Two Cohasset women are introducing a brand new website tailored for the female sports fan. ?She?s Game Sports? is a media company that produces sports content by women, for women. Or, as founder Alice Cook calls it, ?Sister to sister sports.?
Cook started her company after covering sports as a reporter for over 25 years in a male-dominated field. Cook, who is also an Olympic figure skater (she competed as a pairs skater at the 1976 Olympics in Austria), entered the sports broadcasting world in the early ?80s, and was one of few women covering sports at the time.
Hardcore female fans were also few and far between.
?The female fan just wasn?t there yet,? said Cook. In the ?90s, she started noticing more female fans in the stands wearing pink hats with their team?s logo. But over the years, the pink paraphernalia and oversized boyfriend?s jerseys started giving way to sport?s gear cut to fit women, in the team?s colors.
When Cook started seeing more sports clothing lines made just for women, she knew the tide was changing, and it was a good time to get involved.
?I thought, someday, this would be a dream to create a product for women,? said Cook. Her idea, at first, was to produce a women?s half-hour talk show centered around football, since so many of her friends and fellow moms in the area are diehard Patriots fans.
?Mothers living in the suburbs, some working outside the home while some don?t, we all have one thing in common? we all want to watch the Patriots,? Cook explained. ?It?s the common thread holding families together. With all these different activities and the busy work lives we have, it?s the only time in a week we all sit down together for two and a half hours to watch a game. There?s a great family and social aspect.?
Cook was introduced to another Cohasseter with a broadcasting background, Lydia Everett, who quickly told Cook that she thought the idea was much bigger than a half-hour local talk show: ?This is a huge media product across all platforms.?
?I knew the economics of putting together a half-hour show and was concerned about the cost and advertising opportunities as far as local programming,? said Everett. ?I kept researching what was out there in the world of female sports media? There was nothing.?
Both Cook and Everett saw a gap in sports coverage that catered to the female point of view. As they both explain, women approach sports differently than men, and require different types of coverage. While men might want to see stats, women are often interested in the stories behind the games, teams and players; or, as the women of She?s Game Sports explain, the heart of the story.
For many women, especially in the sports-crazed New England area, major league teams and games are part of their daily conversation, whether they?re ?at their kids? soccer games talking about the Patriots or at hockey games talking about the Bruins.?
So who is the ?She?s Game Sports? girl ? the diehard fan who bleeds Patriots/Red Sox red and blue, or the casual observer who cheers for her kids on the sidelines?
The answer is, a little bit of both ? or all of the above. The goal of She?s Game Sports is to offer sports content to women at all level of fandom, whether they want to read a player profile story, find deals on women?s sports apparel, or just check the score.
??We want it to be the one-stop shop, the go-to place for sports entertainment and knowledge, deals and connection,? explained Everett.
The website features everything from thought-provoking articles, discussions, fashion-oriented blog posts (?Game Day Outfit? options!) and videos to entertainment and gossip.
?Some women want the latest on Tom Brady,? said Everett. ?We know women are into the sexiness of the players. We?re definitely making it fun and entertaining? Women approach sports through a lifestyle lens.?
She?s Game Sports is unveiling a brand-new website in February, launched by the Boston-based Cramer Communications. Cook also has a She?s Game Sports blog on the Boston Globe?s website (Boston.com) and is eyeing a national broadcasting opportunity with Litton Entertainment.
In the meantime, they also plan to roll out a mobile version of the website so readers can get on-the-go content on their tablets and smartphones.
But producing all of this content takes a lot of work, including fundraising. This is why She?s Game Sports has a crowd-funding project on IndieGoGo.com. So far, the company has raised just over $11,000 out of its $30,000 fundraising goal; the fundraiser ends on Jan. 20. The money will help the company build an audience and get its name out while also raising money to pay for the website, its producer and sports photographs.
She?s Game Sports also has profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
For more information on She?s Game Sports, visit http://shesgamesports.com, and check out the fundraiser at http://www.indiegogo.com/ShesGameSports.?
Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/cohasset/news/x65629081/Female-sports-fans-are-game
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