We're celebrating women's history month all month long here on Cheddar.
And today we're going to highlight one pioneer advocate
and leader in the world of women's sports.
Manitoba had the chance to catch up with Digit Murphy,
president of professional women's ice hockey team at
Metropolitan Riveters to find out how she's reimagining
the hockey experience for fans and players.
Here's a look at their walk and talk brought to you by jpmorgan Chase.
Well, first, I want to say thank you so much for inviting us.
We are at the iconic American Dream Mall where another iconic thing
is happening with the Metropolitan Riveters played their first season here.
How is it for them to play in this very unique environment?
Well, I think first of all, it's a dream come true at the dream.
Yes, we play at the Dream live, the Dream.
Um I think that it's such a unique concept
that the players are just completely embracing it,
enjoying it
and just having fun with it because when you think of the American Dream,
it's a place that people have fun,
they're inspired. And what we can do is come to the community
and make a difference and that's part of our brand.
You and I were talking about when it comes to equality pay,
women are just starting to step up.
You've been doing this for decades forever. So, what have you noticed?
What challenges do womens sports face that a lot of male sports don't?
Well,
I think the first thing that we need to
think about is that women's sports has just been in
existence for a much shorter period time.
Let's say men have been in existence for traditional sports. I like to say
on agenda
125 years. Okay.
And we've probably been in existence for maybe 30 35 years max,
especially from a professional realm, even from title nine.
Title nine didn't happen until 1972 and it didn't really
start to take hold and probably until the nineties.
So when you start from that point,
you just have to give us a little more time to marinate
and then
skyrocket because guess what,
in this day and age, the way people are thinking about women,
the way women are thinking about women, we're gonna make a big difference.
So give us a tiny bit of time, give us the messaging, which is we build heroes,
leaders and role models for next generation women,
boys and girls. And then you can really make a difference.
And that's why we're playing here because over
six million people come through this facility.
So now they have access to our brand.
What shift do you see when it comes to?
I'm gonna call it traditional sports, not women's sports.
What shift have you seen that?
Um You know,
I've seen a real um real influx of the consumption
of women's sports in a way that now is cheaper.
You don't have to drive to the, to the ring, you know,
have to drive to the NHL facilities or the NBA or the NFL,
you can actually consume it on your tablet.
You can consume it on your phone, which makes it cheaper to get into the market.
So those kind of differences in the technology where you can consume them in
sports are really what's making a difference in having us have access to it.
Like look at us right now.
Right now we're on a platform that everyone can consume
that you guys are making a difference in your market,
right?
For the women viewers
and they can actually pick and choose.
Oh my gosh, there's, there's women, there's women's hockey.
I didn't even know it existed because of the platform.
And I've been watching, I mean, they can play it.
How do you move the needle when it comes to women in traditional sports?
What can we do?
What we can do is we can amplify the message, which doesn't have to necessarily be.
It's just about hockey, right? It's about life.
It's not about hockey, it's about life. I've been saying that it's so funny.
I did an article back in the day been saying that since like 1999 I'm like, oh my God,
I didn't know was a thing but we can amplify the message.
We can look at women's sports differently
than the traditional sport and we can value it by paying for tickets.
Like right now it's like it's not free. I'm not going. Oh, no, we are a value add.
We are value add for your, your daughters,
your sons for the planet because these women get out of these, these hockey jobs
and guess what they do,
they go be doctors or financial analysts or
lawyers like they're doing this right after college.
They're not doing it full time for the rest of your life.
These women, Yale Wisconsin, Mercyhurst, Princeton,
like these players on our team are from those type of university.
So they're not just hockey players, their high end women leaders.
Let's look forward. You've already reimagined the sport of hockey.
What else do you plan on doing? Moving ahead? Oh, wow. That's a loaded question.
Um, I actually plan on really bringing this conversation to the forefront,
not only of hockey, but of all sports.
I think we can take this hockey model and really help soccer, not that they need help,
but soccer, lacrosse, rugby, frisbee, anything that women want to play,
they should be able to almost like white label this sport
and work together to grow. And I think one thing that we don't do really well
that we take off the traditional sports is work together and cross promote sports.
I think that's another element where women can succeed.
If we are together, we're better together.
We are because right now we're very bifurcated.
And how do we work together to grow, not only hockey but other sports as well.
So all women can have opportunities.
Is there anything you want to say to our viewers? Let's go. Ribs Rosie
and thanks to Cheddars and Adobo with Digit Murphy,
president of professional women's ice hockey team.
The Metropolitan Riveters. This walk and talk was brought to you by jpmorgan Chase.