Atlanta gets team in Lingerie League

You could call this a league of their own. But make no mistake, men will be certainly be a fan of Atlanta’s newest team, too.

The Lingerie Football League — yes, you read that right — announced Tuesday that the league’s newest team will be in Atlanta. The yet-to-be named 12th team in the league will play its home games in the spring at Gwinnett Center, the league spokesman said.

“Atlanta is one of those signature markets that any sports league targets,” Mitchell S. Mortaza, founder and chairman of Lingerie Football League LLC, said in an emailed statement. “What primarily drove our decision to come to Atlanta was the incredible interest from the city, host arenas and fans.”

The idea started as halftime entertainment for the 2004 Super Bowl before a league was formed in 2009, Tyler DeHaven, LFL spokesman, told the AJC.

In addition to the U.S. teams, four teams are competing in the inaugural season of LFL Canada, he said.

While the skimpy, 2-piece uniforms are certainly eye-catching, don’t expect a runway fashion show. Most of the ladies playing in the league are Division 1 college athletes, DeHaven said.

The league plans to host an open tryout in Atlanta for ladies interested in playing. The time and place have not yet been announced.

Fans are also invited to help chose a name for the team, which will join the Jacksonville Breeze and Omaha Heart in the league’s Southeastern Division of the Eastern Conference. Ideas for the team’s name should be emailed to LFLinAtlanta@LFLUS.com by Oct. 19 for consideration.

The league does not have cheerleaders on the sidelines, DeHaven said.

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Bikini Basketball League is an Insult to Title IX

In the same year that Title IX celebrates its 40th anniversary, the Bikini Basketball Association announced its launch. Following in the footsteps of the Lingerie Football League, the BBA will feature six teams of half naked competitive female athletes.

Title IX has been critical in providing numerous female athletes with the ability to play sports at their respective schools, but there’s a larger issue when it comes to women’s sports that needs to be addressed. Merely existing isn’t enough—we should expect more than the offensive and hyper sexualized norms that permeate sports culture.

My gripe isn’t with the women who opt into playing for the league, but with the larger systems and economic forces that circumscribe choices and channel female athletes into choosing to play ball in a bikini for pay. We live in a culture where sex sells, especially when it comes to women’s sports and the (frequently) male executives who oversee their marketing and branding.

In an August 2011 article for The Nation titled “Sex Sells Sex, Not Women’s Sports,” Mary Jo Kane writes, “Scholars have long argued that a major consequence of the media’s tendency to sexualize women’s athletic accomplishments is the reinforcement of their status as second-class citizens in one of the most powerful economic, social and political institutions on the planet.”

We can do better and expect more as sports fans, starting on college campuses.

We can start to eliminate this problem at the collegiate level by paying more attention to women’s college basketball. Sure, Geno Auriemma and the Uconn women have become household names, but they’re not the only women’s team who play college basketball worthy of our attention. Male athletes on campus don’t have to fight to be taken seriously, but they can play a positive role in encouraging fans to watch women’s college basketball instead of sexist spectacles like the BBA.

There should be great concern about what this Bikini Basketball Association says about us as individual fans and what it says about our society at large. It sends a message that we only take women’s sports seriously when players prance around nearly nude. Colleges and universities nationwide can become role models by speaking out against this standard and, in turn, encouraging a better environment for their own players.

Basketball season is around the corner. College teams are gearing up for exhibition and regular season games starting in November. Instead of perpetuating an ignorant cycle about sexuality and female athletes, challenge the status quo: refuse the expectations set by the BBA, pick a women’s college basketball team, and cheer them on this season.

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