Interrogating inequalities in Sports Media: Examining gender/race representation in ESPNU

ESPNU schedule for October 10, 2014:
3:00a - E:60
4:00a - E:60
5:00a - E:60
6:00a - ESPN Recruiting Nation
7:00a - College Football Weekend Kickoff
8:00a - ESPN Recruiting Nation
9:00a - College Football Weekend Kickoff
10:00a - The Herd
1:00p - CFB Daily - The Edge
2:00p - CFB Daily - The Edge
3:00p - College Basketball - Kentucky Men's Basketball Practice
5:00p - College Football Live
5:30p - First Take: College Football
6:00p - You Herd Me With Colin Cowherd
6:30p - High School Football - Pulaski County (Ky.) at Madison Southern (Ky.)
9:30p - College Football - San Diego State at New Mexico
12:30a - High School Football - Pulaski County (Ky.) at Madison Southern (Ky.)
 
While it does depend on the day, the particular 24 hour period that I focused on has a schedule filled with male sport, specifically college football. For almost 12 hours straight, with a slot allotted for "You Herd Me With Colin Cowherd" to cut in between, football is THE game to watch, and not one hour of Saturday on ESPNU is dedicated to any women's sport, not even recaps. While the games vary, the premise is the same. Although college sports are supposed to help further the American Dream and be a platform that shows people how anyone can come up in the world due to their sports skills, sports being played by men are the dominant TV platform, even in college level sports. This detracts from the attention of female athletes and sports labeled as "Female Sports" by the general population.
In the world of college sports, there is more opportunity for players to compete with people at an adequate or more advanced skill level than their own. This competition is what provides capitalism so much opportunity to thrive, and also thrives on the capitalism that it maintains. Players are pawns that can be traded and easily let go with many replacements waiting to fill the void. The fact that less time is designated to females playing any college sport- even on a college network of ESPN where athletes should be treated equally- goes to show what they think will sell, what people want to see, and what they will continue to promote to benefit the most from.
This cycle is a paradox of wrong-doing in America and it seems that it will never come to an end. Women's sports are equally as important as men's sports and need to be treated as so. Unfortunately in the media, women's sports aren't given as much attention because they don;t make as much money. They aren't making as much money because they aren't viewed as equal and therefore get less funding, less media attention, and are overall shoved to the back of the line when it comes to athletics. Even high school football is on that 24 hour listing. Considering that ESPN already has a multitude of other networks focused primarily on football (such as the SEC for the college level) and even networks dedicated to a single team (in the case of the Texas Longhorns), it's as if to say that ESPN has the major sports prioritized, then the male college sports, then the male high school sports, and then women's sports categorized at the end. This gives women less incentive to work towards a career in their sport, knowing the risks more than likely outweigh the benefits, and also gives them more incentive to do well in their sport, proving that it does take skill and work that they are willing to put in, even if not everybody sees it. Just because the networks don't cover them as often doesn't mean they ever cut their efforts for their sport. 


ESPNU Schedule. 10 Oct. 2014. Raw data. ARE YOU WATCHING THIS?

"Title IX and the Rights of Women in College Sports." Athletic Scholarships. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.