The Business of Sports panel discussion with Angel City Football Club executives took place at Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center on Wednesday, April 17. The event focused on the importance of women’s sports and supporting women’s sports.
The panelists included Angel City Football Club executives, including Vice President of Ticketing and Hospitality Bianca Henninger, Chief of Staff & Head of Strategy Kari Noonan, Soccer Operations and Athletic Training Executive April Seymon, and Senior Director of Partnership Marketing Courtney Ksiazek. The event was moderated by Sports Management Program Director Mark Orlando.
After the discussion, the panelists said what they hoped the audience gained from the presentation.ย
โI hope everyone gained a little bit of awareness around what Angel City really is. I think there is always an education piece around what weโre trying to build here and that weโre much more than just soccer and the on-field product while those guys are the stars. Our soccer players are everything and we wouldn’t be anything without them there’s also a much larger conversation in a much bigger need that weโre trying to move forward,โ Henninger said.ย
The panelists said Angel City is motivated toward trying to educate people on the importance of womenโs sports and making it equal to male-dominated sports.ย
Seymon said she hoped people will continue to invest in women’s sports which includes buying tickets to games, watching them on TV, and pushing for equity and pay.
“Without the fans pushing and investing and doing all this stuff then the players are not going to have the support that they need so it really comes from the people who are here at this event tonight,โ Seymon said.ย
The panelists also discussed different ways that the audience can help support the womenโs league, by simply interacting with the sport and immersing themselves in that form of entertainment.ย
โI hope everyone gained a good perspective on how Angel City came to be but more so now we’re still trying to grow and elevate the league and all of women’s sports. The work is not done yet and we hope that the growth that we see today will still continue,โ Ksiazek said.ย
The panelists made it clear that the job is not done, and there is a long way to go but they are starting on the right track.ย
โI hope that they can see that women’s sports are continuing to grow and that is not gonna slow down, so they might as well be on the right side of it,” Noonan said. “I think also just understanding that when you have a really great product and you market it and invest in it correctly people will show up, people will want that product if you make it desirable and so doing the work behind that can pay off, and we haven’t always seen that in women’s sports but weโre seeing that now.โ
