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Roller derby, from spectacle to sport: moving past perceptions

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Roller derby, from spectacle to sport: moving past perceptions

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ROLLER DERBY,
FROM SPECTACLE TO SPORT:
MOVING PAST PERCEPTIONS
by
Krista Lee Goodman

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS)

August 2014

Copyright 2014 Krista Lee Goodman

i

DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to roller derby. I hope that it gives something back to a sport that has
given so much. It is dedicated to all of the people that continue to propel this sport forward and make it
something we all continue to love, enjoy and experience together.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“Roller Derby, From Spectacle to Sport: Moving Past Perceptions” is the byproduct of countless
hours of planning, research, writing and re-writing over the course of a one-year period. I remember
starting this project in June 2013 with a blurry vision on what direction it would take and what it would
take to get there. It would have never been possible without the help of my friends, family, teammates and
thesis committee. Thank you:
• to the love of my life, John, who allowed me bounce ideas off of him throughout every stage of
the process. He provided constructive advice and proofreading whenever I needed it. Many
sleepless nights he stayed up with me, never wavering in his belief that this project would reach
completion. He never doubted me, even when I doubted myself.
• to my mother Kathy, my father Doug and my sister Kara, all of whom were always open to
discussing ideas and proofreading, no matter what the hour was. They, too, never doubted for a
second.
• to my family and teammates of the Inland Empire Derby Divas, who introduced me to the world
of roller derby in May 2011. The skaters, coaching staff, referee and NSO crew on this league
shared their lives, love and talent for this sport with me, changing mine for the better
permanently.
• to my family and teammates of the O.C. Roller Girls, who introduced me to a whole new kind of
roller derby–the banked track. I am constantly awestruck by the love, support, camaraderie on
this league.
• to all of the fellow derby athletes and enthusiasts named throughout this paper, who were willing
to take the time to share insight from their experiences. Their input was so vitally important to the
success of the research.
• to the Chairperson of my thesis committee, Jennifer Floto, whose enthusiasm and vision for this
idea in its early stage gave me the faith to move forward. Jennifer Floto, Brenda Lynch and
iii

Matthew Leveque devoted great time and effort to reviewing this piece and providing
constructive edits and suggestions to make it better.
• to you, the reader, thank you for reading this paper. I sincerely hope you enjoy reading it as much
as I enjoyed writing it.

iv

ABSTRACT
There is a great disparity between how the sport of roller derby is perceived by those outside of it
versus how it is perceived by those involved in it. Younger audiences often have never heard of roller
derby, and what older generations know about roller derby was born out of the original entertaining roller
sport, which was made popular on broadcast television from the late 1940s through the 1970s. Today’s
roller derby is largely the byproduct of a tremendous revival that began in Texas in 2001. While modern
roller derby continuing to mature as a sport, the overall audience perception seems to have failed to
evolve with it. It is still largely perceived as more of a performance than a sport.
This study explores modern roller derby and its media relations; its purpose is to change the scope
of antiquated and/or misguided perceptions about the individual roller derby league and the sport.
Examining media and its relationship to women’s sports and roller derby illustrates how audience
perceptions have evolved and why. By understanding that relationship, the author explores how to
influence dated perceptions to change in a positive way. From a combination of case studies, social media
content analysis and secondary research, she presents a standard set of strategic communications
recommendations for roller derby leagues. The recommendations will help leagues optimize their owned
media channels and influence the nature of their earned media coverage to expand their audience reach,
while also further developing roller derby’s reputation as a legitimate sport.
v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION .................................................................................................................................................... I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................. II
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................................... IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................................... V
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 1
Humble Beginnings ....................................................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER ONE: HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SPORTS IN THE U.S............................................................................ 3
Challenging Cultural Ideologies ................................................................................................................... 3
Twentieth Century Women’s Sports ........................................................................................................... 4
Legislation .................................................................................................................................................... 10
The Olympics ............................................................................................................................................... 12
Performance-Enhancing Drugs Create Suspicion .................................................................................... 13
Pay Inequity among Professional Athletes ................................................................................................ 13
Marketing and Advertising ........................................................................................................................ 15
Media Coverage ........................................................................................................................................... 16
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER TWO: HISTORY OF ROLLER DERBY ................................................................................................ 20
Leo Seltzer and Transcontinental Roller Derby ....................................................................................... 20
Roller Derby Reaches Broadcast Television ............................................................................................. 23
Jerry Seltzer, Bay Promotions and Roller Derby in the 1960s and 70s .................................................. 27
The Roller Games ........................................................................................................................................ 33
Rollerjam ..................................................................................................................................................... 35
The Austin Revival ...................................................................................................................................... 36
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 38
CHAPTER THREE: UNDERSTANDING MODERN ROLLER DERBY ..................................................................... 40
The Track ..................................................................................................................................................... 40
Sporting Associations .................................................................................................................................. 42
Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) ....................................................................... 42
Roller Derby Coalition of Leagues (RDCL) ................................................................................... 43
USA Roller Sports (USARS) .......................................................................................................... 43
Men’s Roller Derby Association (MRDA) ..................................................................................... 44
Basic Rules ................................................................................................................................................... 44
League Operations ...................................................................................................................................... 46
Athleticism ................................................................................................................................................... 47
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER FOUR: OWNED MEDIA .................................................................................................................. 50
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 50
Types of Key Audiences ................................................................................................................. 50
Types of Media ............................................................................................................................... 51
Print .............................................................................................................................................................. 52
Websites ....................................................................................................................................................... 54
Relevancy ........................................................................................................................................ 54
Content Development ..................................................................................................................... 54
Frequency of Updates ..................................................................................................................... 59
Engagement & Evaluation .............................................................................................................. 59
Social Media ................................................................................................................................................. 60
Content Development ..................................................................................................................... 60
Frequency of Posts .......................................................................................................................... 64
Engagement & Evaluation .............................................................................................................. 67
vi

Key Findings ................................................................................................................................... 71
Other Owned Media .................................................................................................................................... 72
A Note on Paid Media ................................................................................................................................. 73
CHAPTER FIVE: EARNED MEDIA .................................................................................................................... 74
The Sport of Roller Derby .......................................................................................................................... 74
Associations and Tournaments .................................................................................................................. 77
Leagues ......................................................................................................................................................... 78
CHAPTER SIX: CASE STUDIES ........................................................................................................................ 83
The Texas Rollergirls .................................................................................................................................. 83
Background ..................................................................................................................................... 83
Category Overview ......................................................................................................................... 83
Competitive Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 84
Challenge/Opportunity .................................................................................................................... 84
Marketing/PR Strategies ................................................................................................................. 85
Marketing/PR Tactics ..................................................................................................................... 86
The Jackson Hole Juggernauts .................................................................................................................. 88
Background ..................................................................................................................................... 88
Category Overview ......................................................................................................................... 88
Competitive Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 88
Challenge/Opportunity .................................................................................................................... 89
Marketing/PR Strategies ................................................................................................................. 90
Marketing/PR Tactics ..................................................................................................................... 90
CHAPTER SEVEN: STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................... 92
Identity, Branding & Business Goals ......................................................................................................... 92
Communications Goals ............................................................................................................................... 93
Situation Analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 93
Objectives ..................................................................................................................................................... 94
Key Audiences ............................................................................................................................................. 95
Key Messages ............................................................................................................................................... 96
Strategies ...................................................................................................................................................... 96
Tactics........................................................................................................................................................... 96
Evaluation .................................................................................................................................................... 98
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 100
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................... 101
APPENDIX 1: HIGHEST PAID MALE AND FEMALE ATHLETES 2010-2011 ..................................................... 105
Highest Paid Female Athletes 2011 .......................................................................................................... 105
Highest Paid Male Athletes 2011.............................................................................................................. 105
Highest Paid Female Athletes 2010 .......................................................................................................... 106
APPENDIX 2: WOMEN’S SPORTS IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES ......................................................................... 107
Women’s Participation in the Olympic Games 1896 – 2008 .................................................................. 107
Women’s Participation in the Olympic Winter Games 1924 – 2006 ..................................................... 107
Introduction of Women’s Sports/Disciplines to the Olympic Games ................................................... 108
APPENDIX 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT ANALYSIS ........................................... 109
Procedure ................................................................................................................................................... 109
Limitations ................................................................................................................................................. 112
Key Findings .............................................................................................................................................. 113
APPENDIX 4: PRINT MATERIAL EXAMPLES .................................................................................................. 114
APPENDIX 5: MISSION STATEMENT EXAMPLES .......................................................................................... 116
Inland Empire Derby Divas ...................................................................................................................... 116
L.A. Derby Dolls ........................................................................................................................................ 116
Texas Rollergirls ........................................................................................................................................ 117
Mission .......................................................................................................................................... 117
APPENDIX 6: LEAGUE QUESTIONNAIRES .................................................................................................... 118
L.A. Derby Dolls ........................................................................................................................................ 118
vii

Texas Rollergirls ........................................................................................................................................ 119
Jackson Hole Juggernauts ........................................................................................................................ 120
APPENDIX 7 - PRESS KITS ............................................................................................................................ 122
1

INTRODUCTION
Humble Beginnings
In October 2009 Fox Searchlight Pictures released a film about a 17-year-old misfit from the
small town of Bodeen, Texas. Frustrated with the battle between choosing what others want for her and
what she wants for herself, Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) sets out on an unlikely journey of self-discovery.
A series of events eventually lead her to strap on an old pair of Barbie skates for a banked track roller
derby team. On her journey she ends up falling in love with a full-contact countercultural sport. The film
is called Whip It (Dir. Drew Barrymore, 2009).
More than a year after seeing Whip It, roller derby piqued my interest when I was looking to start
an exercise regimen that I would actually enjoy (I never succeeded at gym memberships). I wondered if
anyone actually played roller derby or if it had just been reinvented for the sake of making an entertaining
movie. I did some research. To my surprise, there was a league in my area. I was skeptical that it was real
but curiosity took me out to a practice to see it in person.
What I found was unbelievable. It was so much better than a movie. Just like that fictional 17-
year-old girl, I fell in love with roller derby just watching it. For reasons I cannot explain, I was moved in
my heart to try it. I knew I had to be a part of it or count myself a failure for not trying. Of course, that
was easier said than done. I had only tried rolling on traditional quad skates once, maybe twice, in my
lifetime. Nonetheless, I joined the Inland Empire Derby Divas in May 2011. Roller derby became an
integral part of my life that is as vital to living as breathing. It slowly molded me from a confused couch
potato into a confident athlete.
Today, I am skating for the OC Roller Girls, where I am learning the subtle differences between
skating banked track and flat track and actively playing for its travel team, “Blockwork Orange.” I have
competed with my current and past team in individual bouts and in three tournaments all along the West
Coast. I am attending RollerCon, the annual roller derby convention in Las Vegas, for my third
consecutive year. In November 2014, I will play flat track for Team California at the first annual State
2

Wars Roller Derby Tournament. I have been involved in the media committees of both leagues I’ve
played for in my roller derby career, with experience serving in the capacity of Head of Media for the
Inland Empire Derby Divas for nearly a year.
What I learned about the world of roller derby as soon as I was so immersed in it was that it is a
lot bigger than I could have imagined. I also discovered that there is great disparity between how it is
perceived by those outside of it versus how it is perceived by those inside of it. In my experience the term
“roller derby” produces one of three standard questions from people that are unfamiliar with it: (1) “What
is it?” (2) ”People still play roller derby?” or (3) “Isn’t the game where you beat each other up on roller
skates?” Younger audiences often have never heard of roller derby, and what older generations know
about roller derby was born out of the original entertaining roller sport, which was made popular on
broadcast television from the late 1940s through the 1970s. Today’s roller derby is largely the byproduct
of a tremendous revival that began in Texas in 2001. While modern roller derby is constantly evolving
and continuing to mature as a sport, the overall audience perception seems to have failed to evolve with it.
It is still largely perceived as more of a performance than a sport.
This paper will explore modern roller derby and its media relations; its purpose is to change the
scope of antiquated and/or misguided perceptions about the individual roller derby league and the sport..
Examining media and its relationship to women’s sports and roller derby can illustrate how audience
perceptions have evolved and why. By understanding that relationship, I will explore how to influence
dated perceptions to change in a positive way. From a combination of secondary research, case studies
and content analysis I will develop a standard set of strategic communications recommendations for roller
derby leagues. The recommendations will also help leagues optimize their owned media channels and
influence the nature of their earned media coverage to expand their audience reach while also furthering
developing its reputation as a legitimate sport.

3

CHAPTER ONE: HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SPORTS IN THE U.S.
“A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever.”
– Mary Lou Retton, former gymnast, 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist
Roller derby first emerged in an era when the advancement of women’s sports in the United
States was extremely slow. This predominantly occurred because of deeply embedded cultural ideologies
about the woman’s role in American society. Although roller derby is an international sport today, it
began as an exhibition sport in the U.S. in 1935, which is why this section examines the historical context
of women’s sports in the U.S. When placed into this historical context, the evidence demonstrates that
early roller derby was countercultural and forward thinking when it started – a mentality that was passed
down through the decades to the skaters that have helped it evolve into what it is today.
Challenging Cultural Ideologies
At the dawn of the 20th Century early activists sought to redefine the traditionally accepted roles
of women in American society. Sports were not the driving force, but merely one factor in a larger push
for social and political reform that would eventually grant more civil liberties to women. The
socioeconomic climate was changing as an unprecedented number of women were entering the
workforce, seeking education and beginning to voice their views on political reform.
1
“Women’s social
and political activism sparked a reconsideration of their nature and place in society, voiced through
vigorous debates on a wide range of issues, from the vote to skirt lengths.”
2

The major issues in sports were the wide-held cultural perceptions about (1) the physical
inferiority of women compared to men, (2) the amount of physical activity that was acceptable for
women, (3) how sports affected the sexuality of the female athlete and (4) opposing viewpoints about
women participating in competitive sports. The generalization that women generally do not possess the
1
Susan Cahn, “Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Sports” in Equal Play: Title IX and
Social Change, edited by Nancy Hogshead-Makar and Andrew Zimbalist (Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
2007), 9.
2
Cahn, “Coming on Strong,” 9.

4

same amount of physical strength as men is based in truth; however, the message that commonly
appeared in media was that it was harmful for women to engage in physically demanding sports activities
in the same capacity as men. Women were discouraged from overexerting their energies in physical
activities because it was viewed as hazardous to their reproductive health.
3

Also of chief concern was how a woman’s participation in physically demanding sports affected
her sexuality. “The female athlete’s entrance into a male-defined sphere made her not only a popular
figure, but an ambiguous, potentially disruptive character as well. Sport developed as a male preserve, a
domain in which men expressed and cultivated masculinity through athletic competition.”
4
Long-term,
intense physical training and competitive athletics were considered masculine pursuits. The female athlete
was somewhat of an anomaly because she defied her accepted role as a homemaker in exchange for a
masculine pursuit. This developed the stigma that the female athlete not only would become physically
“unattractive but also unattracted to men” and thus, attracted to other women as a byproduct of her
athleticism.
5
In response this stigma, early twentieth century physical educators adopted “moderation” as
the key consideration in designing physical activities for young women that would differentiate their
programs from men’s sports.
6

Twentieth Century Women’s Sports
Women first became active in intercollegiate sport when basketball was introduced to Smith
College in 1892.
7
The first women’s intercollegiate basketball games occurred in 1896 between UC
Berkeley & Stanford University, University of Washington & Ellensburg Normal School and University
of California basketball teams.
8

3
Richard C. Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX,” in The Sport Journal, ISSN: 1543-9518
(accessed August 7, 2013), http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/history-women-sport-prior-title-ix.
4
Cahn, “Coming on Strong,” 9.
5
Cahn, “Coming on Strong,” 11.
6
Cahn, “Coming on Strong,” 10.
7
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”
8
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”

5

Intercollegiate sport was a major battleground for advocate policymakers who were for and
against women’s competitive sport. The campaign against it was supported by most women’s physical
educators. After witnessing the corruption and “the perceived need for victory at all costs” of men’s
intercollegiate sport in the 1920s, educators sought more “humane” physical activity for the edification of
young women.
9
Their solution was largely fueled by the antiquated nineteenth century “separate spheres”
ideology that influenced all of the other aspects of women’s education programs. The separate spheres
ideology “… emphasized motherhood almost to the exclusion of any other concern, [and] dictated
fundamentally different sports programs for male and female students.”
10
Women’s physical educators
were determined to avoid the pitfalls of men’s intercollegiate sport by avoiding competitive sport for
women and applying the aforementioned policy of “moderation” in women’s athletics.
The “humane” alternatives to intercollegiate sport were planned “play days” and “telegraphic
meets.” On play days students from different schools gathered at a one location, where they were assigned
to teams at random – so that no team represented a single school – to play recreational sport.
11
Some
schools partnered for telegraphic meets for individual sports, such as track & field and swimming;
participating schools recorded the statistics for their own athletes and then wired the results to rival
schools to determine the victor.
12

It might be considered a breakthrough in 1922 when, in response to the growth of women’s
athletics in other countries, President of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) William Prout proposed that
the AAU send a team of young women to compete in a series of international competitions to be held in
Paris.
13
In January 1923, the AAU accepted women into track & field, swimming, gymnastics, basketball
and handball competition; additionally, the AAU also required all women’s sports committees to have a
minimum of one female member and/or officer.
14
The members of the Committee on Women’s Athletics
9
Allen Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 136.
10
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 136.
11
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 137.
12
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 137.
13
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 137.
14
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 138.

6

for the American Physical Education Association were enraged by the actions of the AAU, which they
perceived as a failure to protect “physical and moral well-being” of the young women.
15
The committee’s
outrage resulted in the formation of the Women’s Division of the National Amateur Athletic Federation
(NAAF).
The Women’s Division developed the motto, “A sport for every girl and a girl for every sport,”
which meant that sport should be enjoyed by all for health and recreational benefits with the exclusion of
prize-based competition.
16
A 1924 survey of 50 schools across the nation revealed that 60 percent of
collegiate program directors believed intercollegiate sport to be physically harmful to young women; only
22 percent of the schools surveyed actually participated in women’s intercollegiate athletics.
17
A 1931
survey indicated that disapproval had risen to 79 percent and the number of schools participating in
intercollegiate sport had consequently dropped to 12 percent.
18
By 1936, any women’s participation in
college athletics was still predominantly intramural (within the college as opposed to against other
colleges).
19

While the institutional policies on intercollegiate sport significantly affected the physical
activities enjoyed by young middle and upper-class women enrolled in school, this audience only
represented a minority portion of women in the U.S.
20
The majority of the female population never had
the opportunity to go to college; instead they went straight to work during or after high school, married
young, started their families and then went back to work.
21
For these women sport existed in the capacity
of industrial leagues or competitions sponsored by the AAU. Industrial leagues were a form of sports club
sponsored by American corporations for their employees.
22
Softball and bowling were the most popular
15
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 138.
16
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 138.
17
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 140.
18
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 140.
19
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”
20
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 142.
21
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 142.
22
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 143.

