Equal Fans
Julia McGillicuddy
Growing up in Massachusetts, my pride for Boston sports started at a young age. My parents are both passionate, New England Patriots fans. Season after season, they passed down their fandom to my siblings and I by devoting our Sunday’s to church and the NFL. My love for football is an unparalleled constant in my life. However, every season I struggle to find other women to watch or attend games with. With women taking up 46% of the NFL’s American fanbase, I wondered why is was so hard to find a community of women who like football? How might we foster a better experience of the sport for women? This thesis focuses on unpacking and rethinking the male, pale and sometimes stale state of modern football culture. Equal Fans is a football and lifestyle platform created to foster community by sharing stories that showcase, and authentically empower female fans while unpacking important issues. On the Equal Fans website, users can read interviews, sports content and experiences that are by women, for all fans. Each piece of unique content on the website is created to be easily accessible and dispensable through our social media channels. By using inclusive langue and diverse narratives, Equal Fans hopes to make football approachable to a wider audience of women. Fans can also subscribe on the website to our events focused newsletter, Season Ticket. This newsletter invites sports enthusiasts to join Equal Fans at local game day events and virtual viewing parties all season long.