Media Articles:

Sparks stress crowd diversity

In a controversial move, the team partners with Girl Bar, a popular lesbian club, to promote games.

By MARCIA C. SMITH
The Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES The L word.

Lesbian.

In the sports universe - like society as a whole - many don't want to see it, read it, talk about it or even think it. It's an evocative word, sparking passionate reaction, especially when the conversation is about women and sports.

This preseason, in the boldest marketing move of the team's five-year history, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks are recognizing lesbians as a valuable group in its fledgling fan base by partnering with Girl Bar, a popular Los Angeles lesbian club with 12,000 members, to promote games.

"Lesbians like sports, lesbians have money, lesbians watch sports - heck, they watch Xena, too," said Barbara Muirhead of Team Orange, the county's gay and lesbian sports alliance.

"This sounds smart, but not everybody's ready to come out or talk about it even in 2001."

Talking about lesbians got the Sparks attention, controversy, air time on talk radio and ink from The New York Times to this edition of the Register - which is just what the franchise sought to boost attendance at Staples Center.

And tonight, when the Sparks (5-0) play the Orlando Miracle at 7:30, Girl Bar will bring more than 300 fans to Staples Center to kick off Los Angeles' Gay Pride Week.

"It makes good business sense to embrace diversity today. ..." said Becky Heidesch, CEO of Women'SportsServices, a Huntington Beach sports marketing firm. "The real challenge is to embrace all markets with dignity and respect without alienating another market in the process.

"Any time you step out of the box to reach a controversial market, you run the risk of losing another market. Will the lesbian market fill seats while it possibly alienates young families?"

The Sparks' move is not about sex, morality or the freedom for women to hold hands, kiss or call each other life partners. Instead, this move, Sparks general manager Penny Toler said, is about money, the business of women's professional basketball and putting new fans, more fans in the seats.

The WNBA, whose in-arena audience is about 70 percent female, leaves marketing plans to each club. No lesbian attendance figures are available, though some industry analysts have estimated that 40 percent of the spectators who attend games are lesbian.

"It doesn't matter what age, gender, race or orientation, we want fans," said Toler, who contacted Girl Bar in March. "We've always looked for ways to expand our fan base. This is nothing new."

Last season, the WNBA Seattle Storm offered discount tickets to gay and lesbian groups for its June 30 "Gay Pride Night," and since January, the Miami Sol players have made team-sanctioned appearances at two Broward County lesbian bars.

"Lesbians have always been a target group," said Kim Stone, The Sol's Senior Director of Operations. "It's smart business that's working for us."

On May 4, all the Sparks - except for Lisa Leslie, who had a previous engagement - made a team appearance with Girl Bar members at The Factory, an elegant West Hollywood dance club.

The trance music throbbed and strobe lights flashed while more than 500 women danced and for one night, got to shake hands and take pictures with sports celebrities.

"I think our going to the Girl Bar was a positive thing, but it probably came off as negative in some people's eyes," said Sparks forward Rhonda Mapp. "It rattled people. You need something like that in order to get attention.

"It was a great idea ... and we've got to realize that a lot of our fans are lesbians. They support us."

Girl Bar, which is also promoting the July 3 home game vs. Utah and the July 21 home game vs. Seattle, brought more than 300 people to its premier level seats at the Sparks' June 5 home opener, a victory over the Cleveland Rockers.

The fans in the Girl Bar section clapped and cheered just like all the mothers who brought young daughters and the local youth coaches who brought players that night to the crowd of 11,500.

"Will this promotion work? Who knows?" said Girl Bar owner Sandy Sachs. "It's more of a risk for the Sparks than for us."

Among those feeling the risk was Rachel, who didn't want to give her last name. She bought her discounted ticket through the Girl Bar Web site (girlbar.com).

She is a former college athlete and a fan of women's sports, of women looking strong and women looking beautiful.

She is also a lesbian, who is private yet appreciative of anywhere she can be herself.

"Sparks games are one place I can sit back and feel like I'm not part of a minority," Rachel said. "For three hours, I don't have to worry about hiding who I am. Outside of here, there's homophobia."

After the game, Rachel returned to her Fullerton home and the next morning, to her Orange County job, where her sexuality is securely locked behind a closet door.

"If we're really an open society and are going to deal with America as a diverse community, then that means not keeping a lid on gays and lesbians when it comes to sports enterprise," said Richard E. Lapchick, executive director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

"The fact that the Sparks have done this shouldn't be courageous in 2001, but it is."