7

among women.
23
Industrial leagues excelled in the first AAU women’s national championships of 1923
and 1924.
24

Additional efforts to engage working-class women in sport included: YWCA facilities, girl’s
athletic contests held by the Boston YWCA (1882), a women’s bowling tournament sponsored by the
Chicago Evening American (1930s) and an African American women’s basketball team sponsored by the
Philadelphia Tribune (1930s).
25
Working-class women were difficult to engage because they had very
little leisure time for recreational sport, and they usually chose to go to dance halls during what little time
they did have.
26

The onset of the Great Depression in 1929 brought slow advancement for women’s sports in the
1930s. Although recent strides had been made in the women’s suffrage movement (such as the
amendment that granted women the right to vote in 1920), the loss of jobs during the Depression still
reinforced the cultural ideology that a woman’s place was in the home.
27
One of the exceptions to the
cultural norm during the Depression was Leo Seltzer’s Transcontinental Roller Derby; he adopted a
“separate but equal” policy for the male-female teams in his troupe.
28
Additionally, Seltzer’s
Transcontinental Roller Derby exhibition allowed men and women to compete under the same rules – a
countercultural practice to the “separate spheres” ideology.
World War II (1939-1945) brought a socioeconomic change to the U.S. that challenged those
existing cultural ideologies. When many men left the country to fight in the war, women stayed behind to
fill the holes in the workforce.
29
Women began to recognize their real potential, gaining enough self-
esteem and empowerment during this period to rejuvenate the women’s suffrage movement in the coming
decades.
30
Feminist activists propelled a civil rights movement during the ‘50s and ‘60s, calling for an
23
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 143.
24
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 143.
25
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 142-143.
26
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 142.
27
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”
28
Keith Coppage, ROLLER DERBY to ROLLERJAM: The Authorized Story of an Unauthorized Sport (Santa Rosa,
California: Squarebooks, Inc., 1999) 1.
29
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”
30
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”

8

equal rights amendment to the Constitution that would elevate the status of women and minorities in
American society.
31

Policymakers and physical educators clung to the antiquated perception that sports were
damaging to a women’s reproductive system during this period, but the majority of the population no
longer shared that perception: “Girls were encouraged to do sports by parents, older siblings, friends,
teachers and coaches.”
32
Unfortunately, where there was the desire for more sports participation, there
were often not sufficient facilities to supply the demand; in this, the U.S. fared well only compared to
Europe, where many facilities had been destroyed in the ravages of war.
33
It is impossible to measure
exactly how much sports participation rose in the U.S. during this period. Many surveys that were
conducted failed to properly define sports activity (or differentiate sports activity versus moderate
physical activity) and/or break down the data by gender, age or social class.
34

Facing the pressure of the women’s increased interest in athletics, the Women’s Division was
forced to amend its position on intercollegiate sport. In 1966, the Women’s Division established the
Commission on Intercollegiate Sports for Women (CIAW) to help conduct women’s intercollegiate
competition.
35
In 1971, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) replaced the
CIAW and thus began a long power struggle between the AIAW and the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) for control of women’s intercollegiate sports.
36
Within two years the AIAW voted
to accept athletic scholarships and national championships for women (two pursuits it formerly did not
support).
37
However, it was ultimately the NCAA that emerged as the victor when it introduced incentives
for women’s programs that were too good for schools to refuse:
The NCAA decided to introduce women's championships for intercollegiate sports by
offering the institutions sponsoring women's sports a proposition that ultimately led to the
demise of the AIAW. The NCAA offered to: (a) pay all expenses for teams competing in
31
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”
32
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 191.
33
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 192.
34
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 192.
35
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”
36
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”
37
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 213.

9

a national championship, (b) charge no additional membership fees for schools to add
women's programs, (c) create financial aid, recruitment and eligibility rules that were the
same for women as for men and finally, (d) guarantee women more television coverage.
38

The AIAW is credited with having encouraged the overall increase of women’s participation in
intercollegiate athletics and in pressuring the NCAA into creating a space for women’s athletics.
39
It was
in 1980 that the NCAA decided to hold national championships for Division II and Division III schools;
they added Division I schools a year later.
40

These efforts, along with the educational legislation passed in 1972 (Title IX discussed under
Legislation), propelled women’s intercollegiate athletics forward. According to NCAA data, there was a
260.5 percent increase of women’s participation intercollegiate athletics from 1971 through 1987:
Figure 1 - Intercollegiate Sports Participation 1971-1987
Intercollegiate Sports Participation 1971-1987
1971-72 1981-82 1986-87
Men 172,447 157,404 171,361
Women 31,852 69,096 82,979
M/F Ratio 5.5 2.27 2.04
Source: Allen Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 214.
The average amount of funding allotted for women’s athletic programs rose from 1 to 22 percent of the
overall budget at schools.
41
“Between 1974 and 1981, the number of institutions offering athletic
scholarships for women climbed from 60 to 500.”
42

Through the 1990s and early 2000s, the number of women in intercollegiate athletics continued to
rise. The gains have not been as rapid as they were after the enactment of Title IX (discussed under
“Legislation”), but progress toward gender equity has steadily increased. The NCAA’s Gender Equity
Report (August 2006) demonstrates more than a decade of growth in the average number female athletes
per Division I-A institution.
38
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”
39
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 213.
40
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 213.
41
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 214.
42
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 214.

10

Figure 2 - NCAA Division I-A Athletics Participation Per Institution
NCAA Division I-A Athletics Participation Per Institution
Men’s Women’s % Total
1991-1992 323 130 0.29
1995-1996 289 151 0.34
1997-1998 310 191 0.38
1999-2000 297 193 0.39
2001-2002 330 250 0.43
2002-2003 325 253 0.44
2003-2004 322 255 0.44
Source: Andrew Zimbalist, “Title IX by the Numbers” in Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change, ed. Nancy
Hogshead-Makar and Andrew Zimbalist (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007), 303.
According to NCAA data, 44 percent of the athletes in Division I-A schools were female by the 2002-
2003 academic year. The data also shows a significant increase in the number of athletic scholarships
awarded to female athletes in Division I-A schools. In the period between 1991 and 2004, the overall
budget for athletic scholarships at schools increased, and so did the percentage that was allotted for
women. By 2002-2003, female athletes in Division I-A schools received 42 percent of the funding for
athletic scholarships.
Figure 3 - NCAA Division I-A Scholarships Average Per Institution
NCAA Division I-A Scholarships Average Per Institution
Men’s Women’s Difference Women’s % Total
1991-1992 $2,291,118 $505,246 $1,785,872 0.28
1995-1996 $1,575,821 $824,889 $750,932 0.34
1997-1998 $1,986,097 $1,193,730 $792,367 0.38
1999-2000 $2,188,400 $1,402,100 $716,300 0.40
2001-2002 $2,472,500 $1,735,500 $737,000 0.41
2002-2003 $2,602,200 $1,878,700 $723,500 0.42
2003-2004 $2,943,400 $2,130,400 $813,000 0.42
Source: Andrew Zimbalist, “Title IX by the Numbers,” in Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change, ed. Nancy
Hogshead-Makar and Andrew Zimbalist (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007), 305.
Legislation
The major legislative achievement for women’s athletics was Title IX. Passed as a part of several
other educational amendments in 1972, Title IX dictated that all federally funded education programs
treat male and female students equally. Since Title IX, “college women's athletic participation has
11

increased from 15 percent in 1972 to 43 percent in 2001.”
43
The legislation has been the subject of a long
history of debate and controversy; it has gone through over 20 proposed amendments, reviews and
Supreme Court cases.
44
One such example is the Tower Amendment of 1974, which would have
exempted revenue-producing sports from the legislation; most of the sports that fit under this definition
were men’s programs.
45
It was rejected.
While some were incensed at the very idea of existence of Title IX early on, the larger debate has
centered on identifying what gender equity really looks like in implementation. For example, there is
disagreement surrounding what “equal” funding should look like for athletic programs:
The radical view is that parity should be calculated on the basis of the male/female ratio
of the entire student body. If 52 percent of the students are women, female athletes
should receive 52 percent of the funding. The more moderate view, accepted by the
Department of Education, is that the males and females actually participating in sports
form the relevant population. If 30 percent of the athletes are female, women’s sports
should receive 30 percent of the money.
46

Still Title IX has greatly increased the opportunities available to women in schools as evidenced by the
steady increase of participants and funding made available to students. However, there are still many U.S.
schools that are not in compliance with the mandates of Title IX.
Interestingly, Title IX caused an influx of male coaches into women’s intercollegiate sport, a
byproduct of the legislation that was unanticipated.
47
Women’s physical educators could not meet the
demand for coaches as a result of the increasing number of women’s sports teams: “In 1972, 90 percent of
those coaching women’s intercollegiate athletics were women. By 1987, only 50 percent were women.”
48

This result was likely undesired by female activists because male coaches are considered by some as in a
power position over women’s teams.
Another curious area in the history of women’s athletics is the Olympic Games.
43
Bell, “A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX.”
44
“History of Title IX,” The MAGARET Fund (accessed August 17, 2013), http://www.titleix.info/History/History-
Overview.aspx.
45
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 222.
46
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 222.
47
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 222.
48
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 222.

12

The Olympics
The modern era of the Olympic Games is considered to have started in 1896 in Athens. The first
women’s events occurred at the Olympic Games in Paris in 1900. Twenty-two women competed in
tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian and golf that year; however, only tennis and golf actually offered
women’s events.
49
Women’s participation in the Olympic Games has increased dramatically over the
century. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), those 22 women accounted for only
2.2 percent of the Olympic participants. In 1972 (when Title IX was enacted in the U.S.), women
accounted for only 14.6 percent of total participants.
50
By the 2012 Olympic Games, women accounted
for 44.2 percent of the participants – an increase of 29.6 percent in a 40-year period.
51
Women competed
in every event on the Olympic program in 2012 – a first in the history of the Olympic Games.
52

Figure 4 - Women’s Participation in the Games of the Olympiad
Women’s Participation in the Games of the Olympiad

Source: International Olympic Committee, Women in the Olympic Movement (Switzerland: Olympic Studies Centre,
2013), 4.
49
International Olympic Committee, Women in the Olympic Movement (Switzerland: Olympic Studies Centre,
2013), 1.
50
International Olympic Committee, Women in the Olympic Movement, 4.
51
International Olympic Committee, Women in the Olympic Movement, 4.
52
International Olympic Committee, Women in the Olympic Movement, 1.

13

Even though women’s participation in the Olympic Games has exponentially increased, the IOC
has self-identified a lack of women’s involvement in its administration. Its current objective is to involve
women in at least 20 percent of the decision-making positions among its organizing committees, national
and international federations and other supporting sporting organizations.
53
Although the objective has
not yet been met, the IOC is working toward achieving more gender equity in its administrative network.
One last noteworthy measure that the IOC introduced in 1991 was the requirement for all sports entering
the Olympic program to have women’s events in addition to the men’s events.
54

Performance-Enhancing Drugs Create Suspicion
Steroid-use began to appear in woman’s athletics about 40 years ago. Steroids allow athletes to
perform at longer, harder and stronger intervals than they can naturally achieve, at least temporarily.
Although steroids offer short-term benefits, the usage is still largely experimental and athletes risk long-
term damage to their bodies. When steroids were discovered, athletic officials began to screen
sportspersons for unfair drug use. Romanian shot putter Valentina Cioltan was the first woman caught by
official testing for steroid use in 1975 during the European Cup finals.
55
“Because steroid use is banned, it
is secret; and because it is secret, no one knows which performance was achieved honestly and which was
not.”
56
Steroid use has cultivated a culture of suspicion in athletics – today, everyone is suspect.
57

Pay Inequity among Professional Athletes
There is a sizable gap between the annual earnings of professional male and female athletes.
According to Forbes, the 10 highest paid female professional athletes in 2011 collectively earned an
53
International Olympic Committee, Women in the Olympic Movement, 1.
54
International Olympic Committee, Women in the Olympic Movement, 1.
55
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 256.
56
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 255.
57
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 256.

14

estimated $113 million (from July 2010 through July 2011).
58
By comparison, the 10 highest paid male
athletes earned an estimated $449 million – almost four times the earnings of female athletes.
59

In 2011, Forbes estimated that tennis player Maria Sharapova was the highest paid professional
female athlete in the world for the seventh consecutive year; Sharapova’s $25 million earnings were more
than double her closest competitor’s.
60
The tennis player’s earnings were backed by very good
performance that year; she achieved an 80 percent win record and was ranked number five globally in
women’s tennis.
61
Sharapova’s major brand endorsements included: Nike, Head, Evian, Clear Shampoo,
Sony Ericsson, Tiffany and Tag Heuer.
62
The world’s number one female tennis player, Caroline
Wozniacki, earned $12.5 million (ranked number 2 in the Forbes study).
63
The highest paid male athletes
of 2011 were Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant, earning $75 million and $53 million respectively.
64

The three major income sources for professional athletes are sponsorships, salaries and prize
monies. Sponsorships are affected to some degree by performance; however, brands are also attracted to
athletes with a larger audience reach, wherein they might receive more brand exposure and media
coverage. Media coverage for women’s sports and female athletes is generally lower than male
dominated-sports, which means male athletes receive the greater lump sum of product endorsement
contracts.
Secondly, the annual salary earnings for women’s sports teams are not equal to men’s teams. “For
a WNBA player in the 2005 season, the minimum salary was $31,200, the maximum salary was $89,000
and the team salary cap was $673,000. For NBA players in the 2004-2005 season, the minimum salary
was $385,277, the maximum salary was $15.36 million and the team salary cap was $46 million.”
65
This
58
Kurt Badenhausen, “The Highest-Paid Female Athletes,” Forbes (last modified August 01, 2011),
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/08/01/the-highest-paid-female-athletes/.
59
Badenhausen, “The Highest-Paid Female Athletes.”
60
Badenhausen, “The Highest-Paid Female Athletes.”
61
Badenhausen, “The Highest-Paid Female Athletes.”
62
Badenhausen, “The Highest-Paid Female Athletes.”
63
Badenhausen, “The Highest-Paid Female Athletes.”
64
Kurt Badenhausen, “The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes,” Forbes (last modified May 31, 2011),
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/05/31/the-worlds-highest-paid-athletes/.
65
Women’s Sports Foundation, “Pay Inequity in Athletics” (accessed August 14, 2013),
http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/research/articles-and-reports/equity-issues/pay-inequity.

15

gap is not so much caused by gender bias as much as the overall annual revenue of the sports association,
which determines the earning potential for the athletes within. In the above example, the NBA has a much
higher annual revenue than the WNBA—so yes, there is going to be a pay gap. Some WNBA advocates
say that it is unfair to draw a comparison between the NBA and WNBA because women’s basketball is a
much younger association, and in a much earlier stage of development.
66
WNBA Indiana Fevers Coach
Lin Dunn told USA Today, “Comparing the two, I don't think, is appropriate . . . You have to look at how
we're growing our game and where we are in the growth of our game and not get caught up in that [the
salary gap].”
67
Perhaps only time will tell whether the WNBA may someday achieve the same level of
success as the NBA.
Prize winnings are the last major source of income for competitive professional athletes. Not all
prize purses are has high for women as they are for men. However, strides have been made in many sports
to move in that direction. For example, Wimbledon announced in 2007 that it would offer equal prize
monies for men and women in all four of its Grand Slam events.
68

Marketing and Advertising
As more women became involved in sports, the image of the athletic woman slowly infiltrated
product marketing and advertising. What American society deemed as “attractive” began to change. The
woman who was health-conscious and physically fit became an object of desire instead of an unattractive
cultural anomaly. Guttmann writes, “…frailty is now definitely out of favor.”
69
More importantly, sports
and masculinity are no longer so synonymous with one another. This change in perception might be
construed as a victory for the women’s movement, but it wasn’t accomplished without ulterior motives.
Marketers and advertisers earn a profit for their respective consumer products geared towards women (i.e.
66
David Woods, “Equal pay? Not on the basketball court,” USA Today (May 19, 2012),
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/story/2012-05-19/nba-wnba-basketball-salary-
disparity/55079608/1.
67
Woods, “Equal pay? Not on the basketball court.”
68
Women’s Sports Foundation, “Pay Inequity in Athletics.”
69
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 216.

16

sportswear, equipment, sports drinks, nutritional foods and etc.). The trend is especially visible in today’s
cultural climate, in which Americans are concerned about fitness, dieting and nutrition.
Advertising decisions hugely influence which women’s sports are covered in broadcast. The
discussion ties back into the same reason why some athletes are more likely to attract certain sponsorships
than others. Advertisers are interested in product endorsements with athletes who will help them access
their target audiences. According to Guttmann, that targeted audience is often the more affluent viewer:
“Commercial TV depends on advertisers, and advertisers prefer to invest their money in sports attractive
to affluent viewers. Golf or tennis rather than bowling or softball. Corporate sponsors are also likely to
sponsor golf and tennis tournaments, leaving support for bowling and softball leagues to the local used-
car dealer.”
70
Tennis players are still the highest paid female professional athletes, making up seven of the
top 10 cited by Forbes in 2011.
71

Media Coverage
Sports journalists somewhat failed in women’s sports coverage until the 1980s. Top-tier
newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post only featured female athletes in 8
percent of the photos in sports sections by the mid-1970s.
72
Between August 1972 and September 1973,
only 0.2 percent of the live sports coverage on NBC was devoted to women’s athletics.
73
As part of an
effort to lessen the great disparity between men’s and women’s sports coverage, some media outlets
brought women into the workplace. One such example was Eleanor “Ellie” Sanger, who was hired by
ABC in 1973 to develop women’s programs, making her one of the first female producers to work in
network television.
74
Sanger produced several programs for ABC, including segments for the 1980 and
1984 Olympic Games.
75

70
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 220.
71
Badenhausen, “The Highest-Paid Female Athletes.”
72
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 215.
73
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 215.
74
“Eleanor Sanger Dies; Producer was 63” in The New York Times (March 8, 1993),
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/08/obituaries/eleanor-sanger-dies-tv-producer-was-63.
75
“Eleanor Sanger Dies; Producer was 63.”

