Paying the way: the ticket to gender equality in sports

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  August, 2004  by Michelle R. Hebl,  Traci A. Giuliano,  Eden B. King,  Jennifer L. Knight,  Jenessa R. Shapiro,  Jeanine L. Skorinko,  Anjali Wig

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Because the current studies focused on collegiate basketball, which is commonly perceived as a gender-neutral sport, caution must be taken in generalizing the results to sports that are traditionally masculine (e.g., hockey) or traditionally feminine (e.g., gymnastics). As such, future researchers should determine whether the ticket pricing discrepancy is stronger within typically "masculine" sports and, conversely, whether this inequity is attenuated or even reversed within sports typically perceived as "feminine." An additional limitation of our studies is that we used only cognitive and affective measures without including behavioral measures. Therefore, it is not known whether relative differences in ticket prices would translate into behavior changes, such as actual decisions to purchase individual or season tickets. Future research is needed to test this possibility.

Despite these limitations the current studies offer several practical implications for administrators of collegiate sporting programs. For example, extant literature posits that the adjustment of internal reference prices will occur after the repeated presentation of the new price, which suggests that, in response to repeated exposure to lower ticket prices for women's games, consumers will establish an internal reference for women's games as lower in value. In order to change the internal reference prices that are associated with women's sports teams, our results imply that the cost of tickets to women's games relative to men's should be increased. An increase in relative price and, in turn, an increase in relative value could attract more fans and foster more support for the teams. However, we must also caution that the results of the current studies do not adequately address the potential effects of raising the price of women's sports. Although the value of women's teams may increase as a result of changing the ticket prices, it is possible that some fans will be discouraged by raised prices. Future researchers should consider the effects of changing ticket prices on the valuation and attendance of men's and women's sports events. Given recent debate over the persistence of gender inequality in athletics and the greater social context, it is essential to investigate issues of equity and modern prejudice in college sports.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank Jessica Foster, Laura Mannix, Al Swinkels, Isabel Valdez, Sandra Lozano, Sarah Bracken, Neel Singhal, Steve Neuberg, and Brooke Wheeler for their invaluable help with this project.

REFERENCES

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Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 267-297). New York: Academic Press.

Becker, M. A., & Suls, J. (1983). Take me out to the ballgame: The effects of objective, social, and temporal performance information on attendance at major league baseball games. Journal of Sport Psychology, 5, 302-313.