And while I am breaking eggs I’ll say I know gals that like the dancers. Cause they like the energy, the dance moves and some of them even think the dancers are hot too and we can agree on all that!

If you don’t want to watch the dancers, bring your knitting or a book or go get a wine spritzer or talk to your friends or kids instead.

I think it is kinda funny that almost none of the guys say they like or cared about the cheerleaders. Most don’t care much, I mean it is not that big a deal, but most don’t want to admit that they look and enjoy- not just the gyrating bodies but the positive energy as opposed to the yolk of work and often the yolk of homelife.

The women want to be “marketed to”. Ok that’s honest. But you’re also saying you don’t want negative marketing influences that bug you even though they might help market to men, especially men with big bucks and business clients sitting close to the courts or in the suites. Well I can see the market to me stuff but you can’t tell a business not to market to other people and expect to succeed.

And any guy will tell you they’ve know dozens of women who when choosing or getting caught watching sports talk about the players butts. Ok be a woman with a nature driven sex drive. I’ll be a guy with one too.

As for the pink t-shirt issue- my dad is also a Hornet’s fan and we have attended some games together. He bought me a pink t-shirt, so I have to wear it! Otherwise, I prefer to wear t-shirts that have the actual team colors.

Regardless of male opinion on whether or not they should be there, the dancers do in fact alienate female fans. No, the NBA does not try to market to us; in some ways they go out of their way to make games feel like an “all-boys” club and that we do not belong. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Hornets care. As long as 19 year old women are signing up by the hundreds to audition the dancers will remain. Now that I think about, I love football more anyway. GEAUX SAINTS!!

So I go to games when tickets are cheap, because I don’t enjoy watching my team lose to big drawing away teams. I don’t really see myself going to more games until they decide to stop marketing to obsolete ideas of their fans.
There isn’t any reason why girls can’t be diehard fans, I’ve seen plenty of them for high school and college teams, but professional teams don’t seem to allow for the possibility, so those that do exist live in the shadows, thousands of individual phantoms of the banknorth sports garden telecom center…

Awesome article. Period. You bring up a number of fantastic points which can and should be addressed (even though unfortunately given the speed of the league and its governance this probably won’t happen)

For anyone interested in this trend at the most macro of levels and which is not basketball related, check out an amazing book called Women Want More which draws on the most comprehensive (scale and scope) analysis of women’s purchasing habits/power in history. Boston Consulting Group demonstrates that in the years to come, while the economies of China and India combined are forecast to grow by about $3.5 trillion, the purchasing power of women in particular is forecast to grow at $5 trillion….I put a link to their site in case anyone’s interested.

Thank you for the article and giving an honest, open and unbiased perspective.