Super Bowl was just the beginning. The future of sport is female

It satisfies the innate need for competition and combativeness but in a safe space. It’s a substitute for violence and war but without all the killing. It’s the ultimate lads’ night in. Watching the game, having a Bud. But as with all unconscious bias, while it might have some historical truth, it’s not pure fact. It’s absolute nonsense, and we need to ‘Shake It Off’.

Let’s look at the recent Super Bowl LVIII, with its record average of 123.7m views. 58.8 million were women – a staggering 48% of the total and an increase of 9% from last year.

And these women aren’t just there in spirit. They are really engaging in it. Not just in the surrounding entertainment but in the game itself. And this may surprise them - they are engaging more than men according to the attention scale. When I brought this fact to light among some fellas, they just didn’t want to believe it. But it makes total sense to me. Sure, the game and its result are important to men, but so is drinking, shouting, sledging and posturing.

There are those that patronizingly dismiss this as the ‘Taylor Swift’ effect. And don’t get me wrong, the girl’s done good. But you can fuck off if you really think that women are only now getting into sport because TayTay bagged a tight end. This change in female fandom has been merrily happening without her for a good few years now. So it’s time we acknowledged and celebrated women in sport in their entirety.

It’s easy to lump together female fandom and female sport, but they are different. Perhaps they have fed each other to an extent. Certainly, women’s sports have been more welcoming, more inclusive, safer, warmer and more innovative than men’s sports.

It’s helped that media coverage is now more diverse - driving engagement on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok rather than newspaper back pages. Women’s sports are also more affordable to attend, and women do not have to break the bank to take a family of four or more.

Deloitte has predicted that women’s sport will continue its popularity surge, potentially earning $1.28bn in 2024, a 300% increase from 2022.

But it’s not necessarily helpful to perpetuate gender segregation in sports fandom. If we want the sport to continue to flourish, it needs to grow in all its forms. Women’s sports are as much for men and women to enjoy as men’s. And they can learn and benefit from each other.

What’s clear is that there needs to be a shift in mindset. Sport is no longer the exclusive preserve of men - so it’s perhaps worth evolving the tropes that celebrate masculinity, bro-ship and women-as-bit-parts; and embracing a more diverse but equally (arguably more) thrilling athleticism, competition, personality and dynamism.

Check out The Drum’s International Women’s Day coverage here.

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