17

According to Guttmann, the 1984 Olympic Games was the first in which women’s events
received media coverage comparable to men’s events.
76
Women’s sports received about 40 percent of the
1984 Olympic Games coverage in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.
77
For the first time, it
was more common for female athletes to receive recognition for their athletic performance rather than
solely for their appearances, which were sometimes perceived as overly masculine because of the cultural
ideologies previously discussed.
78

These strides should have been the stepping stones for a promising future in women’s sports
journalism. However, there is significant evidence to the contrary. Marie Hardin, associate director of
research at Penn State University’s John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, contends that despite the
fact women’s participation in sports has enormously increased, women’s sports coverage today has
generally decreased. An ongoing study conducted by the University of Southern California Center for
Feminist Research supports Hardin’s theory. The most recent “Gender in Televised Sports” report
analyzed six weeks of sports coverage on three network affiliates in the Los Angeles Area: KNBC, KCBS
and KABC. The study indicated that in 2009 only 1.6 percent of airtime was devoted to women’s sports;
2.1 percent of the coverage was gender-neutral.
79
In 2004, 6.3 percent of airtime was devoted to women’s
sports on these networks – a drop of 4.7 percent in a five-year period.
80
The figure below indicates the
amount of airtime for women’s sports coverage the study has measured through the content analysis
conducted by researchers since 1989; SportsCenter has only been included since 1999.
76
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 246.
77
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 246.
78
Guttmann, Women’s Sports: A History, 246.
79
Michael A. Messner and Cheryl Cooky, Gender in Televised Sports: News and Highlights Shows, 1989-2009 (Los
Angeles: University of Southern California Center for Feminist Research, June 2010) 4.
80
Messner and Cooky.

18

Figure 5 - News and SportsCenter Airtime devoted to Women’s Sports 1989-2009

Source: Michael A. Messner and Cheryl Cooky, Gender in Televised Sports: News and Highlights Shows, 1989-2009 (Los
Angeles: University of Southern California Center for Feminist Research, June 2010) 10.
According to Hardin, the three main reasons for the decrease in women’s sports coverage are:
downsized staffing in newsrooms, the lack of priority to cover women’s sporting events and the perceived
lack of reader interest in women’s sports.
81
Often reporters are assigned to a particular sports beat,
predominantly in men’s athletics, and they stay within that beat. “When there’s the staff, space and
resources to cover women’s sports, papers will do it. When those start to erode, women’s sports coverage
is one of the first to get cut,” said Amy Moritz, president of the Association for Women in Sports Media
and reporter for The Buffalo News.
82

The reason women’s sports are not priority in the newsroom is the perceived lack of reader
interest in women’s sports. Today, many editors will support this argument with internet data to
demonstrate that digital consumers are not clicking on stories about women’s sports.
83
However, Hardin
argues that these data are flawed: how can one accurately measure public interest in women’s sports when
only men’s sports coverage is available?
84

81
Marie Hardin, “A Shrinking Sports Beat: Women’s Teams, Athletes,” Nieman Foundation for Journalism At
Harvard (accessed August 22, 2013), http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102529/A-Shrinking-Sports-
Beat-Womens-Teams-Athletes.aspx.
82
Hardin, “A Shrinking Sports Beat.”
83
Hardin, “A Shrinking Sports Beat.”
84
Hardin, “A Shrinking Sports Beat.”

19

The only exception to this bleak media landscape occurs in schools and professional sports where
women’s teams have performed exceptionally well (particularly better than the men’s teams) and the team
has accrued an abnormally large fan base.
Conclusion
Women have become involved in sports in unprecedented numbers. The Women’s Suffrage and
Women’s Liberation Movements paved the way for female athletes to compete recreationally and
professionally by challenging antiquated cultural ideologies and fighting for legislation to support
women’s rights. NCAA data indicates women make up almost half of the athletes in Division I-A
schools, and that they are receiving an increasing share of athletic funding. Women’s participation in the
Olympic Games rose from 2.2 percent to 44.2 percent in a little over a century.
85
This is a clear indication
that women’s increased participation in sports is a global movement. However, for all of the progress that
has been made, there are still hurdles to overcome. The largest and most complex of those is how to
increase overall media coverage of women’s sports. More than ever before, it has become important to
understand the relationship between the sport, the athlete, media and the audience. More specifically, how
does a sport like roller derby generate more media coverage in a realm where most women’s sports (and
even some men’s) are suffering?
85
International Olympic Committee, Women in the Olympic Movement.

20

CHAPTER TWO: HISTORY OF ROLLER DERBY
“Only Roller Derby people know Roller Derby.” – Joan Weston
86

Roller derby star Joan Weston made this astute observation about her sport that has held
throughout the history of roller derby. Many Americans remember roller derby with fond recollections of
what it was like on television in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Those memories shaped the predominant
perceptions about roller derby today. The perception that roller derby was a violent, somewhat theatrical,
full-contact game that was both entertaining and athletic was somewhat accurate for the era and even, to
some extent, still accurate today. Most people would be surprised to discover that roller derby was
operated as a family business for the first half of its existence, or that roller derby was one of only three
team sports that originated in the U.S. (the others being basketball and volleyball).
87

Leo Seltzer and Transcontinental Roller Derby
During the Depression, Leo Seltzer sought to bring audiences together through a variety of
entertainment outlets. He was a successful promoter and businessman, the owner of three movie theaters
in Portland, Oregon and a popular traveling walkathon series.
88
Walk, dance and cycle marathons were
popular activities because the events were easily accessible for participants with ordinary skills to
compete, and easily accessible to spectators.
89
The concept of the marathon was simple – participants
were to compete against each other to perform one of these ordinary activities for an abnormally long
period of time or distance.
90

By 1933, Seltzer had relocated to Chicago, where he found himself owner of the lease to the
Chicago Coliseum, which had a lot of space that was difficult to fill.
91
Fueled by determination to
maximize the arena’s potential and a desire to introduce the world to something new, Seltzer created
Transcontinental Roller Derby.
86
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 1.
87
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, viii.
88
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 3.
89
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 2.
90
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 2.
91
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 4.

21

The first Transcontinental Roller Derby was played on August 13, 1935. Modeled after the
popular marathons of the era, ten two-person teams were challenged to skate the distance from California
to New York, which was approximately 4000 miles or 57,000 laps around the elaborate track.
92
Each
team was made up of only two members, who alternated turns on the track. The event took placed over a
one-month period, with the better skaters averaging about 110 miles per day on skates.
93
“As in walk and
dance marathons, sprints (later called ‘jams’) signaled opportunities for skaters to attempt to lap other
skaters for extra points.”
94
Over 20,000 spectators attended the event.
The first event was such a success that Seltzer took his troupe of skaters to the road. Venues were
carefully selected because the derby limited to those where track could be set up for long periods of time.
In operations and recruiting, Seltzer was forwardthinking. Going against deeply-engrained cultural
ideologies, Seltzer invited women to compete in the derby under the same rules as men. All of the skaters
of the traveling troupe ate and slept at or near the venue in which they were skating . The derby
historically also showed no prejudice toward skin color in an era when the country was still segregated;
the only prejudice that existed was the inherent rivalry between teams.
95

Seltzer ran a legitimate operation on every level, which is why skaters were expected to abide by
several rules, such as abstaining from drinking and fighting.
96
All of the skaters were compensated
through a profitsharing program, which simultaneously made them paid entertainers, employees and
athletes in Seltzer’s operation. Early on, the skaters earned a base salary of $25 each week—a number
that improved when the overall revenue on ticket sales increased.
97

Seltzer was constantly conducting audience analysis. He paid close attention to spectator
engagement during games and frequently conducted informal surveys, making adjustments to the game
92
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 4.
93
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 5.
94
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 5.
95
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 49.
96
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 6.
97
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 5.

22

based on his findings.
98
When sportswriter Damon Runyon recognized that spectators were more
enthralled when the skaters engaged in more contact and collisions, Seltzer altered the rules to emphasize
more of this action in the game.
The derby was a resounding success in some cities and a failure in others. There is no statistical
data available to explain why this happened; however, the amount of media attention the derby received
before an event was usually a good predictor on how the event was going to fare.
99
Significantly, Seltzer
considered women – making up a little over 50 percent of spectactors – a key target audience for the
sport’s future.
100

Seltzer relied on media relations to promote the derby to every new venue and location.
Interviews, articles and advertising—also known as traditional media—were vital elements to his buzz-
building campaigns. One of Seltzer’s favorite tactics to engage the media and potential spectators was the
discount ticket. “All Americans love discounts,” he said, “they can’t resist them.”
101
The skaters were
treated like celebrities in the press, often appearing in both gossip columns and sports pages.
“Sportswriters were especially fascinated with the women skaters. ‘The guy who called the gals the
weaker sex would soon change his mind if he were to take a peek at the femmes competing in the
Transontinental Roller Derby now at the Civic Auditorium,’ wrote one journalist.”
102

Still the derby struggled to earn respect from sports writers as an athletic event because of its
female competitors (not accepted as a norm), and no reliable scoring or player stat system.
103
These
reporters began to focus on the action surrounding the event rather than the games itself – for example,
the actions of the spectators, the physical violence between skaters or the spills they took. “This focus on
the peripheral action set a pattern for all newspaper coverage. Virtually every aspect of the attraction was
98
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 8.
99
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 11-12.
100
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 7.
101
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 7.
102
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 10.
103
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 10.

23

described by sports writers – except the game itself. Ominously, the word ‘show’ cropped up in many
articles.”
104

All coverage about the derby seemed to cease as soon as the “show” left town, a sign that it had
not penetrated the country beyond the local level.
105
It did not receive national coverage until 1937, when
22 skaters were killed in a bus accident on their way from St. Louis to Cincinnati.
106
These skaters made
up nearly all of the original squad; the number “1” was retired to honor the memory of those who were
lost in the accident.
107

By 1941, Seltzer had established eight travel teams, all operating under the umbrella of his
Transcontinential Roller Derby Association.
108
Over 4 million people in the Midwest saw the derby in 20
different cities that year.
109
The derby appeared to have a promising future until the U.S. entered World
War II in 1941. When almost all of the male skaters were drafted, there were only enough skaters
remaining for two teams.
110
“Sportswriters couldn’t understand what we were trying to sell,” Seltzer said,
“We had to take two teams across the country playing each other. That’s not a sport, that’s an
exhibition.”
111
Still, he managed to keep the operation alive until the hardship passed and the promising
avenue of broadcast television arrived.
Roller Derby Reaches Broadcast Television
Broadcast television was the greatest publicity investment Seltzer ever made. In 1948, he made an
agreement with CBS for a 13-week series of live television broadcast in the New York area. On
November 29, the derby was broadcast live for the first time on CBS from the 69
th
Regiment Armory,
104
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 13.
105
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 12.
106
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 13.
107
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 13.
108
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 16.
109
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 16.
110
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 16.
111
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 16.

24

where it was seen by only 500 spectators and narrated by in-house commentator Ken Nydell.
112
It was an
immediate success; less than a week later, the next game sold out all 5,300 seats.
113

After the 13-week series with CBS was over, Seltzer signed with ABC.
114
The enterprise (which
had been renamed the National Roller Derby League) was comprised of six teams: the New York Chiefs,
Brooklyn Red Devils, Jersey Jolters, Philadelphia Panthers, Chicago Westerners and Washington Jets.
115

Television brought some changes, such as a uniform redesign to help viewers easily indentify the
different teams on black and white television.
116
It also brought the opportunity for Selzter to endorse his
own skate products. Seltzer and his brother Oscar founded Roller Derby Skate Company during this
period, and the skates were worn by the athletes at televised games.
117
Local newspapers included the
kind of publicity Seltzer had long sought – event schedules, in-depth articles and one-on-one interviews
with the most popular players.
118

By June 1949, the derby was housed in Madison Square Garden – one time selling over 55,000
tickets for a five-day world series.
119
By 1950, the National Roller Derby School, also known as the
College of Hard Knocks, was accepting enrollment for aspiring roller derby stars in Chicago.
120
In an
excerpt from a 1950 press release, writer Dick Broderick attributes the growth of roller derby to women:
Women, who could never see themselves smashing the line on the football field or
slamming a home run into the stands, suddenly found a sport in which members of their
sex were regular competitors with no special rules made out of deference to their sex …
There is no denying that women have raised Roller Derby to the position of Number 5 in
the country today [1950]. Their support has made it a major sport.
121

The cycle of growth, unfortunately, would not last forever. “Leo [Seltzer] interpreted the derby’s
box office success as a validation of its excellent product. Only 20 years later did he realize that the
112
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 19.
113
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 19.
114
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 19.
115
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 20.
116
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 21.
117
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 21.
118
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 20.
119
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 20.
120
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 21.
121
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 24.

25

increase in ticket sales was merely an indication of the power of television, and not necessarily a sign of
the viability of his creation.”
122
Seltzer decided to terminate his contract after three years of nonstop
broadcast with ABC, an action that later proved to be extremely detrimental to the health of his
business.
123
He soon found that no other television networks were lining up to broadcast roller derby
because viewers had become disinterested and overexposed.
124
All of the action and theatrical antics that
had once excited viewers and arena spectators later led them to doubt the authenticity and legitimacy of
the sport.
125

The main reason the lack of a television contract hurt the derby so badly was because it was
inaccessible to most potential spectators when it was not on television; audiences could only spectate in
places where the banked track was set up for live games.
126
The other problem was that sport was
inaccessible to ordinary people; at best the recreational skater could go down and visit the local roller
rink.
127
Only the professional skaters could skate on the revered banked track.
By January 1952, Seltzer was still unable to secure a new contract.
128
Television was evolving,
viewership was increasing, as was the competition for that viewership among television networks. As a
result many other forms of entertainment were suffering with the derby: “In 1952, television was killing
movies and virtually every other kind of live entertainment, including sporting events.”
129
All the money
in Seltzer roller derby business had depleted to a point that he was unable to pay skaters their wages.
130

Despite harsh financial times, the athletes were still fed and housed, and they continued to remain loyal to
the Seltzer operation.
131
The derby continued to attract new talent during this era, even without the
122
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 21.
123
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 24.
124
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 24.
125
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 24.
126
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 24.
127
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 24.
128
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 27.
129
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 28.
130
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 27.
131
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 27.

26

television contract.
132
However, it would never again enjoy the limelight it once had in the New York area
as one of the only shows available on broadcast.
Still on the brink of closure and hugely in debt, Seltzer moved the business to Los Angeles in Fall
1952 to refocus his efforts on an unsaturated area.
133
The derby performed respectably, but its overall
financial circumstances did not significantly improve. Closure only seemed more imminent when Seltzer
was advised to reduce his stress level for the sake of his health.
134
He was about to permanently close
operations when he signed a contract with independent station KTLA.
135
“These televised games helped
sustain the derby but did nothing to advance the sport.”
136
The two main squads during this period were
the California Bombers (San Francisco Bay Area) and the Los Angeles Braves. Seltzer also managed to
bring the derby back to New York in a smaller capacity through a small group of television networks.
137

The exposure on both coasts was unspectacular, however, the skaters were still extremely dedicated to
their training and loyal to the derby by all accounts.
A few years later, closure was imminent once more. What was left of the business, along with the
remainder of its skaters that were willing to relocate, was moved to the Bay Area (Others stayed behind,
later forming the National Skating Derby, Inc., which controlled television viewership in the Los Angeles
area for decades to come).
138
Most of the early games were held at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds in
1958.
139
When the opportunity arose to work with a brand new independent station in Oakland, called
KTVU, Seltzer took it.
140
He also placed his son Jerry at the helm, which was the start of a new era for
roller derby.
132
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 28.
133
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 29 and 31.
134
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 32.
135
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 32.
136
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 32.
137
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 33.
138
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 34.
139
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 34.
140
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 35.

27

Jerry Seltzer, Bay Promotions and Roller Derby in the 1960s and 70s
Suprisingly, Jerry Seltzer did not grow up on roller skates.
141
After completing his degree in
Business Administration at Northwestern and marrying Marjorie, Jerry Seltzer moved to Los Angeles in
the late 1950s to work in sales for the Roller Derby Skate Company.
142
Shortly thereafter, he moved again
up to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he helped manage the derby and opened a roller skate
warehouse.
143
When the new KTVU agreement was signed, Jerry Seltzer borrowed $500 to invest into
revitalizing his father’s sport; he put up new grandstands for the weekly games and started a new training
school in Oakland with the money.
144

In 1959, Seltzer partnered with friend Hal Silen to found a new business entity called Bay
Promotions to help promote the derby.
145
It was immediately noticed by the skaters that Jerry Seltzer’s
managerial strengths were very different from his father’s:
Leo’s players were loyal out of a sense of family, while Jerry was admired for his
unfailing business sense. Leo’s strength was his dream, his undying hope. Jerry, on the
other hand, was more practical. He had observed enough family business to know what
not to do. He did not seek to present the derby in a shining spotlight; prestige was
unimportant to him. In direct contrast to his father, Jerry reasoned that the media could
cast roller derby in whatever light they chose, or they could ignore it. The bottom line for
Jerry was that people were buying tickets.
146

Jerry Seltzer’s ultimate concern was to provide the audience with an entertaining experience, the kind of
experience they would want to come back for. This was vitally important for the derby to operate as a
successful business because of the basic logic that quality entertainment would lead to more ticket sales.
The skaters were tasked with finding the balance between athleticism and theatrics that mutually satisfied
their athletic sensibilities and entertained spectators.
147

141
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 35.
142
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 35.
143
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 35.
144
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 35.
145
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 36.
146
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 36.
147
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 36.

28

In 1959, Seltzer began videotaping the bouts (games) played by the San Francisco Bay
Bombers.
148
Videotaping was a new process, making the prerecorded roller derby bout somewhat
innovative for the era. The videotapes were sent to a short list of partnering television stations, through
which they received high levels of viewership.
149
He also reserved time in the broadcasts to promote
upcoming derby events and insert product endorsements for the Roller Derby Skate Company.
150
The
tapes were sent at virtually no cost to the television stations; Seltzer offered a $100 credit to the stations
(which covered the licensing fees for duplicating and mailing the tapes) in exchange for one-minute derby
spots during other programming.
151
Roller derby was reaching viewers through a network of over more
than 120 stations within a few years.
152
Seltzer’s marketing strategy was to use television as a means of
promoting live roller derby; by excluding some of the action of the live event from he footage, he hoped
to entice television viewers into to see the derby action in person.
153

In 1962, a Chevrolet dealership offered the Bombers a sponsorship deal to play a live bout in
Oregon.
154
The skaters, accustomed to their home at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, were reluctant
but they agreed to go.
155
Fans responded to the derby with great enthusiasm at the Glass Palace; fan letters
poured in to the Bay Promotions office in Oakland and the game even turned a profit for the business.
156

Seltzer decided it was time to bring live derby back to other cities around the nation. He applied a simple
yet effective strategy in selecting the cities for the tour. Mail responses and television ratings were the two
key factors.
157
In order to become a tour venue, the location in question had to show promising numbers
in both.
148
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 37.
149
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 37.
150
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 37.
151
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 37.
152
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 38
153
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 38.
154
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 40.
155
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 40.
156
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 40.
157
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 40.

