Johnson County natives Keagan Rothrock, left, and Lyla Blackwell have led Roncalli’s softball team to consecutive Class 4A state titles.
Daily Journal file photo
Across 20 home dates last season, Center Grove’s baseball team sold 4,618 tickets — a pretty impressive figure as spring high school spring sports go, but not surprising considering the Trojans were ranked among the top teams in the state all year.
Meanwhile, just across the street, the Center Grove softball team pulled in 1,103 fans over the course of 15 home games; that averages out to about 74 paying spectators per contest. Seems like a low number for a seven-time state champion, no?
But that’s where we are as a society. Men’s sports are generally far more watched and well-attended. Television ratings and attendance figures for the NBA, for example, dwarf those of the WNBA, and the gender gap is similarly noticeable at nearly every level across most sports.
It ain’t right — especially in a place like Johnson County, where we’ve been fortunate to have an abundance of successful female teams and athletes.
Last winter, Franklin’s girls basketball team steamrolled most of its opponents on the way to the Class 4A state championship game; total paid attendance over nine regular-season home games was 1,816, or approximately 202 per game. That number was the same as the lowest single-game figure for the Grizzly Cub boys, who averaged 420 tickets sold for their 10 home dates.
Whiteland athletic director Dave Edens has noticed the difference, and he’s trying to do something about it. In the Warriors’ monthly newsletter last month, Edens penned an open letter to the community entitled “We have to do better!” pointing out the discrepancies in overall attendance and asking folks to do their level best to even out the numbers.
Edens is quick to lay some of the blame at his own feet. As he notes, boys basketball games are usually scheduled in the prime slots on Friday and Saturday evenings, while the girls often get stuck playing on Tuesday nights or Saturday afternoons. Additionally, many of the events meant to bring more community members in are centered around boys games.
Such was the case last Friday night, when Whiteland honored its football team during halftime of the boys game against Franklin. The girls, meanwhile, hosted the Grizzly Cubs the following afternoon — and even with turnout for the girls game higher than usual because of the local rivalry, the receipts paint a damning picture. The boys game brought in an overall gate of $4,600, while the girls took in $1,600.
There are other factors to consider; the enthusiasm gap isn’t nearly as large in such sports as soccer, where a good chunk of the crowd is made up of the players’ families. Additionally, many schools offer all-sports passes that allow fans access across the board, so actual attendance figures might differ slightly from ticket sales.
But overall, the eye test tells roughly the same story as the box office does, especially in basketball.
In his letter, Edens noted that one of the reasons girls often give for choosing not to play sports is that they don’t feel as supported as the boys. We can and should do better on that front — especially since our local female athletes give us so many reasons to.
Indian Creek has a chance to win a Class 3A state championship in girls basketball this winter, and both Center Grove and Franklin are favored to win sectional titles in Class 4A (setting up a potential regional clash with one another). Johnson County’s girls should be just as well represented at the state swimming and diving meet, with the Trojans and Grizzly Cubs both well positioned to finish in the top 10. Come springtime, we’ll have a chance to watch the best high school softball player in the country (Whiteland native and Roncalli senior Keagan Rothrock), as well as some of the state’s best softball, track and tennis performers.
No matter the time of year, this county is blessed with high-level athletes, both male and female. We’re doing ourselves a major disservice by only showing up to watch half of them.
Ryan O’Leary is the sports editor for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
