Women's sports likely to bear brunt of coronavirus fallout

Linked to the rising call for gender equity worldwide, women's sports were enjoying unprecedented attention and support before the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Cup in France put a spotlight on women's soccer, culminating with the United States lifting the trophy to chants of "Equal Pay!" -- a nod to the team's gender discrimination lawsuit against US Soccer -- and the sport remained in the public eye to open the year.

The professional National Women's Soccer League, home to many of the US national team's players, was expecting to open its eighth season with a new television contract.

Women's pro softball was looking toward the sport's return to the Olympics for the first time since 2008. Professional volleyball, which enjoys popularity in Europe, Russia and Brazil, similarly draws peak interest in an Olympic year.

Any momentum these leagues, and women's sports in general, had worldwide has seemingly been halted by the pandemic. Now the question is whether women will lose the gains they had made when life returns to normal.

"If the seas get choppy and rough and you're out there in a yacht, you can go downstairs and live it up and ride it out. You can eat good, drink good and all that. Men's sports are the ones with the yacht," said Cheri Kempf, commissioner of the National Pro Fastpitch softball league.

"But if you're out there in a canoe, and seas get choppy, you're in big trouble. And that's women's sports. You know, we're riding around out there in a canoe."
"We're not finishing the season right now or playing, so that's a hard financial burden for our club because a lot of the salaries for the coming season depends on how we finish in the playoffs."
The athletes face uncertainties going forward: When the events do return, will the sponsors remain? Will younger prospects fall away from those sports out of economic necessity?