29

Buzz-building was as important to Jerry’s marketing strategy as it was in his father’s. He
distributed ads, photos and press releases to local press, requesting for materials to be placed in the
entertainment section.
158
Other publicity efforts included television spots and interviews with popular
skaters. “By skating ‘One Night Only!’ in most of the cities along the carefully planned route, the derby
assured itself of two things: a sellout crowd and fans who would be delighted to see the skaters’ very
presence, a method diametrically opposed to Leo’s old-time strategy (plop skaters down in new territory
until they inevitably wear out their welcome.).”
159
The younger Seltzer’s strategy enabled the derby to
maximize its opportunity for exposure and revenue at every venue by creating hype over a single event.
Every success came with some failure. Seltzer transferred one of the other teams under the
umbrella of the organization, the Brooklyn Red Devils, to the South in 1962.
160
The newly renamed Dixie
Devils did not achieve the same success as the Bombers due in part to poor television networking.
161
The
Devils reemerged the following season at the derby’s first international team, the Mexico City
Cardenales.
162
This name-changing pattern was common throughout the history of derby. Because the
derby was a family-owned operation, they could exercise the freedom to rename teams or transfer players
as frequently or infrequently as they wanted. The players themselves often had difficulty remembering for
which teams they actually played; it really made no difference to them as their salaries were all the
same.
163
The frequent team and roster changes did not help sports writers with their coverage, nor did it
convince them to recognize roller derby as a legitimate sport.
164

In 1968, roller derby was featured briefly in the movie Petulia (dir. Richard Lester). The film
reference piqued the interest of Sports Illustrated, so it sent reporter Frank Deford on tour with the
Bombers to write a feature article.
165
Deford later expanded his article into a book called “Five Strides on
158
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 40.
159
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 42.
160
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 42.
161
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 42.
162
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 43.
163
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 43.
164
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 43.
165
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 52.

30

the Banked Track” (1971), which is one of the earliest and only existing historical accounts of roller
derby.
By 1971, the league was triple the size it was two years earlier.
166
The derby no longer struggled
to get media attention like it did in the elder Seltzer’s era; it had fully saturated American televisions and
newspapers. Reuters regularly wired game scores to other newspapers around the country.
167
Because the
rosters and “home team” locations changed so often, newspapers usually dropped the geographic
affiliation of the teams, instead only using the names of the derby’s six teams: the Jolters, the Chiefs, the
Bombers, the Pioneers, the Red Devils and the Eagles.
168

Also in 1971, Seltzer commissioned a film called Derby. While working on what was originally a
behind-the-scenes documentary, director Robert Kaylor discovered a new angle when his film crew
captured a conversation between factory worker Mike Snell and roller derby all-star Charlie O’Connell
during half-time at a Dayton Arena game.
169
Dissatisfied with the present and future prospects at his
current job, Snell discusses the prospect of pursuing a roller derby career with O’Connell. “The scene
clicked and suddenly the footage seemed so painfully real that Derby became a parallel split between the
world of the skaters and the life of a working-class man trying to break into the world.”
170
The film went
on to receive positive reviews from those that understood it as something more than a film about roller
derby. On April 23, 1971, legendary New York Times movie critic Vincent Canby wrote:
If Mike Snell’s story gives Derby its shape, scenes of the Roller Derby itself, an
acknowledged amalgam of sport and pre-arranged spectacle, plus interviews with its
various stars, give the film—and Mike’s life—a fascinating context . . . I'm especially
amazed that a film which was designed to be self-serving should be such an accurate
report on a time and place, and should also have such an unsentimental regard for its
people. For men like Mike Snell, there will always be the challenge of a new frontier,
which, in this case, happens to be the Roller Derby.
171

166
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 80.
167
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 80.
168
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 80.
169
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 52.
170
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 52-53.
171
Vincent Canby, “Screen: American Dream: ‘Derby’ Mixes Fantasy and Fact Skillfully” in The New York Times
(April 23, 1971, accessed on August 31, 2013),
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950CE7DF1E31E73BBC4B51DFB266838A669EDE.

31

Today, Derby is still a respected work in American film.
By 1972, while Seltzer continued to focus his efforts on audience satisfaction and tour
scheduling, his father firmly believed roller derby was on its way to becoming a legitmate sport (Leo
Seltzer even hoped that one day it would become an Olympic sport).
172
The league held a six-week
championship playoff tournament, from which the Chiefs won the title at Madison Square Garden.
173

That same year, Seltzer sold the Bombers to a Texas investment group that sought to relocate the team to
the Southwest.
174
The sale would have put the team under the ownership of another organization, a first in
the history of roller derby, if it had not fallen through.
175
During the brief period the Bombers appeared to
be sold, Seltzer attempted to transfer a new home team to the Bay Area; fans did not embrace the change.
Instead spectators would cheer for the “visiting” team or for individual skaters, an unanticipated and
undesired consquence that permanently saturated the fanbase.
176

All of the publicity and exposure made the derby operation appear successful on the surface, but
in reality it was still a challenge for the business to survive from season to season.
177
Coppage’s
observations indicate that the company’s bills always got paid and it seems to have managed to break
even, but it was extremely difficult for the Seltzers to turn a profit. Home games in the Bay Area were the
major source of income for the business to fund the league’s travel season, and the money from travel
games was supposed to help fund the business back in the Bay Area.
178
The future for the derby was again
uncertain when the travel games began losing money in 1972.
179
Then, a small group of disgruntled
skaters went on strike, asking for higher pay for rookie skaters, more travel money and 40-week
172
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 82.
173
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 82.
174
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 86.
175
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 87.
176
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 87.
177
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 88.
178
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 88.
179
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 88.

32

season.
180
The strike caused a new rift between the skaters that had never before existed; they were no
longer a unified group but in separate factions within the organization.
181

By 1973, the operation appeared to be at a standstill. The skaters still performed well but there
was no explosive new talent or exciting new visuals and eventually the novelty and excitement of roller
derby began to dissipate once more.
182
Still, the derby’s first ever round robin tournament, the “Roller
Derby Gold Cup,” was held in May at Shea Stadium in New York. Fascinated by the possibilities of
electronic ticketing, Seltzer employed Ticketron for advanced ticket sales to the tournament.
183
The
ticketing service turned out to be a disappointment when the system was down for the 72-hour period
preceding the event (and invariably impeding all pre-event ticket sales) and Ticketron failed to let him
know.
184
The tournament could have quickly turned into a loss. The Bombers continued to play with
unimpressive ticket sales throughout the remainder of the season.
185
For some time, Seltzer knew that the
business of roller derby was in as precarious of a financial position as it had been since its founding and it
could collapse at any time.
186
“As an attraction, Roller Derby was a phenomenon. As a tenant, it was
always first class, always welcome. As a company, though – and some ways this was all that mattered –
in 1973, Roller Derby was no different than it had been in 1935: a small, reputable family business and,
when the going got tough, on its own and friendless.”
187
Seltzer faced the difficult decision of whether or
not it was time to give up on his father’s dream.
On December 7, 1973 Seltzer held a solemn meeting before the skaters in Binghamton, where he
announced the closure of the business.
188
The last game took place in Commack, Long Island on
December 8. All-star player Joanie Weston said, “That had to be the best-kept secret in the history of
180
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 88.
181
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 89.
182
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 90-91.
183
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 93.
184
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 93.
185
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 94.
186
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 94.
187
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 94.
188
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 94.

33

Roller Derby . . . We went out and skated not for the fans, not for management, but for ourselves . . . That
night, the fans probably saw the greatest Roller Derby game ever skated.”
189

Seltzer went on to become one of the pioneers of electronic ticketing, founding a new service
called BASS Tickets with former Bay Promotions partner Hal Silen.
The Roller Games
Former derby player Herb Roberts founded the National Skating Derby, Inc. (NSD) in 1960 after
the Seltzers relocated their operation to the Bay Area. Only a year later, the NSD was sold to Bill
Griffiths and Jerry Hill.
190
The NSD’s premier roller derby team, the Thunderbirds, went on to dominate
broadcast television in the Los Angeles area through the 60s and 70s.
191
The games were held at the
Olympic Auditorium. The business expanded quickly in its first decade, establishing leagues in
Baltimore, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Florida, Hawaii, Canada, Australia and Japan in the 1960s.
192
It was
later renamed the National Roller League. The NRL encompassed subsidiaries in four countries: the U.S.,
Canada, Japan and Australia.
193

The NRL and all its subsidiaries were originally dubbed the “Roller Games” because the Seltzer
family had a monopoly on the name “Roller Derby” as the originators of the sport. When Jerry Seltzer
shut down roller derby in 1973, many of the skaters joined the Roller Games.
194
Seltzer also sold the
promotional rights to Griffiths. Griffiths decided to combine what was left of Seltzer’s operation and his
own to form the International Skating Conference (ISC).
195
However, the Roller Games met the same fate
as the original roller derby only two years later, when it was also shut down due to financial
difficulties.
196

189
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 95.
190
Scott Stephens, “T-Birds History,” Los Angeles Thunderbirds Roller Derby (accessed September 2, 2013),
http://www.latbirds.net/los-angeles-thunderbirds.htm.
191
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
192
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
193
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
194
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
195
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
196
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”

34

Shortly thereafter, there was a skater-driven effort to revive the T-Birds with John Hall and Ralph
Valladares at the helm in 1975. The revival did not come without sacrifice and the Roller Games saw
several highs and lows over the next twenty years. Most skaters were no longer able to make a living off
of skating full-time.
197
They trained hard and they worked hard, many taking on a second job to
supplement their living expenses.
198
Meanwhile, Jerry Hill spearheaded a successful effort to establish the
Philadelphia Warriors in the East.
199

By 1978, there were rivalry games between the T-Birds and another league, the Chicago Hawks
(led by a former T-Bird skater), that were attracting crowds to the Roller Games at the T-Bird’s original
home in the Olympic Auditorium. The T-Birds toured Mexico in 1980, selling out the 30,000-seat
Mexico City Copper Dome on multiple occasions.
200

ESPN picked up Roller Games for a short time in 1986, broadcasting the bouts from Las
Vegas.
201
However, a financial disagreement between Griffiths and the broadcast network ultimately led
him to shut down the Roller Games again.
202

In 1989, Griffiths partnered with television producers David Sams and Mike Miller to produce
RollerGames, a broadcast series that featured an extremely theatrical version of roller derby with a figure-
eight track and an alligator pit.
203
The financial backing for the show crumbled after only one season.
The other attempts to revive the league in the 1990s and 2000s occurred under the name of Roller
Games International (RDI). Even though the Roller Games shut down several times as a business
operation (like the Seltzers’ roller derby) it never truly died. Several exhibition games were played
throughout the decades, often featuring a mix of new and veteran skaters. Many of these games were still
loved and enjoyed by roller derby fans as much as roller derby skaters.
197
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
198
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
199
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
200
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
201
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
202
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”
203
Stephens, “T-Birds History.”

35

Rollerjam
On May 10, 1997 the aforementioned Joan Weston, also known as the “Blonde Bomber,” passed
away at age 62 from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. She was one of the most beloved and talented roller derby
players of all time, and her passing inspired memoirs of her skating career and a certain nostalgia for
derby. Jerry Seltzer was approached by inquiring minds about what had happened to roller derby and
even by a few inspired souls on what it would take to revive it. However, it was not until television
producer Stephen Land (who himself was inspired by a New York Times obituary written in Weston’s
memory) approached him, that Seltzer really considered the possibility that roller derby could be
reborn.
204

Land and business partner Ross Bagwell eventually spearheaded an enormous production effort
that shaped RollerJam, a television broadcast series that aired on The Nashville Network (TNN) for the
first time in 1998. RollerJam fell into the genre of sports entertainment, same as the Extreme
Championship Wrestling that also appeared on the network to appeal to younger audiences. The show did
involve a script and some theatrics, but by all accounts the action was very real. Land remarked in a 1999
interview with PopCult Magazine, “We’re in the entertainment business, no question. And we do
manipulate competition, but what you see out there on the track is real. There is no way to choreograph
and script everything that goes on out there. It moves so fast.”
205

The RollerJam skaters were recruited from a variety of roller sports such as speed skating, figure
skating, hockey and jam skating.
206
They trained six days a week for a two-month period prior to the start
of the first season.
207
Pageboy Entertainment, Land’s newly formed production company, recruited the
help of original derby players such as Joan Weston’s husband, Nick Scopas, to train the new skaters. Like
their predecessors, RollerJam skaters were paid professional athletes, entertainers and employees under
204
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 98.
205
Turczyn, Coury, “Blood on the Tracks,” PopCult Magazine (January 28, 1999, accessed September 2, 2013),
http://www.popcultmag.com/obsessions/fadsandphenoms/rollerderby/derby3.html
206
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 106.
207
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 109.

36

the umbrella of Pageboy. The skaters were drafted onto one of three teams of the newly formed World
Skating League (WSL) during the first season; these teams were called the Florida Sundogs, the
California Quakes and the New York Enforcers.
208
Three more teams were added by season two: the
Illinois Riot, the Nevada Hot Dice and the Texas Rustlers.
209

RollerJam was filmed at Universal Studios Stage 21 in Orlando, Fla. on a custom-built 65-foot by
120-foot banked track that was 14-feet wide known as the RollerJam Arena.
210
One of the biggest
differences from classic roller derby was that the athletes wore inline skates instead of traditional quad
wheel skates. Seltzer was appointed the WSL Commissioner.
After four seasons, RollerJam was cut from the network in 2001.
The Austin Revival
Not long after the invention of roller derby, Leo Seltzer put it on a banked track to increase the
speed of the game and entertain audiences. Roller derby was always played on the banked track in the
years that followed . . . until it experienced another revival effort in the 21
st
Century.
The revival began in 2000, when a group of women came together in Austin, Texas to form a new
league and reinvent the game under the leadership of Bad Girl Good Woman Productions. Founding a
new league proved extremely difficult and soon there was dissension among the ranks about league
operations. The dissension ultimately resulted in a league split; 65 of the league’s original 80 skaters left
in 2003 to form the Texas Rollergirls Rock-n-Rollerderby (TRG). The original league was called the
Texas Roller Derby—Lonestar Rollergirls (TXRD). The two leagues quickly developed very different
ideologies. Where TRG succeeded in propelling the maturation of roller derby into a legimate sport,
TXRD succeeded in promoting it to more people, enveloping new fans and new skaters into the
contemporary version of the sport.
208
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 98.
209
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 98.
210
Coppage, ROLLER DERBY TO ROLLERJAM, 106.

37

Before the league split, the skaters discovered that roller derby worked as well on a flat track as it
did on banked (albeit the skating was a little bit slower). With that knowledge, TRG decided to design
new track specifications and a new rule set. The new flat track design was revolutionary because it made
roller derby accessible to almost anyone – a first in the history of the sport. Roller derby could be played
on any flat surface. TRG also pioneered the concept of a roller derby league as skater owned and operated
business (“For the skater, by the skater”). It introduced a democratic structure to league operations, a
model that hundreds of new leagues would imitate.
In 2004, TRG helped found The United Leagues Coalition (ULC) to foster the growth of flat
track roller derby. The ULC was later renamed the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).
The WFTDA is the main governing body and supporting sports organization over flat track roller derby
today. Currently, the WFTDA is comprised of over 234 member leagues and 89 apprentice leagues. There
are no longer any aspects of the game that are staged, although skaters still use alterego names on the
track as a tribute to the original derby (The author goes by “Bambi in the Headlights”). The athleticism of
roller derby players, though it was always there, is more visible on the flat track than ever before.

TXRD continued to skate on the banked track after the original league split. This league sought to
bring a combination of athleticism and entertainment to the track, which pays homage to roller derby’s
historic roots as sports entertainment.

That vision has held through today: “TXRD continues to walk a fine
line between sports and entertainment, a unique concept not only in sports in general but in roller derby
itself. Though the focus has shifted over the years to the real, hard-hitting action, TXRD still offers a little
something extra.”
211
TXRD’s definition of something extra includes fist-fighting, duels, tug-o-wars and
pillow fights.
212
The league adds, “Some people think we fight as a gimmick; we know we fight because
the game just isn’t the same without it.”
213

211
“About Us,” Texas Roller Derby (accessed September 11, 2013), http://txrd.com/about.
212
“About Us,” Texas Roller Derby.
213
“About Us,” Texas Roller Derby.

38

Roller derby owes much exposure to TXRD’s publicity efforts in the realm of entertainment. In
2006, the league was featured in a 13-episode broadcast reality series called Rollergirls that appeared for
one season on A&E. According to TXRD, the show got viewers excited about banked track roller derby
again, and inspired hundreds of other startup leagues around the country.
214
The league was also featured
in a documentary called Hell on Wheels (dir. Bob Ray, 2008), which tells the story of how the TXRD was
founded and the challenges in went through (including the league split).
The world of roller derby as it is portrayed in the narrative of Whip It (dir. Drew Barrymore,
2009), is largely based off insight from what it was like to be a skater in the early days of TXRD.
215
Two
TXRD skaters also peformed as stunt doubles in the film.
216
Whip It made an instrumental impact on the
roller derby community, drawing in an unprecented amount of new skaters (many of the author’s
teammates also started roller derby as result of seeing this film.). Additionally, many young people from
who have never heard of roller derby were exposed to the sport for the very first time as a byproduct of
the film.
TRG and TXRD epitomized the two different sides of roller derby there are in existence today. If
one league had existed without the other, the sport may have repeated the same pattern of rise and decline
it has seen throughout its history.
Conclusion
As a social movement roller derby is largely perceived as a bold statement made by women about
their femininity, independence and athleticism. The WFTDA’s tagline supports this notion: “Real. Strong.
Athletic. Revolutionary.”
217
The sport is also part of a countercultural social movement that is about
rejecting societal norms. In an image-driven society, where the cultural perception of beauty is driven by
consumer-based marketing and products, roller derby dares to redefine that perception. It is rooted in the
214
“About Us,” Texas Roller Derby.
215
“About Us,” Texas Roller Derby.
216
“About Us,” Texas Roller Derby.
217
Homepage, Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (accessed August 8, 2013), http://wftda.com/.

39

same feminist activism that motivated women to challenge cultural ideologies throughout the twentieth
century and fight for the right to play competitive sport.
With skaters at the helm of the movement, the sport has evolved from classic sports entertainment
into a legitmate sport within a short decade. Today, Roller Derby Worldwide has over 1513 leagues from
all over the globe listed in its database.
218
“I never thought it would be back. But it is, to an extent that my
father and me could have never dreamed...My father always wanted Roller Derby to be legitimate and to
be in the Olympics; I think it can now,” Jerry Seltzer wrote in a letter to the WFTDA in 2009.
219
The
sport is in fact being considered by the International Olympic Committee, along with several other roller
sports, for the 2020 Olympic Games.
Roller derby will celebrate its 79
th
birthday on August 13, 2014.

218
Homepage, Roller Derby Worldwide (accessed January 18, 2014), http://www.derbyroster.com/.
219
“Letter of Support from Jerry Seltzer,” Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (accessed September 2, 2013),
http://web.archive.org/web/20070820085158/http://www.wftda.com/index.html.

