Not everyone is “giddy with excitement” about the LFL

posted by One Sport Voice
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 3:42am EDT

Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi: This blog reflects my critical eye and voice on all things sport. I am a critical thinker, scholar, and researcher in girls & women in sport, youth sport, and coach & sport parent education.

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So tryouts for the Minnesota LFL team were this weekend. Potential LFL’ers (i.e. Valkyrie) were instructed: “DRESS ATTIRE IS CUTE GYM WEAR (SPORTS BRA & SHORTS)…PLEASE BRING A PHOTO TO LEAVE BEHIND.” Huh?

Some of our local MN news stations chose to cover it, despite the fact they rarely cover women’s sport.

To see the founder of the LFL (I think it is Mortaza but they never give him a title bar) talk about how “giddy with excitement” he is about the LFL in MSP, watch video of tryout footage and his interview click here.

In the video he says, “Heck we have fans who have never cared about football before coming to these football games…it is the ultimate night out.” He basically says on camera that it isn’t really about sport, not even about the football. What is an “ultimate night out” for many (not all) men? Strip clubs, alcohol, sex, and hanging out with other guys watching sports? While I am not even close to being giddy about the LFL coming to MSP, I have to hand it to them…they do seem to have hit upon a successful mix of marketing entertainment (i.e. sex, not sport) to their target market.

stay tuned….

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There are 2 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

thruthetrees says:

Hi, I can understand how you feel about the LFL's marketing tactic.
It really is dumb to position themselves that way, IMO.

I am a big fan of our team here in Tampa- here's why: It IS about football!!! Yes they are cute, yes they dress skimpy (what are those tassels?) BUT they play ball! I am not talking about powderpuff ball - I am talking running hard-hitting plays, playing through injuries (including turf rash due to the skimpy outfits), and dedicating an entire year of training for very little money.

I can't tell you how many extremely skeptical men and women that I have brought to the games- within 5 to 10 minutes of play they have become rabid fans. All I am saying is don't judge the league by that interview and the fact that the girls have to be cute. If you remember, the real life league that "A League of Their Own" was based upon had the same odd requirements and look how hard those girls played.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 9:13am EDT

MarQFPR says:

Just to let you know, Kelly Kobold, one of the top MMA fighters around, was at those tryouts. Not to say she isn't beautiful, but as an athlete she is strong and tough as nails. If they drop the lingerie on field and keep it to off the field, it would be a better fit overall.

Personally I'm not into the league because the sexiness makes me feel the players are more models playing football than football players that happen to be models. There are some great female football players out there that don't look like they could be on a runway which don't get the opportunity to be on national tv. Damn shame.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 1:43pm EDT

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Not everyone is “giddy with excitement” about the LFL

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