• by John Gaffney , September 10, 2002

The NFL had to start somewhere. So did the WNBA. Following what it hopes is a positive trend toward professional women’s sports, a Nashville-based group called the National Women’s Football League is gaining with fans and sponsors.

“What we’ve seen so far at our games is a lot of men, and a lot of families,” says Debby Lening, VP of Media and Marketing for the NWFL. “We’re getting a lot of inquiries from sponsors but honestly we’re so short-staffed right now that we haven’t had time to field all of them.”

The league started with two teams in 2001. Last season, which ran from April to July, the full-contact WNFL had local sponsorships for several of its 26 teams, including big brands such as Fairfield Inn, Frito-Lay and Meijers department stores. This week the league signed its first TV deal with the fledgling cable network, The Football Network. It is slated to start next fall with plans to show a NWFL Game of the Week, play-off game coverage, and a weekly magazine show.

The announcement is the latest in a series of rights deals struck by TFN, which includes the College Football Hall of Fame (for induction coverage), the Atlantic 10 Football Conference (for game coverage) and Pat Summerall (to host and produce programming). TFN is run by former ProServ executive and sports agent Jerry Solomon. According to Lening, several franchises drew an average of more than 3,500 fans per game for their eight-game 2002 season. In late July, the league concluded its season with the SupHer Bowl. The Detroit Danger topped the Massachusetts Mutiny 48-30 to win the championship before more than 5,000 fans.

However, the league faces several hurdles. Professional women’s soccer, volleyball and basketball have benefited from college programs that produce highly talented and experienced athletes. No college has a women’s football program. Also the league’s current infrastructure, by Lening’s own admission, needs to be bolstered. No licensing deals are in place, and no national sponsor programs have been put together yet.

“Getting on TV will help us tremendously,” Lening said.