40

CHAPTER THREE: UNDERSTANDING MODERN ROLLER DERBY
“Where are the big moneyed people who bring in another unneeded pro football league, or basketball, or
soccer? This is the game of the present and future. The structure is already there.” – Jerry Seltzer
220

This section provides an overview of how contemporary roller derby is played, owned and
operated. The modern manifestation of roller derby looks very different from other sports in that it is
wholly supported by roller derby players. The strength of this new movement is derived from the passion,
dedication and loyalty of early roller derby players, which was passed on to the next generation of skaters
who propelled roller derby’s development into a real sport. “For the skater, by the skater” has become the
mantra of today’s roller derby leagues because they are skater owned and operated.
Many leagues have grown into very successful sports teams in their communities under the “for
the skater, by the skater” model. However, where many have succeeded, many fledgling leagues have
failed to garner the necessary funding, participation and viewership to function. To have a chance at
survival a roller derby league must also operate well as a business. This is no simple task, as Seltzer and
Griffiths can corroborate. The difference between today and yesterday is that the survival of the entire
sport is no longer dependent upon a single business entity, but on a number of amateur sports leagues that
are operation as businesses – a number that has expanded into the thousands and is only continuing to
grow.
The Track
The first Transcontinental Roller Derby was played on a flat track. Shortly after its invention, Leo
Seltzer experimented with a banked track to increase the speed of the game. Pleased with the audience
reception, Seltzer kept the banked track design. Although the angle, size and surface changed with each
track construction, roller derby was played on the banked track for the remainder of the twentieth century.
220
Jerry Seltzer, “This Time it is Staying Around,” Roller Derby Jesus (September 22, 2010),
http://rollerderbyjesus.com/2010/09/22/this-time-it-is-staying-around/

41

When a group of roller derby revivalists called Texas Rollergirls Rock-n-Rollerderby discovered
in 2003 that roller derby worked on flat track as well as it did banked, they started a revolutionary new
movement. Roller derby could be played almost anywhere and was accessible to almost anyone for the
first time in history. New leagues began to appear around the country and then around the globe. The
Women’s Flat Track Derby Association established an official rule set that all leagues could play by; in
doing so, the association also specified track dimensions and how to measure them. Today, regardless of
the league size or location, any team can play by the WFTDA’s track and rule set. These efforts have
helped unify and standardize the sport of flat track roller derby.
Figure 6 demonstrates what a flat track looks like. There are only two lines that extend the full
width of one side of the track (left in the diagram). These lines are the jammer line and the pivot line, both
of which designate where players start on the track. The dotted lines represent ten-foot markers that are
placed around the track to help officials observe whether skaters are abiding by the rules of engagement
during gameplay.
Figure 6 WFTDA Flat Track

Source: “Appendix A: WFTDA Rules,” Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (revised June 15, 2013).
Contemporary roller derby is predominantly played on the flat track, however, there are still some
leagues that play on the banked track or on both track types. Banked tracks are rare as they are expensive
to build and maintain and they need a permanent housing space. Very few leagues can afford the luxury
owning their own space; there are fewer than 10 banked tracks in the U.S.
42

Kitten Traxx designs the most well-known and respected banked tracks in contemporary roller
derby. Kitten Traxx emerged in 2005 out of the L.A. Derby Dolls (LADD), a league that primarily plays
banked. Inspired by TXRD, the LADD purchased an older banked track in the early days of the roller
derby revival.
221
LADD member “Bitchy Kitten” decided to design a new track for safety reasons after
witnessing too many skater injuries on the older track.
222
Today, Kitten Traxx offers advice and design
plans for building banked tracks. It also provides a listing of trainers who help leagues learn how to skate
and navigate the banked track. Although the banked track is still expensive to build and house, Kitten
Traxx banked tracks are designed to be easily broken down and transported with a small team track crew
and a moving van.
Sporting Associations
Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA)
The United Coalition of Leagues (ULC) was established in 2004 to foster the growth and
development of flat track roller derby into a modern sport.
223
In 2005, there were 20 leagues present at the
first association meeting.
224
Shortly thereafter, the ULC was renamed the Women’s Flat Track Derby
Association. In 2006, the WFTDA established a quarterly ranking system used for tournament
qualification and seeding in its Eastern and Western regions.
225
It was also the first year the association
opened its membership program to other flat track roller derby leagues. There are now over 234 leagues
that enjoy the benefit of WFTDA membership. Eighty-nine fledgling leagues are enrolled in the
association’s apprenticeship program, which was established in 2009 to help build prospective members
into full members.
226
One of the main benefits of becoming a WFTDA league is qualification in
tournament seeding. The WFTDA is the most well-known and respected roller derby sports association
today; the leagues that appear in the top of its rankings are considered among the best in the world.
221
“About Kitten Traxx,” Kitten Traxx (accessed September 11, 2013), http://www.kittentraxx.com/about.htm.
222
“About Kitten Traxx” Kitten Traxx.
223
WFTDA 2012 Media Kit (Austin: Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, 2012), 3.
224
WFTDA 2012 Media Kit, 3.
225
WFTDA 2012 Media Kit, 3.
226
WFTDA 2012 Media Kit, 3.

43

The association serves the sport of roller derby in several capacities, including: maintaining an
official rule set over flat track roller derby, overseeing and maintaining tournament seeding and rankings,
certifying officials, providing liability insurance for WFTDA players at WFTDA-sanctioned bouts and
practices, broadcasting live (and archiving) bouts online WFTDA.tv. The WFTDA is presided over by a
five-member volunteer board of directors.
WFTDA members and leagues aspiring to become WFTDA leagues play by the official rule set
published by the organization. The rule set is a living, breathing entity that undergoes frequent revisions
by a rules committee. The association offers free access to the rules for any league to download from the
website. It also provides training documents for referees and skaters.
Roller Derby Coalition of Leagues (RDCL)
In 2011, five leagues came together to form the RCDL for the advancement of banked track roller
derby. The five leagues included the OC Roller Girls, the Tilted Thunder Rollerbirds, the Los Angeles
Derby Dolls, the Arizona Derby Dames and the San Diego Derby Dolls. One of the main initiatives of the
RCDL is to establish a standard banked track rule set for banked track roller derby leagues. Like the
WFTDA, the RCDL rule set is undergoing constant revision. The association holds an annual tournament,
called Battle on the Banked, among its member leagues that is going into its seventh year. It has not yet
opened its membership to other leagues.
USA Roller Sports (USARS)
USARS is recognized as the national governing body of roller sports in the United States, which
means roller derby falls under its jurisdiction. One of the main offerings of USARS is accident insurance
coverage. Individual skaters must renew their USARS memberships annually to receive membership
benefits, which include a magazine subscription and the accident insurance coverage. The accident
insurance coverage applies only to USARS-chartered facilities and USARS-sanctioned practices and
bouts. Although USARS accident insurance does not serve as a suitable replacement for general medical
44

coverage, many leagues across the nation require their members to maintain an active USARS
membership in order to make bout rosters (even if they play by WFTDA rules).
USARS has authored its own flat track rule set, though the overwhelming majority of flat track
roller derby leagues play by the WFTDA rule set. USARS desires to promote the growth of competitive
roller derby and also fields the highly prestigious Team USA to compete in the Blood & Thunder Roller
Derby World Cup. Three hundred skaters from around the country convened in late 2013 to try out for the
team’s 20-person roster.
227

Interestingly, USARS is recognized by the International Olympic Committee, which means that
roller derby would mostly likely be played by the USARS rule set if it were to become an Olympic sport.
Men’s Roller Derby Association (MRDA)
The MRDA was first established in 2007 as the Men’s Derby Coalition to support men’s flat
track roller derby. It exists under the umbrella support of the WFTDA, which means its membership
benefits, rules and mission are closely aligned with those of the WFTDA. All member leagues are skater-
owned and operated and are eligible to compete in the annual MRDA Championship tournament.
Basic Rules
The gameplay of modern roller derby is often described as a hybrid between hockey and
American football.
228
The basic objective of the two teams is to score the most points within a 60-minute
period (30-minute halves). Each team has four “blockers” on the track; their objective is to help their own
team score and to prevent the opposing team from scoring. All of the blockers from both teams together
make up what is called “the pack.” Points are scored by a designated “jammer” on each team during a
jam, which lasts two minutes on flat track as per WFTDA rules and one minute on banked track as per
RDCL rules. The jammer scores a point for each blocker he or she passes on the opposing team after he
227
Team USA Roller Derby, “Team USA Tryout Update,” Facebook (September 7, 2013),
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=618114074906586&id=194917163892948&stream_ref=10.
228
Stephen Uhler, “Ladies out to ‘kick butt’,” The Daily Observer (August 9, 2011),
http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/2011/08/09/ladies-out-to-kick-butt

45

or she makes an initial pass through the entire pack. The first jammer to make his or her initial pass
through the entire pack legally earns “lead jammer” status. The lead jammer has the special privilege of
being able to call off a jam early.
Roller derby has an elaborate penalty system that effects each team’s strategy and the outcome of
every single jam. Penalties may be called on blockers and jammers for rule violations. When a player
earns a penalty, he or she must serve time in the penalty box. On flat track, players must serve time
immediately after the penalty is called; on banked track, penalties are served at the end of the jam, leaving
the team one or more players short for the next jam. Penalties are earned from a number of reasons,
including:
• Hitting another player illegally: use of elbows, use of head, use of feet, high blocking above
the shoulders, low blocking below the knees (including accidently tripping an opposing
player because the player herself has already fallen) and back blocking are all included. This
is, perhaps, where the largest misconception still exists about modern roller derby. Even
though it is still a full-contact sport, there are very specific rules that dictate how
players can legally hit opposing players.
• Cutting the track: if an opposing player pushes a player out of bounds, the now out-of-bounds
player must legally re-enter the track behind the opposing player.
• Failure to reform the pack: the pack is legally defined as the group containing the most
players from both teams within 10 feet of each other. If both teams fail to meet pack
definition, a penalty will be awarded for the player closest to the opposing team as per the
referee’s discretion (in other words, they have been called responsible for failing to reform
the pack).
• Blocking out-of-play: a blocker that is not within 20 feet of the legal pack is considered out-
of-play and may not legally hit an opposing player without receiving a penalty
46

• Insubordination: may result from refusing to serve a penalty or talking back to a referee. The
referee may award another penalty, or in extreme circumstances, eject the player from the
game.
League Operations
Today, roller derby is a skater-owned-and-operated sport. The leading sporting associations and
individual leagues around the globe operate under the democratic “for the skater, by the skater” do-it-
yourself philosophy, which comes with its strengths and weaknesses. One of the main strengths has
already been discussed. Roller derby is no longer owned by one entity, so the existence, advancement and
evolution of the sport is no longer dependent upon one entity. Instead it has been taken into the hands and
hearts of many who have dedicated time and resources to help it mature as a sport.
Leagues that follow the democratic system are usually operationally organized into several
different committees. A designated leader usually sits at the head of each of those committees and that
leader is usually a member of a larger executive board. The executive board consists of all of the
committee leaders and an elected president and vice president. The different committees on a league
cover every area that the league needs to operate as a successful business; these may include: bout
production, sponsorship, fundraising, media/marketing/public relations, skater advocacy, recruitment,
events, merchandising, finance, coaching and referees/non-skating officials (NSO).
No skater can expect to play and not contribute to league operations. As part of her membership
she is usually required to fulfill a monthly commitment to a league committee. She also pays monthly
dues to maintain her membership; those dues go directly toward the league’s operating expenses. The
biggest expense for most leagues is rent for training facilities and bouting venues. Sponsorships can help
offset the costs but usually still leave the majority of the financial burden to the skaters.
The weaknesses in this system occur when athletes fail to make their time commitments to league
operations and when the league invariably fails to make ends meet as a business. Sometimes leagues are
unable to make their financial ends meet. Other times league members butt heads when they are unable to
47

compromise in the democratic system, which may result in a league split or closure entirely. Running a
league successfully requires a delicate balance of all the things needed operate well as a business. Those
with a clear vision and a group of dedicated athletes committed to making it work are the ones that
usually succeed in the long-term.
Athleticism
Roller derby is an explosive sport that requires skill, training and athleticism to excel. Many
skaters have no athletic background (such as the author of this paper), but they make lifestyle changes as
soon as they become passionate about learning the game and improving their performance. Consider the
programs, services and online resources that have been made available to aspiring roller derby athletes.
Derbalife offers personal coaching, boot camps and online challenges to skaters looking to improve their
lifestyle so as to improve their athletic performance; Derbalife’s slogan reads, “80 percent Nutrition. 20
percent Fitness. 100 percent Athlete.”
229

Recognizing the need for a personal training program designed specifically for roller derby
athletes Robin “Suzy Snakeyes” Legat started a program called Power Jam Fitness out of the Los Angeles
area. “Prior to joining the L.A. Derby Dolls almost 10 years ago, I never played a sport, and nobody
would have ever considered me an athlete. I didn’t even workout regularly. I tell people constantly that
roller derby is the first workout I ever stuck with for more than a month, and now I’m approaching a
decade,” Legat said in an interview.
230
Today, Legat is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist,
TRS Suspension Training instructor and certified in CPR/AED.
231
She received her certificate in Fitness
Instruction from UCLA Extension in 2012.
232
She still plays for a LADD home team called the Tough
229
Homepage, Derbalife (accessed January 20, 2014), http://www.derbalife.com/.
230
“Skater of the Month: Suzy Snakeyes,” L.A. Derby Dolls (April 8, 2013, accessed January 20, 2014)
http://derbydolls.com/news/skater-of-the-month-suzy-snakeyes.html
231
“Who We Are,” Power Jam Fitness (accessed January 20, 2014), http://www.powerjamfitness.com/who-we-
are.html
232
“Who We Are,” Power Jam Fitness.

48

Cookies, which she helped found in 2004.
233
She is an instructor for LADD’s fitness program, Derby Por
Vida, and an assistant coach for the “Ri-Ettes,” LADD’s all-star banked track team.
234

“It’s through roller derby that I developed a love for fitness and training, and it’s because of roller
derby that I had the confidence to go back to school, earning my training certifications and start a derby
training business,” she said.
235

Veteran athlete and roller derby coach “Booty Quake,” Terminal City Rollergirls (a WFTDA
League), actively shares free workout videos, free nutrition tips and paid training programs with the derby
community through her blog, Roller Derby Athletics. Unlike Legat, “Booty Quake” did have an athletic
background before she found roller derby:
I have been active and athletic all my life, from 14 years of intense ballet training, to
rowing varsity for a Division 1 NCAA University in the U.S. In between, I have played
basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, triathlon, swimming, water polo and run a marathon.
My parents met at a high school track meet, and my brother played professional
hockey.
236

Her blog covers everything from nutrition to off-skates training, including dynamic warm-ups, muscle-
building, injury prevention and building mind over matter. A team of four sports-medicine professionals
regularly contributes to Roller Derby Athletics. Some of the key concepts in Booty Quake’s workouts
including the strength-building in the leg and core muscle groups that skaters depend on for roller skating.
She writes:
I strongly believe that to become better at roller derby, skaters need to shift their
mindsets, and start thinking like ATHLETES, not glamour-jammers. Proper off-skate
training has had a major impact on my own success in derby, and I have helped dozens of
teammates and leaguemates on that journey too. I get tremendous personal satisfaction
and joy from helping people in this way, and I am excited to bring this knowledge and
skill to the wider derby community.
237

There are articles all over the internet that discuss what muscle groups are used in roller skating
and how off-skates conditioning benefits athletes on-skates. What the articles do not all agree on is what
233
“Who We Are,” Power Jam Fitness.
234
“Who We Are,” Power Jam Fitness.
235
Skater of the Month: Suzy Snakeyes,” L.A. Derby Dolls.
236
“About,” Roller Derby Athletics (accessed January 20, 2014), http://www.rollerderbyathletics.com/about/.
237
“About,” Roller Derby Athletics.

49

methods are the best method of cross-training. Roller skating requires lower-body strength to propel the
body forward, but the upper-body and core for balance. How We Roll Fitness concludes in an article on
conditioning that balance is key and that it is important to start any training program at one’s current and
appropriate fitness level.
238

Conclusion
The purpose of this section was to provide an overview of modern roller derby. The flat track has
made roller derby widely accessible for the first time in its history. The current skater-owned-and-
operated do-it-yourself philosophy in operations has further helped to propel its development as a sport.
Several sporting organizations have worked to standardize gameplay. The author discussed athleticism
with the assumption that roller derby is respected as a sport. Suffice it to say efforts have been made by
roller derby athletes to help other skaters train and improve their athletic performance.

238
“What Condition is your Conditioning in?” How We Roll Fitness (June 7, 2012, accessed January 20, 2014),
http://howwerollfitness.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/offskatesfitness/.

50

CHAPTER FOUR: OWNED MEDIA
“I don’t think we have to be anything we don’t want to be for people to take us seriously.
We should be able to be whoever we want to be and have people take us seriously.”
– Bonnie Thunders, Gotham Girls Roller Derby
239
Introduction
Before entering a more in-depth discussion about roller derby marketing and public relations, key
audiences and types of media will be defined in accordance with how they will be viewed in this study.
Types of Key Audiences
The words ‘audiences,’ ‘publics’ and ‘stakeholders’ are all applicable to describe a group or
groups of people that an organization targets to influence with its communications efforts. Although the
terms are used interchangeably, ‘key audiences’ is more inclusive of target AND non-targeted groups that
are affected by an organization’s communications efforts. Recognition of non-targeted groups is
important. For example, consider an audience that has vocally taken offense to the messaging of a new
product launch campaign; that audience was not originally considered a part of the target market (but still
make up a considerable number of buyers) but through having taken offense to the campaign, they
become a key audience. Future initiatives by the organization, in this example, may need to consider what
messaging will work for offended audience. Therefore, key audiences encompass all of the stakeholder
groups who are directly or indirectly targeted, affected and/or influenced by the activities of an
organization.
In “Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach,” Fearn-Banks breaks down key audiences into
the following types of publics
240
:
239
“Bonnie Thunders Shows Us How It’s Done,” HuffPost Live (May 15, 2013, accessed May 30, 2013),
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/roller-derby-gotham-girls-bonnie-thunders/519263b078c90a2ee4000107
240
Kathleen Fearn-Bankes, “Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach,” Fourth Edition (New York and
London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 1996).

