WNBA’s Sue Bird Says Women’s Basketball Is Less Popular Than Soccer Because They’re Black and Gay

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Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) player Sue Bird claimed in an interview that women’s basketball is less popular than women’s soccer because the basketball players are Black and gay, while the soccer players are perceived as “cute little white girls.”

“To be completely blunt, but also kind of simple, soccer players generally are cute little white girls. And I think basketball players, we’re all shapes and sizes,” Bird claimed in the weekend interview. “It’s 70-80 percent Black women, a lot of gay women. We’re tall; we’re big. And I think there’s just maybe this intimidation factor with that.”

“People are quick to talk about it, judge it, put it down. And soccer, you just don’t see that just based on how they look,” she continued, adding, “The problem is how society and how the outside world is willing to accept the cute girl next door, but not willing to accept, or embrace, or not judge these basketball players who are tall, Black, gay.”

Bird mirrored the comments made by her partner and women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe — who is Bird’s long-term girlfriend. In an article for The Player’s Tribune earlier this month, Rapinoe wrote, “This country has a deep history of racism, and a deep history of homophobia. And if you look at the players in the W[NBA]: Most of them are Black, and a lot of them are gay.”

“When it comes to U.S. women’s soccer, the general perception is that — let’s face it — we’re the white girls next door. The straight, ‘cute,’ ‘unthreatening,’ ‘suburban’ white girls next door,” she continued. “It’s not actually who we are — the WNT’s racial diversity, though not yet where it needs to be, is improving every year. And, you know, breaking news … I’m gay. But by and large, that’s the perception. And it’s certainly how we’re marketed to a lot of people.”

Rapinoe went on to note “the millions of viewers,” “talk show appearances,” and “the endorsement deals” that women’s soccer gets, before questioning, “Where’s that same energy for the best women’s basketball players on the planet? Where’s that energy for the women’s sports that — instead of scanning cute and white and straight — scan tall and black and queer?”