Athletic Management, 16.2, February/March 2004, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1602/hooters.htm
The Hooters Collegiate Match Play
Championship, held in early November, provided an opportunity for the
country's top NCAA Division I men's and women's golf teams to compete
in an NCAA certified event one coach called the best she'd seen in her
13-year coaching career. However, it also sparked a debate about the
appropriateness of soliciting support from a corporation whose business
model may conflict with the values of intercollegiate athletics.
The discussion made it to the Executive Committee of the NCAA this
fall, when, according to The NCAA News, several member institutions
raised concerns about the tournament's sponsorship. As a result, the
Executive Committee released a statement urging member institutions to
"determine whether the sponsor of an event depicts any student-athlete
subgroup in a disrespectful, demeaning, or degrading manner before
aligning with corporate entities and participating in competitive
events."
Hooters, perhaps best known for waitresses clad in short
shorts and tight tops, doesn't make the grade, according to Marie
Tuite, Senior Associate for Sports Programs and Student Services at the
University of Washington. The UW men's team was invited to the Hooters
Championship, but Tuite declined.
"Our men's golf program is
sponsored by the university," she told the Associated Press. "Given
that factor and other factors, and given the current climate, I thought
it was in the best interest to take the high road in making this
decision."
DeLoss Dodds, Director of Athletics at the University of
Texas, says he was unaware that Hooters sponsored the event when he
approved the UT men's team to attend. "Now that I know, it will
certainly be an issue from this point forward," he says. "I have big
concerns about Hooters being associated in any way with the University
of Texas."
Therese Hession, Head Coach of the women's team at Ohio
State University and president of the National Golf Coaches
Association, which organized the women's tournament, says her group put
a lot of thought into the sponsorship before approving it. "There was
no way I was going to get my team or the NGCA involved in something
where female student-athletes would be embarrassed or degraded in any
way, so there were a number of things I was very specific on," she
says. "For example, the sponsor wanted to have some of their Hooters
girls at the awards ceremony, and we insisted that they wore full
warmup suits, not the outfits they typically wear at Hooters'
restaurants."
However, focusing on how a sponsor is portrayed
during an event misses the point, says Ellen Staurowsky, Professor of
Sport Management and Media at Ithaca College and Former Director of
Athletics at William Smith College. "The question is, what creates
notoriety for Hooters of America?" Staurowsky asks. "Is it women in
sweat suits? Or is it an entirely different public perception that is
literally built on a reference to the female anatomy?
"The fact is
that this company lives off the objectification of women," she
continues. "To align with a sponsor that objectifies women and to say,
on the other hand, that we're making progress in terms of women's
sports shows a real disconnect."
For Hession, the athletic
opportunity the tournament offered tipped the scale in favor of
attending. "Number one, it was match play rather than stroke play,
which is completely unique in college golf," she says. "Second, the
organizers paired two players from the same team in the same group, and
that made it a more team-oriented event than anything else we've ever
played in. The third aspect that made it great was the competition." In
addition, Hession says she was comfortable with the Hooters sponsorship
because none of the female student-athletes who competed at the event
voiced reservations.
Staurowsky, however, believes it's up to
coaches and administrators to encourage student-athletes to take a
deeper look at the issue. "It's really easy to ask, 'Hey, women, do you
have a problem with this?'" she says, "and in a culture with changing
sexual mores, there are many young people who would say, 'No problem.'
But whether or not they have considered the implications of this issue
in their larger lives is an entirely different matter. When you engage
student-athletes with the broader issues, I've found that the answers
you get can be very different."
The NCAA Executive Committee, in its
discussions on the issue, decided against the idea of considering the
appropriateness of an event's sponsorship in the decision to certify.
Thus, individual schools will need to discuss the issue themselves.
"There probably will be a lot of conversations about this during
the next year among athletic directors around the country who have top
golf programs," says Texas' Dodds. "We will certainly be discussing it
here.
"It's important to consider each sponsor your department is
associated with carefully and use common sense," he continues. "We try
never to do anything without asking ourselves the questions, 'Is this
appropriate? Is it in good taste? Is it providing a positive
association for our student-athletes?' In this case, we will likely
decide that it's not."