51

• Enabling – Enabling publics are those with power and authority to make decisions within an
organization. The organization would be non-existent without its enabling publics, who are
involved in all executive decision-making. These stakeholder groups define the mission, values
and activities that affect all areas of the organization. The executive board, shareholders and
investors are all enabling publics.
• Functional – Functional publics are the stakeholder groups that enable the organization to operate.
Internally, these groups include employees, unions, suppliers, vendors and, in some cases,
volunteers. External stakeholder groups are the consumers, customers or clients targeted by the
organization.
• Normative – Normative publics share common interests or values with the organization; these can
include trade associations, professional associations or competitors.
• Diffused – Diffused publics are those that have an indirect stake in an organization’s
communications efforts and activities. Often, non-targeted consumer/customer groups fit into this
category. The media is also a diffused public. While the majority of communications initiatives
target media in some way, it is usually for the purpose of reaching a functional stakeholder group.
Stakeholder groups fitting within any of the above categories may be considered target audiences for
an organization’s communications initiatives.
Types of Media
Forrester Research, Inc. identifies three standard types of media that may serve as part of an
organization’s marketing and public relations efforts; these are owned, paid and earned media.
241

241
Sean Corcoran, “Defining Owned, Earned and Paid Media,” Forrester Research, Inc. (December 16, 2009.
Accessed August 12, 2013), http://blogs.forrester.com/interactive_marketing/2009/12/defining-earned-owned-and-
paid-media.html

52

Figure 7 - Types of Media

An organization’s owned media encompasses all of the multimedia communication platforms and
channels it uses to communicate with its key audiences. Print media and digital media that are published
or managed by the organization are considered owned media. Print media includes flyers, brochures,
posters, mailers and many other materials. Digital channels or platforms include websites, newsletters,
email blasts, blogs and social media. Although social media platforms are usually owned by a third-party
provider (i.e. Facebook or Twitter), individual channels are considered owned in that organizations are
responsible for their own publishing and social interactions.
This chapter examines the role of owned media in the publicity efforts made by roller derby
leagues. After a brief overview of the uses of print media in roller derby marketing and public relations,
this chapter will investigate websites and social media in greater depth.
Print
Roller derby leagues tend to have limited, if any, financial resources to devote to marketing,
public relations and advertising. Sugartown Banked Track Roller Derby, for example, closed its doors on
December 31, 2013 because the league was no longer able to afford a venue to house its banked track.
242

242
Sugartown Banked Track Roller Derby, Facebook (December 21, 2013, accessed February 2014),
https://www.facebook.com/SugartownRollerDerby/posts/668713633180623?stream_ref=10.

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Consequently, they often rely more heavily on online channels to achieve their communications goals.
When the resources are available, the design and development of print media is usually completed in-
house by skating or non-skating league members or volunteers.
The greatest amount of value print media offers to the roller derby league is as a direct marketing
tool. Word-of-mouth about upcoming bouts may be spread among family and friends with skaters acting
as direct marketers on behalf of the league.
Print media and direct marketing is also an important for recruitment. Skaters act as brand
advocates on behalf of the league to recruit new skaters (referred to by experienced players as
“freshmeat”), providing them with basic information about how to get involved and become members.
Recruitment is as important an activity to a league (internal growth) as getting spectators to attend events
(external growth).
Sometimes sponsors will partner with the league to help offset the cost of print materials if there
is a mutual promotional benefit involved. For example, during the 2012 season the Inland Empire Derby
Divas were sponsored by a local nightclub in Grand Terrace, Calif. Whenever an after party was held at
the nightclub’s venue, it would sponsor the league by covering the overhead for 5,000 quarter-page full-
color flyers. The nightclub’s advertisement appeared on one side of the flyer while the league’s bout
advertisement was on the other side. Sometimes local businesses are willing to support a league by simply
placing posters and/or flyers on display in the storefronts.
Season schedule flyers, recruitment flyers, bout posters, fundraiser flyers and bout programs are
among the most common needs forms of print media used by roller derby leagues. See Appendix 4 for
some examples of printed materials.
For most leagues it is more realistic to focus marketing and public relations efforts online both
due to budget limitations and the increased use and relevancy of the web. Online channels are fairly
inexpensive and there is the opportunity to cultivate wider reach and awareness on little-to-no marketing
budget (in other words, online channels allow leagues to achieve “more bang for the buck”), which is why
this study focuses primarily on online channels.
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Websites
Relevancy
With the rise of social media some practitioners have questioned whether or not websites are still
relevant and useful for an organization to communicate with its key stakeholders. The question is whether
or not a static website still has the same value it once had in the face of the increased immediacy and
interactivity of response brought on by social media.
The Virtue Center for Art and Technology asserts that social media has actually made the website
more important than ever before.
243
While social media facilitates more B2C (business-to-consumer)
communication and increases the shareability and visibility of the organization’s content, the life
expectancy of that content is short lived.
244
Websites allow the organization to publish meaningful content
on a permanent and reliable information hub. According to The Virtue Center, organizations also lose out
on certain benefits when publishing content solely through third-party social networking platforms:
Facebook achieves ever higher advertising impressions and clicks. Contrast this with the
benefit that an organization would get if somehow they managed to incentivize users to
post comments onto their own website. The organization itself would benefit from:
increased search engine surface area, the ability to show their own advertisements, the
ability to guide users to outcomes that Facebook does not directly support (joining a
private mailing list, purchasing, donating, etc.).
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Conclusively, organizations actually benefit more from “integrated” digital communications, or the
strategic use of both the website and social media combined to push content out to the organization’s key
audiences.
Content Development
For roller derby leagues, the website serves as an information hub for both internal and external
key audiences. Consider the audience groups that may seek information about a roller derby league
243
“Are Websites Still Relevant?” The Virtue Center for Art and Technology (January 6, 2012, accessed January 26,
2014), http://virtuecenter.com/blog/are_websites_still_relevant_1330195571.html
244
“Are Websites Still Relevant?” The Virtue Center for Art and Technology.
245
“Are Websites Still Relevant?” The Virtue Center for Art and Technology.

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through its website: spectators, league members, media, sponsors, prospective sponsors, prospective
spectators and prospective members. While the information and design layout can differ greatly from
league to league, many of these websites share similar content buckets. A content bucket is a category
within which the resource material may be organized to provide some information of value to the visitor
of the website.
Content development is usually fairly well developed by roller derby leagues, even where
presentation is lacking. Sometimes the website is designed and maintained internally; league members
become amateur marketers and publicists by doing their own research and conducting trial-and-error
experiments. Sometimes the executive board or media committee will vote toward investing in expert
help on this important channel. The Inland Empire Derby Divas pay a monthly fee to a web developer for
the use his content management system (CMS) and monthly website maintenance. Web developer Mindy
Schmidt designed and developed the website for the O.C. Roller Girls. It is maintained with the
WordPress CMS, which allows members of the league’s marketing committee to easily make updates to
the website themselves without expert programming knowledge.
Figure 8 - Inland Empire Derby Divas Website Index

Source: Homepage, Inland Empire Derby Divas (accessed February 2, 2014), http://iederbydivas.com/.
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Figure 9 - O.C. Roller Girls Website Index

Source: Homepage, O.C. Roller Girls (accessed February 3, 2014), http://ocrollergirls.com/.
The following content buckets are fairly standard across roller derby websites (with some content
buckets filled out more completely than others):
• About
o League History – This section includes information about the league’s history, identity,
purpose and mission (See Appendix 5 examples of league mission statements). Because
roller derby is not considered a mainstream sport, this section is helpful to newcomers
first discovering the sport. It can also serve to explain the league’s identity within its
respective community.
o Roller Derby History – A larger scope of the history of the sport.
o Roller Derby Basics – Roller derby basics is valuable resource to newcomers, both
spectators and prospective freshmeat. This section provides a basic overview of the rules
(Additionally, many bout events start with a demo to help explain the basic rules to first-
time spectators before the game starts).
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Figure 10 - Inland Empire Derby Divas "Roller Derby 101"

Source: “Roller Derby 101,” Inland Empire Derby Divas (accessed February 3, 2014), http://iederbydivas.com/roller-derby-
101.
o Teams/Skaters – A listing of each of the league’s teams and the roster of skaters on each
team. This page may contain photos of the skaters and occasionally includes more
detailed biographies.
Figure 11 - Inland Empire Derby Divas "Skater Bios" (partial)

Source: "Skater Bios," Inland Empire Derby Divas (accessed February 3, 2014), http://iederbydivas.com/roller-derby-skater-
bios.

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• Bout Promotion
o Season Schedule – Roller derby leagues coordinate their own season schedules. Some leagues
have several different teams, all of which may have a different schedule. O.C. Roller Girls,
for example, uses a color coding systems to represent each of its different teams on the larger
season calendar.
Figure 12 - O.C. Roller Girls 2014 Season Schedule (Partial)

Source: "2014 Bout Schedule," O.C. Roller Girls (accessed February 3, 2014), http://ocrollergirls.com/schedules/2014-schedule-
in-progress/.
o Ticket Information – This page has information on how to purchase tickets online for
upcoming events. Interestingly, many leagues use the Brown Paper Tickets (BPT) platform
because Jerry Seltzer (son of roller derby founder Leo Seltzer) works for BPT and is a major
supporter of the ticketing service. However, there are exceptions. For example, O.C. Roller
Girls uses Eventbrite for online ticketing.
• Recruitment
o How to Join – The recruitment page provides information on how to become a member of the
league. This page provides contact information, practice times and location information.
• Media
o Articles – An archive of all of the press coverage a league has received.
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o Inquiries – Contact information and/or a press kit.
o Photos
o Videos
• Sponsorships
o Current Sponsors
o Become a Sponsor
The website can also serve as an information hub for internal audiences. For example, O.C. Roller
Girls has a hyperlink to the practice schedule on its webpage. The calendar is managed through a Google
application. Both the Inland Empire Derby Divas and the O.C. Roller Girls have subscription options to
monthly newsletters and event e-blasts.
Frequency of Updates
The season schedule is the easiest way to determine whether a league’s website is active, as the
calendar of events will reflect the current season. The Inland Empire Derby Divas website has a mix of
current and dated information. While the season schedule is up-to-date, the ‘Roller Derby 101’ page
reflects dated WFTDA rules (see Figure #10). The media page has not been updated in approximately two
seasons, featuring none of the recent videos or articles the league has appeared in. This trend persists
through many other websites, where some content buckets are kept more current than others.
Engagement & Evaluation
There are metrics tools that may be used to help evaluate the level of website activity, although it
is unclear to what extent leagues are using these tools. The analytics offered by Google are among the
most budget-friendly, widely known and widely used among other businesses and industries. It may be
hypothesized that the same is true for roller derby leagues. These analytics, however, are important as the
website continues to serve as an important information hub for the league.
Organic web search also provides important Search Engine Optimization (SEO) information to
the league as that is how many newcomers discover the league on a local level.
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Social Media
Like other businesses, roller derby leagues are realizing the power of social media to cultivate
awareness and create an online presence for their brands. Social media is usually more cost-effective to
maintain and to manage compared to paid media alternatives.
This section provides an overview of how leagues are using social media. In order to examine
uses, trends and draw comparisons the researcher conducted a six-day content analysis of the social media
activity among 11 roller derby leagues in July 2013.
246
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were the three
most-used platforms. See Appendix 3 for detailed information on the social media content analysis
procedure.
Content Development
The main areas of social media content observed were content buckets (categories), multimedia
attachments (video, image or article attached) and authorship (original vs. shared). These areas of content
development reveal patterns of how social channels are used by a random sample of 11 roller derby
leagues. A total of 135 posts were observed between Twitter and Facebook collectively over a six-day
period from Friday, July 19, 2013 to Thursday, July 25, 2013.
Table 1 - Collective Number of Facebook and Twitter Posts of 10 Roller Derby Leagues July 19, 2013 – July 25, 2013
League Facebook Twitter Total
Angel City Derby Girls 3 15 18
Drive-By City Rollers 4 4 8
Gotham Girls Roller Derby 5 1 6
Inland Empire Derby Divas 6 6 12
Jackson Hole Juggernauts 3 3
L.A. Derby Dolls 3 1 4
O.C. Roller Girls 4 5 9
Rat City Roller Girls 7 6 13
Rose City Rollers 1 8 9
SFV Roller Derby
Texas Rollergirls 15 38 53
Grand Total 51 84 135
246
Most of the data only includes 10 leagues. An eleventh league was selected when the researcher observed one
league as extremely inactive on its social media channels during the period of study.

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Social media postings fit into one or more of the four following content buckets: event promotion,
fundraising promotion, sports information and miscellaneous. Event promotions are geared toward
encouraging audiences to attend upcoming events like bouts, league fundraising events and event
appearances (concerts, restaurants, nightclubs, fairs, car shows and so forth that league members are
going to attend). Fundraising promotions include postings that contain some information about how to
contribute to an ongoing league fundraiser, which may or may not be an event. One such example was
Angel City Derby Girls’ annual Skate-A-Thon on Saturday, January 20, 2013. The league asked for
pledge donations on social media through Eventbrite in anticipation of the fundraising activity. Sports
information posts contain information about sport-related events, including bout information, WFTDA
information and tournament information, and scores, including real-time score updates and final bout
scores. Miscellaneous posts primarily consist of ‘thank you’s, birthday greetings, inspirational quotes and
other motivating or entertaining material.
Figure 13 - Angel City Derby Girls 4th Annual Skate-A-Thon Web Banner

Source: Angel City Derby Girls, Facebook (accessed February 9, 2014),
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151584746951026&set=a.10150641832611026.401689.84993271025&type=1&t
heater
Table 2 - Total # of Social Media Posts in Each Content Bucket
Channel Event Promotion Fundraising Promotion Sports Info Misc
Facebook 26 5 26 12
Twitter 27 5 50 20
Total 53 10 76 32
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Note: Individual posts may overlap in more than one content bucket.
The majority of the content posted by the leagues fell into the “Event Promotion” and “Sports
Information” content buckets. The exceptionally large number of sports information posts on Twitter the
weekend of July 19, 2013 was the result of the Texas Rollergirls posting real-time score updates during a
high-profile tournament.
Figure 14 - Sample Tweets from Texas Rollergirls Live Updates during 2013 Golden Bowl Tournament

Source: Texas Rollergirls, Twitter (retrieved February 9, 2014), https://twitter.com/txrollergirls
The second area of content development is multimedia usage. Posts with articles, videos or images
attached are considered multimedia. Out of 51 Facebook posts, 25 contained multimedia attributes (49
percent). Images were by far the most shared multimedia elements by roller derby leagues on Facebook.
By comparison, 28 out of 81 tweets contain multimedia attributes (34.6 percent). Although the percentage
of multimedia postings on Twitter was much lower than Facebook, the average may have been affected
by the high volume of tweets by the Texas Rollergirls the weekend of July 19, 2013. There were almost
as many articles as images shared on Twitter. This element of content development will be important in
comparing the level of audience engagement between different types of social media posts.

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Table 3 - Multimedia Media Usage on Facebook and Twitter
by 10 Roller Derby Leagues from July 19, 2013 - July 24 2013
Multimedia Use
Facebook
Image 18
Article 6
Video 1
Total 25
Twitter
Image 17
Article 11
Video 0
Total 28

The last area of content development on social media is authorship – the comparison of shared
versus original content volume. One of the main purposes of social media is to share content. Roller derby
leagues, like other organizations, must share or be shared. Professor and researcher Jonah Berger
conducted a series of studies that led him conclude that individuals share content for: social capitol,
memorability, practical value and quality.
247
The four categories in more detail:
Social Capitol: You accrue authority and identity from your social group, and associating
yourself with valuable content is a way to earn status and recognition.

Memorability: Does it stay with you? Does the content connect with you on a personal
level?

Practical Value: Does it help others? Does it enrich the lives of others? Does it help solve
a problem?

Quality: Is it a good story? Does it elicit an emotional response?
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These four categories are applicable to roller derby leagues and their brands. In order to establish
individual identity—social capitol—among its core audiences, the league may evaluate the content it
develops and shares and how this aligns with the overall brand and its core values. The memorability,
247
Ben Watchtel, “Why do people share social media content?” Element Three (April 24, 2014),
http://info.elementthree.com/why-do-people-share-social-media-content.
248
Watchtel, “Why do people share social media content?”

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practical value and quality of the content contributes to social capitol. This presents the following
questions pertinent to this study:
• Are roller derby leagues publishing more share or original content?
• Which type of content is building more social capitol and receiving a higher level of engagement?
This analysis revealed that roller derby leagues circulate both original and shared content, and
sometimes a combination of the two. A combined post contained a shared multimedia element with a
meaningful comment by the league sharing it. For example, the Inland Empire Derby Divas created a
combined post on Sunday, July 21, 2013 with promotional information about the league’s appearance at
an upcoming car show (original) and the car show’s event flyer attached (shared).
Table 4 - Comparison of Original/Shared Facebook and Twitter Post of
10 Roller Derby Leagues from July 19, 2013 - July 24, 2013
Channel Original Shared Both Total # Posts
Facebook 34 15 2 51
Twitter 60 19 5 84
Total 94 34 7 135

The analysis also revealed that roller derby leagues write original content more often than they
share other content. Original posts made up more than twice the number of shared posts on Facebook, and
more than three times the number of shared tweets on Twitter.
Frequency of Posts
The following tables provide a breakdown of the number of posts that appeared each day on each
leagues social media channel. The post frequency ranged from very high (Texas Rollergirls) to none (SFV
Roller Derby). Two of the leagues, the Inland Empire Derby Divas and the Drive-By City Rollers had
Facebook and Twitter channels that were linked, so social media postings appeared on each channel at the
exact frequency. The Jackson Hole Juggernauts only engaged on Facebook, so there was no Twitter data
to report.

