Overview
The following charts show data collected from Hofstra University Athletics’ Hofstra Pride Instagram account, the Hofstra Pride X account, The Hofstra Chronicle’s website and the individual Instagram accounts of each athletic team. The data was collected to compare the number of times men’s and women’s teams were mentioned, as well as how often individual athletes were mentioned.
Findings
The findings show that, while teams may have been mentioned equally across platforms, male athletes were favored individually. Though the inequality may not be stark, it is notable that Hofstra has one additional women’s team compared to the number of men’s teams, meaning that the data theoretically should have skewed in favor of the women’s teams.
ESPN’s Data
Last year ESPN published a data analysis that found that almost all Power Five schools tweeted about their men’s teams more than their women’s teams. The article provides a detailed examination of Power Five schools and their publicity surrounding men’s and women’s teams; what would the data look like for a school like Hofstra?
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 establishes that schools have a legal duty to provide equal athletic opportunity based on sex. According to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR), this includes equal publicity, meaning equivalent coverage for men’s and women’s teams and athletes on a school’s website, social media and other publicity mediums. In the past 10 years, the OCR has investigated multiple high schools and universities following claims of unequal publicity. In 2015, Rutgers University was one such school. They refuted the accusations, claiming that the imbalance was out of their control. In an OCR report on the case, the office stated that schools must market and promote all teams equally, not just their largest, most popular or most successful teams.
NIL
With student athletes now being able to profit off deals from name, image and likeness (NIL), the impact of unequal publicity could become much more concrete. While there is no evidence of direct correlation between a school’s publicity and an athlete’s NIL sponsorships and endorsements, it could be reasoned that if a company was looking to work with an athlete from a school, they may start by scrolling through that school’s athletics pages on social media. If an athlete was tagged or mentioned by name in a post, then it would be very easy for that company to find and connect with the athlete. Additionally, an athlete’s follower count is a factor in securing high-paying deals, according to experts. When an athlete is tagged by the school’s athletic page, which is often a large platform with more followers than any individual athlete, it allows the athlete to gain followers and help grow their media presence. The more attention an athlete is getting from these athletics pages and the more followers they have, the better opportunities they have.
Methodology
Numbers were pulled from the calendar year of 2022 from each athletic team’s Instagram, as well as Hofstra Athletics’ Pride Instagram and X account and the Chronicle website. When an athlete was tagged, mentioned with an “@” symbol, or their name was included in a post’s caption, it was counted as a mention. Only one mention was recorded per post, meaning that being included in the captain and tagged in the same post only counted as one mention. Head coaches were also counted but not assistant coaches or former athletes. Two future athletes were included, one on the men’s basketball team and one on the women’s basketball team. For the Pride X and Instagram, a mention was counted each time a team was tagged, mentioned with an @ or posted with the team account. As for the Chronicle, a mention was counted any time an athlete’s name was in the headline of a story, with sports features being considered non-recaps and determined by the subject. As a disclaimer: gender designation is determined by the official NCAA sport classification and does not reflect the individual gender identity of the athletes included. Additionally, dance and cheer teams were included in the count, though they are not official NCAA sports.
Who runs these accounts?
In a statement from Stephen Gorchov, Hofstra’s associate director of athletics for communication, “the Office of Athletic Communications oversees all the social media accounts under the umbrella of the Hofstra University Department of Athletics.” The office of Athletic Communications includes Gorchov, Len Skoros (director of athletic publication), Nick Kapatos (assistant director of athletic communications) and, as of the fall of 2023, after the date range of this data analysis, Alexis Friedman (director of creative content). They oversee all communication regarding athletics, the social media accounts mentioned here, and information and game statistics on gohofstra.com. The department also oversee all interviews and interactions with media. At Hofstra, Gorchov oversees volleyball, men’s basketball, men’s lacrosse and women’s lacrosse, Skoros oversees men’s soccer, women’s soccer, wrestling and baseball, and Kapatos oversees field hockey, women’s basketball and softball.
Photos courtesy of Hofstra Athletics and Graphics courtesy of Olivia Hillestad
