Dortmund, we need to talk

We’ve lived in 2016 for a a month now. Not much has happened; we had an unsuccessful stint in the transfer window, We won a couple of games, and we still don’t have a women's team. Are we the only ones or do several big teams not have a women team?

Well, Here’s a list of all Bundesliga and former Bundesliga teams that have women teams:

• Bayer 04 Leverkusen
• FC Bayern Munich
• SC Freiburg
• TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
• 1. FC Koeln
• Werder Bremen
• Vfl Wolfsburg

Anyone see an important team that is absent? That’s right, ours. We have a women’s Handball team, a sport mind you that most Americans have never heard off and the only Olympic sporting event that the US does not take part in, but not a football team.

Over the last several years, women’s role in football has become increasing important with more female players choosing a career in professional football. In 2010 there were a million registered female football players and as of 2014/15 that number increased to more than 1.2 million. The increasing supply of players equals the increasing demand for the sport.

Germans’ love sport. All sport. We will spend Sundays watching men in tights strap onto skis’ and launch themselves down a steep slope, trying to fly further than the last guy, watch women ski long distances and shoot at a small round metal object, while trying to catch their breath. Our love for sports can be clearly seen by the number of people that watch our female national team play and domestic attendance when compared to other European leagues. Our average national game attendance was 15’000, which is double the amount as the second most watched national team, France. Our league attendance is three times higher than that of France, coming in at 2500 vs. 800. (Numbers taken from Page 31)

In the US, the women’s world cup final drew the largest viewership ever in the US, with 26.7 million people tuning in to watch the US national team play against the Japanese. During the World Cup qualifier, the US only drew an audience of 3700 in Kansas City.

Financially speaking, since the founding of the league in the 90’s no women’s Bundesliga team has filed for bankruptcy or have shut down teams, due to financial pressures. Though players might not make anything close to their male counterparts, individual sponsorship deals give some a root to financial success. Take Alex Morgan for example. Her name is wildly popular in the world of women sport. She’s an incredible player who has managed to make a name for herself, landing herself major sponsorship deals with major international brands. Individual's teams make roughly 180’000 Euros a year from the DFB through sponsorship and television broadcasting rights.

It is hard to tell as to whether the clubs make money or if they only ever break even in hopes to one-day profit from the sport. Hopefully our management will decide soon that it's time to dip our feet in this league and see how it goes.

If Schalke managed to get with the times, why can't we? Clearly, it’s a growing sport. Clearly, more and more people are starting to care. So then why don’t we have a female team? I honestly can’t think of a reason not to have a team. Can you? Let us know in the comments down below.