{"id":628462,"date":"2024-12-01T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=628462"},"modified":"2025-01-17T12:27:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T17:27:21","slug":"review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karen Durkin \u201987 reflects on how women\u2019s sports became big business.<\/h2>\n
\n

The following interview has been edited and condensed and appears in the fall 2024 issue of <\/em>Rochester Review, the magazine of the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

K<\/b>aren Durkin \u201987<\/b><\/h3>\n

Home:<\/b> Ormond Beach, Florida<\/p>\n

Founder of the marketing, communications, and sponsorship firm The Durkin Agency; former CEO, Women\u2019s Sports Foundation (2008\u201310); and senior executive in the National Hockey League (2006\u201308) and the LPGA (1995\u20132006)<\/p>\n

Major at Rochester:<\/b> Music<\/p>\n

On her father\u2019s influence:<\/b> \u201cMy father believed in following your passions but also making sure you knew how to write a good sentence. We used to diagram sentences for fun when I was very young. Thus, my minor in English.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. I was passionate about the flute and wanted to study music, but I also wanted the full campus experience<\/b>. I always loved music but being first chair of a symphony was never really my career goal. I took many classes at Eastman, and I graduated with a major in music and a minor in English.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ours was a sports household. My father was a coach and an athlete and very, very influential in my life.<\/b> He pitched for Notre Dame and was drafted to try out for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He coached CYO basketball and Babe Ruth baseball. I followed him around everywhere.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I started as an athlete very young.<\/b> I was a competitive swimmer from about the age of four or five and that was all I did, training twice a day, always traveling to meets on weekends. And then I got to be 13, and I wanted to do other things. In high school, I played lots of sports\u2014volleyball, basketball, and softball. And then in college, I started with varsity basketball and in my junior year I switched to varsity swimming. I didn\u2019t even know if I\u2019d sink to the bottom of the pool when I dove in, because it had been a long time\u2014probably a decade! For many years, I also carried a 1.2 golf handicap.<\/p>\n

\"Black
(Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ Athletics and Recreation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sports have had lifelong benefits for me personally and professionally. I was a shy kid, so they gave me an outlet and confidence. They\u2019re so key in women\u2019s leadership. <\/b>Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ 80 percent of women Fortune 500 CEOs played some kind of organized sports in their younger years. There\u2019s extensive research showing a correlation between women\u2019s participation in sports and leadership in business as well as better health.<\/p>\n

If you look at my career track, from the LPGA to the NHL to the Women\u2019s Sports Foundation, those were all underdog brands.<\/b> In women\u2019s sports, there are so many inequities, and when I came to the NHL, it was the first year back on ice after the 2004\u201305 lockout. So, the league was really investing in rebuilding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no question now that women\u2019s sports are in a boom that none of us has ever experienced before\u2014whether on the fan side, the business side, or the athlete side. <\/b>Women\u2019s sports are truly now an investment. Media rights, sponsorship revenue, and attendance are all rising, and exponential increases are happening in merchandising, betting, and in team valuations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Headshot
\u201cSports have had lifelong benefits for me personally and professionally,\u201d says Karen Durkin. (Provided photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the US women\u2019s soccer team won the World Cup in 1999, that was a seismic shift. <\/b>We were watching women\u2019s soccer more than men\u2019s. There were so many things that came after that win that were stage setters for what we\u2019re seeing now. Look at the New York Liberty. They got a ticker-tape parade following their victory in the WNBA Championship. The last time that happened for a basketball team was in 1976.<\/p>\n

There have been breakthrough women athletes in the past. But what makes someone like Caitlin Clark so powerful is today\u2019s acceptance of women\u2019s sports. <\/b>Women breakthrough athletes are having a seismic impact on the business, the fans, consumers, and vice versa\u2014the foundation and context for past athletes were very different.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But now that women\u2019s sports is an investment, it\u2019s going to have to show a return. The stakes are higher. <\/b>There are areas where progress is still very much needed. So, can the boom sustain itself? And so I watch the boom and say: \u201cWe\u2019ve got to show the return.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karen Durkin \u201987 reflects on how women\u2019s sports became big business.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":672,"featured_media":628482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41112],"tags":[42,21502,20542,16072],"class_list":["post-628462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-magazine","tag-alumni","tag-arthur-satz-department-of-music","tag-department-of-english","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ alumnus Karen Durkin \u201987 reflects on her career and how women\u2019s sports became big business.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ alumnus Karen Durkin \u201987 reflects on her career and how women\u2019s sports became big business.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-01T13:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-17T17:27:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration-1200x630.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Mandelaro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Mandelaro\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim Mandelaro\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124\"},\"headline\":\"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-01T13:00:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-17T17:27:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":757,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"alumni\",\"Arthur Satz Department of Music\",\"Department of English\",\"School of Arts and Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"From the Magazine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/\",\"name\":\"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-01T13:00:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-17T17:27:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124\"},\"description\":\"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ alumnus Karen Durkin \u201987 reflects on her career and how women\u2019s sports became big business.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1199,\"caption\":\"Illustration by David Cowles\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\",\"name\":\"News Center\",\"description\":\"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124\",\"name\":\"Jim Mandelaro\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/author\\\/jmandelaro\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports","description":"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ alumnus Karen Durkin \u201987 reflects on her career and how women\u2019s sports became big business.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports","og_description":"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ alumnus Karen Durkin \u201987 reflects on her career and how women\u2019s sports became big business.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/","og_site_name":"News Center","article_published_time":"2024-12-01T13:00:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-17T17:27:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration-1200x630.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim Mandelaro","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim Mandelaro","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim Mandelaro","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124"},"headline":"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports","datePublished":"2024-12-01T13:00:09+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-17T17:27:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/"},"wordCount":757,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration.jpg","keywords":["alumni","Arthur Satz Department of Music","Department of English","School of Arts and Sciences"],"articleSection":["From the Magazine"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/","name":"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-01T13:00:09+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-17T17:27:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124"},"description":"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ alumnus Karen Durkin \u201987 reflects on her career and how women\u2019s sports became big business.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/karen-durkin-cowles-illustration.jpg","width":2000,"height":1199,"caption":"Illustration by David Cowles"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2024-karen-durkin-womens-sports-628462\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A \u2018boom\u2019 in women\u2019s sports"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"Ä¢¹½´«Ã½","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/35537746af700f24d7e52e350d95b124","name":"Jim Mandelaro","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/jmandelaro\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/672"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628462"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636422,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628462\/revisions\/636422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}