Researchers at the University of Southern California recently released a study finding that since 2004, news coverage of women's sports dropped from 6.3 percent to 1.6 percent of all sports coverage on major networks in 2009. And on Sportscenter, home to the most recent LeBron James prime-time media spectacle/circus, the numbers are slightly worse, at 1.4 percent. The study also found that the nation's top sports news announcers are overwhelmingly white and male. In Los Angeles, 39 percent of announcers are white and 99.5 percent are male. Young girls and women continue to play sports in record numbers, and the numbers of women of color in collegiate sports are growing. Female athletes have fans too. Nearly 11 million people attended women's NCAA games this past year, and 1.6 million tuned in to watch the NCAA women's championship basketball game between UConn and Stanford. Let's get this straight. There are more female athletes, more fans and more viewers watching some female sports, and yet they are basically invisible on, off and behind the camera in network television. We're not mathematicians, but this doesn't add up.
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