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Table 5 - Number of Daily Posts on Facebook from July 19, 2013 - July 24, 2013
League D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 Total
Angel City Derby Girls 1 2 3
Drive-By City Rollers 2 1 1 4
Gotham Girls Roller Derby 3 1 1 5
Inland Empire Derby Divas 1 1 1 3 6
Jackson Hole Juggernauts 1 1 1 3
L.A. Derby Dolls 1 1 1 3
O.C. Roller Girls 1 2 1 4
Rat City Roller Girls 3 1 2 1 7
Rose City Rollers 1 1
SFV Roller Derby
Texas Rollergirls 3 6 4 2 15
Total 15 8 5 7 9 7 51

Table 6 - Number of Daily Posts on Twitter from July 19, 2013 - July 24, 2013
League D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 Total
Angel City Derby Girls 2 5 3 3 2 15
Drive-By City Rollers 2 1 1 4
Gotham Girls Roller Derby 1 1
Inland Empire Derby Divas 1 1 1 3 6
L.A. Derby Dolls 1 1
O.C. Roller girls 1 1 1 2 5
Rat City Roller Girls 3 2 1 6
Rose City Rollers 1 1 6 8
SFV Roller Derby
Texas Rollergirls 3 12 23 38
Total 14 19 25 4 8 14 84

None of the leagues wrote a consistent number of posts on each channel each day, which reveals that it is
unlikely any follow a specific social media schedule. Leagues were generally more active on social media
when there were current or upcoming events to promote. Such an example includes Texas Rollergirls,
who were at a tournament during the weekend of observation. On Day 6, the Rose City Rollers tweeted
about an upcoming roller derby “boot camp” it was promoting to recruit other skaters to sign up for.
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The overall activity volume of the leagues on Facebook and Twitter was compared to determine
on which channel leagues were more active. Three of the leagues (Gotham Girls Roller Derby, the L.A.
Derby Dolls and the Rat City Roller Girls) posted more frequently on Facebook than Twitter. The
Jackson Hole Juggernauts were only on Facebook. The two leagues with a 50-50 ratio were those that had
Facebook and Twitter channels linked (the Inland Empire Derby Divas and the Drive-By City Rollers).
SFV Roller Derby had no activity to compare. The remaining four leagues (Angel City Derby Girls, O.C.
Roller Girls, Rose City Rollers and Texas Rollergirls) were more active on Twitter than Facebook.
Twitter represented the higher volume of postings at 62.2 percent compared to Facebook at 37.8 percent.
Table 7 – Volume of Activity on Facebook/Twitter Comparison from July 19, 2013 – July 24, 2013
League Facebook Twitter
Angel City Derby Girls 16.7% 83.3%
Drive-By City Rollers 50.0% 50.0%
Gotham Girls Roller Derby 83.3% 16.7%
Inland Empire Derby Divas 50.0% 50.0%
Jackson Hole Juggernauts 100.0% 0.0%
L.A. Derby Dolls 75.0% 25.0%
O.C. Roller Girls 44.4% 55.6%
Rat City Roller Girls 53.8% 46.2%
Rose City Rollers 11.1% 88.9%
SFV Roller Derby 0.0% 0.0%
Texas Rollergirls 28.3% 71.7%
Grand Total 37.8% 62.2%

Considering the unusually high volume of tweets by the Texas Rollergirls on the weekend of July
19, 2013 another comparison was made excluding this league’s Facebook and Twitter activity. The
comparison yielded a closer volume of activity between the two channels, with Twitter at 56.1 percent
and Facebook at 43.9 percent. The researcher asserts that this comparison yields a more accurate average
about the volume of activity on each channel. Based on this volume of activity, roller derby leagues
produce almost as many Facebook posts as tweets (the frequency of posts each channel is almost equal,
on average).
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Table 8 - Volume of Activity Comparison (excluding Texas Roller Girls social media activity)
Facebook Twitter
43.9% 56.1%

Interestingly, as per frequency of posts related to days of the week, roller derby leagues did not
necessarily post/tweet more frequently on the weekend (considered Friday, Saturday and Sunday) than
during weekdays (considered Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) when the Texas Rollergirls data was
excluded. The researcher hypothesized just the opposite due to the overwhelming majority of roller derby
events taking place on the weekend.
Table 9 – Volume of Social Media Posts/Tweets During the Weekend (Excluding Texas Rollergirls)
Channel Fri (D1) Sat (D2) Sun (D3) Grand Total
Facebook 12 2 1 15
Twitter 11 7 2 20

Table 10 - Volume of Social Media Post/Tweets During Weekdays (Excluding Texas Rollergirls)
Channel Mon (D4) Tues (D5) Weds (D6) Grand Total
Facebook 5 9 7 21
Twitter 4 8 14 26

Engagement & Evaluation
Social media requires constant monitoring and evaluation in order to be used successfully as a
promotional and engagement tool. Several recommendations will be made in Chapter 7 to help roller
derby leagues strategically develop content and then measure and evaluate social media activity to
determine whether their efforts are meeting the league’s communication goals.
This section investigates the response rate that the social media postings of 11 leagues received
during the six-day period of the content analysis. All of the response rates were recorded within 12 to 24
hours after the original Facebook post or tweet appeared on the respective league’s channel. Therefore,
the limitation to the data provided is that it does not account for the long-term response rate of any tweet
or Facebook post.
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The level of engagement measured on Facebook and Twitter will reflect the three areas of content
development previously discussed. The data roughly demonstrates what type of posts/tweets with which
key audiences were most engaged (multimedia), whether they were more engaged by original or shared
content and whether there was a higher response rate on certain content buckets. Note only those that
responded with a call-to-action (likes, favorites, shares, retweets and comments) were accounted for
(there was no way to measure how many people actually saw the posts and tweets).
Table 11 - Response Rate on Posts/Tweets with Images

Average # of
Likes (FB)
Average # of
Shares (FB)
Average # of
Comments
Average # of
Retweets (TW)
Average # of
Favorites
(TW)
Image 50.73 4.00 1.48 0.24 0.00
No Image 39.71 0.32 0.73 0.48 0.36

On Facebook the average number of ‘likes’ (50.73 compared to 39.71) and ‘shares’ (4 to .32) was
much higher on multimedia posts with images than without. In contrast, the number of retweets and
‘favorites’ on Twitter was actually lower on tweets with images than on tweets without. ‘Likes’ and
‘shares’ are not comparable to ‘favorites’ and ‘retweets’ across the two platforms, which is why they are
considered separately (in other words a Facebook ‘like’ is not equal to a Twitter ‘favorite’ and a
Facebook ‘share’ is not equal to a Twitter ‘retweet’).
Table 12 - Response Rate on Posts/Tweets with Articles

Average # of
Likes (FB)
Average # of
Shares (FB)
Average # of
Comments
Average # of
Retweets (TW)
Average # of
Favorites (TW)
Article 23.75 0.50 0.21 0.09 0.18
No Article 45.59 1.72 1.00 0.48 0.30

There was not a higher level of engagement on Facebook or Twitter on posts/tweets with articles
versus those without. However, that does not infer that the shared articles did not get read, just that the
audience did not respond with a call-to-action (or remain engaged on the league’s social media channel).
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Only one post on Facebook contained a video as its multimedia attachment. Therefore, there was
no average to determine whether there was higher engagement on posts and tweets with or without
videos.
In terms of content authorship, audiences were more engaged with original content on Facebook
(more “likes” and more comments) and slightly more engaged with shared content on Twitter. Audiences
were slightly more likely to “share” shared content than original content.
Table 13 - Compare of Average Response Rate on Original/Share Posts/Tweets

Average # of
Likes (FB)
Average # of
Shares (FB)
Average # of
Comments
Average # of
Retweets
(TW)
Average # of
Favorites
(TW)
Original 50.13 1.52 1.13 0.25 0.23
Shared 27.00 1.90 0.36 0.84 0.53
Both 24.50 1.50 0.43 1.00 0.00

Of the four content buckets, the average engagement on Facebook and Twitter was dispersed
fairly evenly across all categories. Overall audiences were least engaged with posts and tweets containing
Fundraising Promotions and most engaged with posts, but not tweets, containing Sports Information.
Event Promotions were the most shared and retweeted.
Table 14 - Comparison of Average Response Rates Content Buckets
Content Buckets
Average #
of Likes
(FB)
Average # of
Shares (FB)
Average # of
Comments
Average # of
Retweets
(TW)
Average # of
Favorites
(TW)
Event Promotion 41.68 2.5 0.80 0.59 0.44
Fundraising Promotion 29.2 1.4 0.88 0.00 0.00
Sports Information 43.43 1.48 1.07 0.58 0.38
Misc. 42.63 0.75 0.50 0.15 0.15

The growth of followers on Facebook and Twitter was recorded over the six-day period for each
league to determine whether there was any correlation with the channel on which the leagues were more
active. Note that the percentage of growth is based on the number of new followers compared to the
league’s existing fan or follower base. There are several factors that explain why the size of the following
is so different between leagues (some are in the hundreds, while others are in the thousands) including
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geographic area, age of the league, size of the league and competition of other roller derby leagues and
other non-derby activities.
Table 15 - Total Follower Growth on Facebook and Twitter from July 19, 2013 - July 24, 2013

Facebook
(D1)
Facebook
(D6)
Overall
Growth*
Twitter
(D1)
Twitter
(D6)
Overall
Growth*
Angel City Derby Girls 5070 5081 11 (0.2%) 3004 3012 8 (0.3%)
Drive-By City Rollers 1385 1417 32 (0.2%) 3621 3621 0 (0.0%)
Gotham Girls Roller Derby 24370 24407 37 (0.2%) 7773 7800 7 (0.1%)
Inland Empire Derby Divas 3771 3781 10 (0.3%) 354 354 0 (0.0%)
Jackson Hole Juggernauts 719 728 9 (1.3%)
L.A. Derby Dolls 16175 16182 7 (0.0%) 6591 6602 11 (0.2%)
O.C. Roller Girls 6696 6709 13 (0.2%) 2590 2600 10 (0.4%)
Rat City Roller Girls 32842 32974 32 (0.1%) 5535 5534 -1 (0.0%)
Rose City Rollers 15745 15819 74 (0.5%) 4054 4057 3 (0.1%)
SFV Roller Derby 1777 1780 3 (0.2%) 457 464 7 (0.2%)
Texas Rollergirls 13351 13367 16 (0.1%) 6278 6312 34 (0.5%)
*Overall growth percentages are rounded to the nearest tenth.
Of the three leagues more active on Facebook, two saw greater growth on that channel, with
Gotham Girls Roller Derby at 0.2 percent (compared with 0.1 percent growth on Twitter) and Rat City
Roller Girls at 0.1 percent (compared with 0.0 percent growth on Twitter). Of the four leagues more
active on Twitter, three saw greater growth on that channel: Angel City Derby Derby Girls had 0.3
percent (compared to 0.2 percent growth on Facebook), O.C. Roller Girls had 0.4 percent (compared to
0.2 percent growth on Facebook) and the Texas Rollergirls had 0.5 percent (compared to 0.1 percent on
Facebook).
Interestingly, the Jackson Hole Juggernauts focuses its efforts on only one social media channel,
Facebook, and it saw the greatest percentage of overall fan growth (1.3 percent) compared to all of the
other leagues (highlighted above). Granted for leagues with thousands of followers, it takes a much
greater number of new followers to meet that percentage. The Texas Rollergirls saw the highest
percentage of fan growth on Twitter (highlighted above), both in pure number (34 new followers, which
was much higher than all of the other leagues as number) and in relation to its existing fan base (0.5
percent), which was undoubtedly due in part to its aggressive efforts on Twitter on the weekend of July
19, 2013.
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The Twitter followings of both the Inland Empire Derby Divas and the Drive-By City Rollers
saw no growth over the six-day period, even though they did technically tweet. This lack of growth may
be attributed to both leagues having their Facebook and Twitter channels linked together, meaning that
their followers get no new content by following the Twitter page. The postings were most often better
formatted for Facebook. Conclusively, followers were not as responsive to the channel that did not have
attention specifically devoted to it. Notice in the figure below – a Facebook post containing only text is
abbreviated on Twitter because the length exceeds the character limit of a tweet. The tweet provides a
hyperlink directly to Facebook, where the visitor can then read the rest of the post.
Figure 15 – Comparison of Linked Facebook Post and Tweet by the Inland Empire Derby Divas from July 16, 2013

Key Findings
• Content development occurs irregularly (no social media schedule or plan).
• Images are the most common form of multimedia shared on Facebook.
• Images and articles are the most common forms of multimedia shared on Twitter.
• Facebook posts with images receive more “shares” and “likes” than posts without.
• Multimedia tweets do not receive more “retweets” or “favorites” than text-only tweets.
• There is more original than shared content posted on Facebook.
• There is more shared than original content posted on Twitter.
• Leagues post more frequently on Twitter than Facebook, but not by much.
72

• Leagues have varying amounts of followers on Twitter and Facebook. The average growth rate,
when compared to the size of the following, does not vary a great deal.
• Engagement is lower are channels that are linked.
Other Owned Media
There are several other types of owned media that are frequently used by roller derby leagues;
some of these include email blasts, newsletters and press kits. A few examples have been provided here.
The O.C. Roller Girls frequently sends out email blasts throughout the season to inform prospective
spectators about upcoming events and how to get tickets. The Inland Empire Derby Divas once produced
a monthly newsletter that went out via email through Constant Contact. The author once managed,
designed and wrote for the newsletter. It featured profiles about skaters and the ref crew, bout recaps,
event recaps and rules reviews. Two example press kits have been provided examples in Appendix 7.
Figure 16 - OC Roller Girls Email Blast

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Figure 17 - Inland Empire Derby Divas Email Blast Newsletter

A Note on Paid Media
In some ways paid media is owned media because the organization controls what is going to be
published, how it is going to be published and with whom it is going to be published in order to reach the
target audiences. Paid media will not be examined in detail for the purposes of this study because most
leagues do not have the resources to utilize much paid media as a tactic in their communications strategy.
Some larger leagues are exceptions to this norm. For example, the L.A. Derby Dolls has maximized
different types of paid advertising such as freeway billboards and broadcast ads on Pandora.
The next chapter examines the role of earned media in roller derby publicity.

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CHAPTER FIVE: EARNED MEDIA
“They — and all newspapers — are missing the story. So, let me give it to them. This is for you, fellow
newspaper reporters of the world: Derby is the viral sport of this past decade. It has infected your town.
It has infected every town in this country and many cities everywhere else in the world.”
– Heather “Hard Dash” Steeves
249

This chapter provides a basic overview of the three levels of earned media coverage for roller
derby. First, there is the macro level that reflects the overall perception of the sport in high-tier
publications. Second, there are the efforts to provide legitimate sports coverage for major tournaments.
Lastly, there is the level most pertinent to individual leagues, which is the local press in the league’s
respective community. These news outlets are usually the most reachable to individual leagues for
coverage and accessible to key audiences.
The Sport of Roller Derby
Roller derby has infrequently appeared in headlines of high-tier publications such as The New
York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Huffington Post during its revival. Reporters
usually focus more on some aspect of the sub-culture rather than on the athleticism or gameplay.
On Nov. 7, 2008 the New York Times published an article called “With Names That Could Kill,
Women Rev Up Roller Derby” that discussed the growth of roller derby in New Jersey. According to the
article, the national revival of the sport occurred because of the broadcast series featuring the Texas
Lonestars called “Rollergirls” that appeared on A&E in 2006.
250
Reporter Tammy La Gorce interviewed
Mickey “Bone Saw” Taylor, who played for the Garden State Rollergirls “Northern Nightmares.” La
Gorce emphasized Taylor’s words and iconic roller derby look: “Right now, ‘it’s bubbling,’ said Ms.
Taylor, 29, who wore fishnets under sapphire-blue shorts and a leather dog collar around her neck at the
249
Heather Steeves, “Journalists Miss the Real ($60M) Roller Derby Story. Every Time,” Derby Life (January 11,
2013), http://www.derbylife.com/2013/01/journalists_miss_real_60m_roller_derby_story_every_time/
250
Tammy La Gorce, “With Names That Could Kill, Women Rev Up Roller Derby,” The New York Times
(November 7, 2008), http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/nyregion/new-jersey/09rollernj.html?_r=0

75

Branch Brook Park Roller Skating Center here. On a recent Friday night, her 12-member Nightmares had
a bout against the Hub City Hellrazors, both part of the Newark-based Garden State Rollergirls league,
formed in 2006.” Later La Gorce describes what the bout experience is usually like and how roller derby
is played:
A typical bout starts with loud rock music, often provided rinkside by a house band. Once
a referee blows the opening whistle, five heavily padded women from each team take to
the rink to try to stop the opposing team’s jammer, or point scorer, from advancing
through a crowd of blockers during two 30-minute periods. Heckling by the crowd is
typical; rude hand gestures are commonplace.
251

Such descriptions draw attention to the fringe action of roller derby, focusing more on how the sport
looks than the sport itself. This article appeared in the sports section of The New York Times, and it reads
similar to historic roller derby coverage. La Gorce seems to conclude with an overall bleak future for
roller derby. “The problem is, people love the idea of it, but nobody’s coming out to see it,” Taylor
said.
252

On January 10, 2013 The New York Times published another article called “Points for Every
(Bumpy) Lap” about Gotham Girls Roller Derby’s introductory skate classes. The article was, no doubt,
very positive publicity for the league’s training program. Here’s how reporter Dave Caldwell described
gameplay:
Roller derby is more sophisticated — complicated is probably a better word — than roller
skating. To those younger than 40 who did not grow up watching it on television, the
sport is a little like wrestling on wheels, with blocking, bumping and passing for points.
A skater designated as a jammer tries to lap as many opposing skaters as possible,
picking up a point for each pass, as four teammates known as blockers help clear the path
or keep the other team’s jammer from passing them.
253

Gotham Girls Roller Derby is a high-profile league, respected for the athleticism and skill of its
players as evidenced by its dominance in tournaments. The same season this article was published, the all-
251
La Gorce, “With Names That Could Kill, Women Rev Up Roller Derby.”
252
La Gorce, “With Names That Could Kill, Women Rev Up Roller Derby.”
253
Dave Caldwell, “Points for Every (Bumpy) Lap,” The New York Times (January 10, 2013),
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/nyregion/roller-derby-class-with-the-gotham-girls.html?_r=1&

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star team won the 2013 WFTDA Championships.
254
Receiving publicity in a high-tier publication like
The New York Times is a rare occurrence for the sport, yet alone individual leagues. Still the article was a
feature and not to be considered real sports coverage. The lack of saturation in mainstream media is
evident in how reporters need to explain how the game is played rather than assume the reader is already
vaguely familiar.
On May 15, 2013 Gotham Girls Roller Derby all-star Bonnie Thunders appeared in a video
interview on HuffPost Live. Under a headline that read “Bonnie Thunders Shows Us How It’s Done” the
caption mentions that Thunders was dubbed by ESPN as the LeBron James of roller derby.
255
Thunders
was a synchronized skater before she became a semi-professional roller derby player; she is also a co-
owner of Five Stride Skate Shop and Brooklyn Skate Company.
256
The interview focused on the revival
of roller derby and the athlete’s thoughts on its culture. Huffington Post Gay Voices procured what
Thunders had to say about roller derby’s acceptance of the LGBT community compared to mainstream
sports and published a short article about it:
"Most people look at the women's side of it and think that it's all of these butch girls
playing roller derby. So it just tends to go very easily with lesbians and roller derby," said
Thunders. "I think with guys, most of the guys that play roller derby aren't your typical
athletes."

Thunders went on to note that roller derby is a marginal sport, leaving room for
inclusiveness.

