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NFL runs the reverse
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October 25, 1996: 5:57 p.m. ET
Pro football merchandising looks to open up its offense and target women
From Correspondent Sean Callebs
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - As far as the National Football League is concerned, there's plenty of action off the field. Sales of licensed products such as hats and jerseys generates $3 billion a year.
But the NFL (390K QuickTime movie) believes there is an untapped market that could bring in an additional tens of millions of dollars annually.
Who is this new target?
Here's a hint. It's not the guy sitting at home clutching the remote.
For the first time, NFL properties is test marketing a line of women's clothes in a handful of department stores like J.C. Penney's.
Jim Connelly, head of Worldwide Retail Licensing for the league, has high hopes for the plan. (129K WAV) or (129K AIFF)
The NFL said television ratings indicate 40 percent of its fans are women.
With the startup of two women's basketball leagues, the ABL and the WNBA, and stiff competition for sale of women's athletic footwear, sports marketers say it only makes sense that the NFL is showing its feminine side.
"Licensees have gone as far as they can go," said sports marketer Mike Levine of Athletes and Artists.
"The market continues to grow at small increments but they need international growth, and from within this country (it needs) to pick up on women and new fans."
The bottom line is that the NFL is targeting women because they spend a lot of money.
The leagues said 65 percent of all sales of NFL-sponsored goods are purchased by wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters. 
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