“I’ve taken more than one hit from a 270-pound boy,” claims Bea Zak. “Still kept goin’. I’m ready.”
“We’re looking to fill about 23 spots,” says Force general manager Debra Walker. “About 140 girls expressed an interest in trying out. We had to cut it off at 60. It’s all the coaches can handle.”
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Those who don’t make the cut will have to wait for the next tryouts, or until another women’s team comes to Chicago. That isn’t necessarily a distant prospect.
In fact, 43 percent of the NFL’s fans are female, according to a 1999 ESPN Chilton poll. But if one considers the WNBA as a benchmark, getting decent television ratings will be difficult for women’s football. The WNBA fan base is approximately 75 percent female, and its ABC telecasts averaged only a 0.8 rating this season. (Last June’s NBA finals, the lowest rated in 27 years, drew a 6.5 on the same network.) And the league is, of course, underwritten by the NBA. The NFL has steered clear of women’s football so far.
Bea Zak doesn’t care what league she plays for. “I love the game in its entirety,” she says. “Even the action on the sidelines is great. Coaches scoffing and pounding the turf when something doesn’t go quite right, or getting drenched in Gatorade. Keeping the team together, focused, for the big win. It’s all just great.”