"It's kind of secondary to the more popular sports, which allows it to attract the people
who didn't fit in in the primary sports," she added.
257

254
“Gotham Girls Roller Derby Wins 2013 WFTDA Championships,” WFTDA (accessed February 16, 2014),
http://www.wftda.com/tournaments/2013.
255
“Bonnie Thunders Shows Us How It’s Done,” HuffPost Live (May 15, 2013, accessed May 30, 2013),
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/roller-derby-gotham-girls-bonnie-thunders/519263b078c90a2ee4000107
256
“Bonnie Thunders Shows Us How It’s Done,” HuffPost Live.
257
Glennisha Morgan, “Bonnie Thunders, Roller Derby Star, on the Sport’s Acceptance of LGBT Players,” The
Huffington Post (May 15, 2013), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/bonnie-thunders-roller-derby-
gay_n_3280263.html

77

Thunders was asked whether she thought roller derby would ever become a professional sport, to which
she replied that she did not know when that would happen but what the athletes currently get out of the
sport is more valuable than getting paid.
258

These examples have been provided not to argue that the media is wrong about how it perceives
roller derby sub-culture but merely to point out that high-tier mainstream coverage focuses more on this
sub-culture rather than producing sports coverage. Roller derby is not covered the same as other
mainstream sports. Journalist and roller derby athlete Heather “Hard Dash” Steeves argues that journalists
are missing the mark: “Where were they at the first-ever world cup? Where were they at championships
in 2011 and 2012 when Gotham slaughtered everyone? For the Times, it’s not just a local hokey story,
it’s a national story, it’s an international trend. It’s sports, entertainment, news, economics, business.”
259

This has been consistent throughout its history as discussed in Chapter 2. The continued maturation into
an organized sport with the combined efforts of governing associations like WFTDA, USARS, RCDL
and amateur leagues on a local level may help influence change in the future media landscape.
Associations and Tournaments
Efforts have been made to bring legitimate sports coverage to the roller derby community. The
WFTDA offers paid subscriptions through WFTDA.tv for access to live broadcasts of official WFTDA
tournaments and free viewing access to archives of past tournaments. This online broadcast channel is
significant and important to the sport because roller derby is no longer featured on broadcast television as
it once was.
Derby News Network (derbynewsnetwork.com) began providing journalistic coverage about
roller derby in 2007. Its mission statement says, “Derby News Network fuels the growth of modern roller
derby through innovative development of new media tools and technology, increasing the sport’s
accessibility for derby’s participants and fans, current and future.”
260
The website features online
258
“Bonnie Thunders Shows Us How It’s Done, ” HuffPost Live.
259
Steeves, “Journalists Miss the Real ($60M) Roller Derby Story. Every Time.”
260
“Mission,” Derby News Network (accessed February 17, 2014),
http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/mission_vision.

78

broadcasts (live and archived), recent news, scores and detailed bout recaps (the equivalent of mainstream
sports coverage). Founder and Editor-in-Chief Tracy “Justice Feelgood Marshall” Williams first
discovered roller derby in 2004, when he saw a Gotham Girls Roller Derby bout.
261
The following year he
became a member of the Charm City Roller Girls (located in Baltimore), where he served as head referee
from 2006 to 2009.
262
He has served on the WFTDA Rules Committee and refereed for several
tournaments.
263
He has also founded and competed for all-star men’s flat track teams Harm City
Homicide and Team SeXY.
264
He helped form the men’s governing body of flat track roller derby, the
MRDA.
265

Williams’ early efforts involved working with local radio and newspaper stations in Baltimore to
publish score stats throughout Charm City’s bouting season.
266
“Inspired by Hurt Reynolds’ Have Derby
Will Travel blog, and Gnosis’ Leadjammer.com website, Justice went out on a limb and took the risk of
launching a site for reporting on roller derby bouts and events from the Texas Shootout (a tournament) in
a motel room in Austin and the hallways of the Austin Convention Center in 2007.”
267
Williams is
credited with having created roller derby’s first news network.
268
DNN is based on the same do-it-
yourself operational and management style of roller derby leagues; volunteers and fans are the lifeblood
of this roller derby news source.
269

Leagues
Individual leagues usually receive press coverage from small publications in their respective
communities. The average article does not differ much from how roller derby is portrayed in high-tier
261
“Justice Feelgood Marshall,” Derby News Network (accessed February 17, 2014),
http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/staff/justice_feelgood_marshall
262
“Justice Feelgood Marshall,” Derby News Network.
263
“Justice Feelgood Marshall,” Derby News Network.
264
“Justice Feelgood Marshall,” Derby News Network.
265
“Justice Feelgood Marshall,” Derby News Network.
266
“Justice Feelgood Marshall,” Derby News Network.
267
“Justice Feelgood Marshall,” Derby News Network.
268
“Justice Feelgood Marshall,” Derby News Network.
269
“About DNN,” Derby News Network (accessed February 17, 2014)
http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/about_dnn

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publications, explaining the basics of gameplay and focusing more on the fringe activities than the
technicality of the sport. The lack of legitimate sports coverage, in some cases, may have more to do with
lack of familiarity with the rules and terminology that govern and describe gameplay than lack of desire
to present true sports coverage.
On June 26, 2013 the Jackson Hole News & Guide published an article, called “Derby Girls Roll
to Win,” about its local league’s first victory against a visiting team. While effectively using roller derby
terminology to describe lead changes and the different player positions, a significant portion of the article
focused on the fringe action. Consider, for example, the lead: “The band Spy Wigs had the crowd tapping
its feet, MC Hot Box Johnson had it whooping and hollering, and in the end the Jackson Hole Juggernauts
had it celebrating a win for the hometown ladies.”
270
The main subject of the article’s lead is the band that
performed at the bout–the league’s win an afterthought. The article also included the customary
description of how the game is played:
Scoring in roller derby happens when the jammer from one team skates her way around
the oval track and passes any of the four blockers from the opposing team, something the
Juggernauts did a lot of Saturday.

The tough part is that every skater is allowed to use her waist, shoulders and bottom to
push opposing players aside and stop the jammer from getting by. That results in players
crashing into each other for position, and often ends with players flying across the floor
with only knee and elbow pads to protect them.
271

Lastly, the article mentioned a referee taking a fall during the game, a frequent occurrence since skaters
commonly take their own falls: “The only bump on the Juggernauts road to victory came when referee
‘Danger!’ took a spill onto the track while turning a corner to avoid oncoming players. He quickly got up
and waved to let the crowd know he would be all right.”
272
The fall is an insignificant detail (unless it
causes a serious injury) in a sport where falls are frequent, especially as it relates to the team’s score.
270
David Perez, “Derby Girls Roll to Win,” Jackson Hole News & Guide (June 26, 2013),
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/sports/derby-girls-roll-to-win/article_ab11f5a9-550b-546b-8e5b-
4c1b28d7cb60.html
271
Perez, “Derby Girls Roll to Win.”
272
Perez, “Derby Girls Roll to Win.”

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On November 14, 2013, Inland Empire Weekly published a short feature article about the Inland
Empire Derby Divas. In “Deliciously Derby,” reporter Kimberly Johnson writes about the toughness of
the women involved in this league and the hard-hitting action of the sport itself. Johnson presents roller
derby in a very positive way, but her article is designed as a mere introduction into the sport: “The Inland
Empire Derby Divas formed in 2006 as a product of love and admiration for the fast-paced and
unforgiving nature of roller derby—no incentives of cash flow, no promise of admiration, basically just a
crazed desire to add an unexpected layer of excitement to their already jam-packed lives.”
273
She, too,
includes the customary description of basic gameplay:
For the novice roller derby fan, there are a few things you need to know before stopping
by a Derby Divas game next season. First, you have two teams consisting of five skaters
that are simultaneously competing to score points—each team has one pivot, three
blockers and one jammer. A pivot’s responsibility is to skate in front of the pack,
controlling the speed, but also acting as the last line of defense against the opposing
team’s jammer. Jammers are there for their stealthy speed, they are the only team player
who can score. Blockers, speaking true to their name, aid in keeping the opposing team’s
jammer from skating past and securing points—if you can imagine, this is all marginally
more exciting when you’re viewing an actual game in motion.
274

273
Kimberly Johnson, “Deliciously Derby,” Inland Empire Weekly (November 14, 2013),
http://ieweekly.com/2013/11/sports/deliciously-derby/
274
Johnson, “Deliciously Derby.”

81

The article goes on to describe that the league is in between seasons, but makes no mention of its
performance the previous season. The photo enclosed with the article (Figure #18) is from the IEDD’s
final bout of the 2013 season against the Hidden City Derby Girls “Beachside Bullies” in Oceanside,
Calif.; the IEDD lost the game 107 to 283. The 2013 season highlight was taking second place out of 12
teams at the Battle of the C Squads tournament in Sonora, Calif. in May 2013.
Figure 18 - The Inland Empire Derby Divas vs. the Hidden City Derby Girls in Oceanside, Calif. (November 2013)

Source: Kimberly Johnson, “Deliciously Derby,” Inland Empire Weekly (November 14, 2013),
http://ieweekly.com/2013/11/sports/deliciously-derby/.
Some leagues are fortunate enough to have a connection to a local publication through their
skaters. Such is the case for the Jackson Hole Juggernauts, and the Mojave Rattle Skaters located in
Yucca Valley, Calif. Mojave Rattle Skaters league president Courtney “Like a Vegan” Vaughn is on the
communications committee for her league and she also works as a reporter for the Hi-Desert Star. Vaughn
has written two articles about her league for the newspaper, however, neither have been event recaps.
Interestingly, Vaughn did not describe basic roller derby gameplay in her articles. In one, she
concentrated on the mission and identity of the league shortly after it was founded. In another article, she
wrote about a partnership the league made with a local construction company to build an outdoor space
for flat track roller derby and other community-oriented roller skating activities. Her motivation appears
to have been slightly different than others in that she wasn’t trying to teach anyone about roller derby, but
she was trying to describe how her league was working in and for the community.
82

None of these examples have been provided to suggest that the coverage is “bad” but that is room
for further efforts to include sports coverage in local newspapers about the individual leagues.

83

CHAPTER SIX: CASE STUDIES
The Texas Rollergirls
Background
The Austin Texas Rollergirls, Inc. Rock-n-Rollerderby was founded in Austin in 2003. It
pioneered the invention of modern flat track roller derby, including the original rules and specs for the
track.
275
The organization oversees six women’s teams (the “Hell Marys,” “Honky Tonk Heartbreakers,”
“Hotrod Honeys,” “Hustlers,” “Firing Squad” and “Texecutioners”), a recreational league and a junior
league. Several of the WFTDA’s founding members are from TRG. The league’s all-star team, the
“Texecutioners,” won the first ever WFTDA Championship that was held in 2006.
276
They took second
place at the WFTDA Championship in 2013.
According to Chief Communications Officer Aimee “Sinnerfold” Blase, TRG is comprised of
approximately 80 skating members in the premiere league, with 100 skating members in the recreational
league and 100 skating members in the junior league.
277
There are approximately 20 non-skating
members involved in business operations, excluding the referees, non-skating officials and volunteers.
278

The league’s target audiences are within the 250 square-mile radius of the greater Austin, Texas area.
279

Bouts are held at the Austin Convention Center, where over 2,000 spectators attend each TRG event
throughout the season.
280

Category Overview
The Texas Rollergirls is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity amateur sports organization that
exists to provide women with the opportunity to play and promote flat track roller derby.
281

275
Texas Rollergirls.
276
Texas Rollergirls.
277
Texas Rollergirls, see Appendix 6.
278
Texas Rollergirls, see Appendix 6.
279
Texas Rollergirls, see Appendix 6.
280
Texas Rollergirls.
281
Texas Rollergirls.

84

Competitive Analysis
One of TRG’s biggest direct competitors is banked track league Texas Roller Derby (TXRD
Lonestar Rollergirls), also located in the Austin area. Both organizations make valid claims as pioneers of
the modern roller derby revival; TRG originally formed from a league split with the TXRD Lonestars.
According to Roller Derby Worldwide, there are three other leagues in the Austin area – the Ann
Richards Roller Girls, Austin Anarchy Men’s Roller Derby, Texas Junior Roller Derby.
Outside of the sport, TRG competes with a wide variety of other entertainment options available
to a diverse range of audiences in a large metropolitan area. A travel website names music, arts, wineries
and an assortment of other outdoor activities, such as cycling, golf and motocross (i.e. the Grand Prix
circuit track will host MotoGP, X Games Austin and Formula 1 United States Grand Prix among other
events in 2014) as attractions in Austin.
282
It costs approximately $15 per ticket to watch a TRG bout, the
greatest competition is most likely activities in the same price range (i.e. movies, dining out, nightclubs).
Challenge/Opportunity
According to 2010 census data, the total population of Austin is approximately 790,000 people.
283

Reaching prospective derby fans and inspiring enough interest and investment among them to attend a
bout is perhaps the greatest challenge (as it is for any roller derby league). TRG must strategically
differentiate its brand from the TXRD Lonestars so that it resonates in the minds of key audiences. It must
also differentiate its brand and position itself properly in a large metropolitan area, where many similar
organizations and activities are vying for attention from the same audiences.
According to Blase, TRG’s Facebook following grew from 3,000 to 14,000 in less than three
years, indicating that the league’s online presence is significant.
284
She explained that TRG is trying to
cultivate its own online social community (http://www.texasrollergirls.org/social) but has not yet had
282
“Known for music. And so much more,” Austin: Live Music Capital of the World (accessed February 26, 2014),
http://www.austintexas.org/visit/discover/.
283
“Austin, Texas Population: Census 2010 and 2000 Interactive Map, Demographics, Statistics, Quick Facts,”
Census Viewer (Moonshadow Mobile, Inc., accessed February 26, 2014),
http://censusviewer.com/city/TX/Austin?gclid=CLaCkKPR6rwCFZRsfgodnhUABQ.
284
Blase, Aimee, See Appendix 6.

85

much success.
285
The primary purpose of the page appears to be to garner online traffic and discussion
toward Twitter. The page features a live photo stream, Vine (six-second videos) stream, tweet stream and
an activity map (demonstrates where the most discussion about TRG is happing in the U.S.). There is
tremendous opportunity to increase online influence and exposure through this well-organized platform.
Figure 19 - Texas Rollergirls Social Page

Source: Texas Rollergirls (accessed March 1, 2014), http://www.texasrollergirls.org/social/
There is also the opportunity to increase local exposure through building stronger relationships
with the media. Blase explained that the league both contacts and is contacted by local media for
coverage, however, many of the ideas that go through her league’s public relations committee are never
pitched.
286
“We have one paper that covers us, but it’s online only. We get mentions and photo-stories
sometimes,” she said.
287
“Then we typically get a feature story here and there in local papers.”
288

Marketing/PR Strategies
The following strategies have been accessed based off of TRG’s current marketing and public
relations activities (see tactics below):
285
Blase, Aimee, see Appendix 6.
286
Blase, Aimee, see Appendix 6.
287
Blase, Aimee, see Appendix 6.
288
Blase, Aimee, see Appendix 6.

86

• Create relevant and engaging content that aligns with brand identity and promotes the athleticism
of women’s flat track roller derby.
• Encourage user-generated content on social networking platforms to support the growth of the
digital community and increase online exposure for the brand.
• Cultivate opportunities for mutual exposure with partners and sponsors online.
Marketing/PR Tactics
• Sponsorship packages: In exchange for monetary donations, TRG offers sponsors advertising
benefits both online and at events depending on the package they choose. Supporting sponsors
may have a banner displayed at bouts (or a digital ad below the scoreboard) and web banner ads
on the TRG website.
• Press: Media relations efforts are overseen by the CCO and the public relations committee, with
two members responsible for pitching, one on writing and one as media liaison in 2012.
289
TRG
both pitches to media and is pitched to by media for the coverage. All recent press coverage is
featured on a designated page of the website. Blase explained that local media usually will
publish a feature or photo story about TRG.
290
However, TRG also publishes its own bout recaps,
which is where the more athletic coverage comes in. A press kit is easily accessible on the
website, providing a basic overview of the organization, the sport of flat track roller derby and the
organization’s audience demographics (See Appendix 7 for the TRG press kit).
• Facebook: With a following that has surpassed 24,000 on Facebook, the posts observed focused
on advertising upcoming bouts, skaters, sponsors and shared links that navigate readers to the
TRG website (i.e. shared link to a bout recap that is published on the website).
291

• Twitter: TRG has over 7,000 followers on Twitter. Although the channel has fewer followers than
Facebook, Twitter appears to be the focus of TRG’s public relations efforts to cultivate the
289
Blase, Aimee, see Appendix 6.
290
Blase, Aimee, see Appendix 6.
291
Texas Rollergirls, Facebook (accessed March 1, 2014), https://www.facebook.com/TexasRollergirls.

87

aforementioned online community. The league produces platform-specific content. For example,
one of its main uses of Twitter is real-time score updates during bouts so that fans can follow the
action even if they are not watching a bout live. This use is very platform-specific as the lifespan
of the content from live updates is very short-lived and would hazardously clog or spam a
Facebook feed.
• YouTube: The organization uses the striking visuals of the hard-hitting action of roller derby to
share promotional videos and bout footage on its YouTube channel. One of the promotional
videos appears on the home page of the website. The recurring message that appears at end of the
short promotional video reads: “Don’t Worry. It Doesn’t Hurt To Watch.”
• MySpace: TRG upgraded to the updated MySpace platform on February 10, 2014.
292
Although it
is unclear what role it will have in its future marketing and public relations efforts, a clear effort
has been made to revamp the channel.
• Website: The website is organized and kept up-to-date so that it serves as an effective information
hub for all key audiences. More than an information hub, the messaging in the visual promotions
attempt to influence the visitor to answer a call-to-action, which is to buy tickets and come watch
a bout.
• Discounts: The league offers group discounts and season tickets as added incentives for the
prospective spectator to come watch a bout, and to keep them coming back.
• Direct/Face-to-face: Direct marketing, it is assumed, has an important role in TRG’s marketing
and public relations efforts as face-to-face interaction with the prospective spectator is often the
most effective way to influence their interest in today’s roller derby. Many people are still
unfamiliar with this nonmainstream sport. Passion and excitement is often infectious and the
individual skater’s recommendation is an effective promotional tool. Direct marketing may occur
through special event appearances in groups or in the skater’s daily interaction.
292
Texas Rollergirls, MySpace page, accessed March 1, 2014, https://myspace.com/texasrollergirls/mixes

88

The Jackson Hole Juggernauts
Background
The Jackson Hole Juggernauts was founded in late 2011 with practices beginning in 2012 in
Jackson, Wyo.
293
Approximately 22 members skate on the young league’s two home teams (the “Grizzly
Belles” and the “Valley Vixens”).
294
“Jackson Hole is a small resort town with a very athletic and
outdoorsy local flavor. We are spread out between the towns of Jackson, Wilson, Kelly and Teton
Village, which is about 18 miles away from our venue,” said Julie “Punkalicious” Borshell, former
director of marketing and current league president.
295
Borshell explained that the location is remote, with
the nearest small city being Idaho Falls (90 miles) and the nearest metropolitan area being Salt Lake City
(300 miles).
296
There are no indoor roller skating rinks located in Jackson, so the league practices
outdoors during the summer and indoors at an elementary school gym during the harsh winters. Bouts are
held at the Snow King Sport and Events Center on an ice arena that is temporarily covered with sport
court for roller derby events. Bouts attract anywhere from 250 to 800 spectators.
297

Category Overview
The Jackson Hole Juggernauts is a nonprofit amateur flat track roller derby league located in
Jackson, Wyo.
Competitive Analysis
According to 2010 census data, the total population of Jackson is approximately 10,000 and the
population of Teton County is 21,000.
298
Borshell said that more than 90 percent of the spectators live
within a 20-mile radius of the league’s venue, with some fans from the nearby Star Valley and Idaho and
tourists mixed in. There are several strengths for the league’s location in a small town. Promotional
293
Homepage, Jackson Hole Juggernauts (accessed March 1, 2014), http://jhjrd.com/.
294
Julie Borshell, Jackson Hole Juggernauts, see Appendix 6.
295
Borshell, Julie, See Appendix 6.
296
Borshell, Julie, See Appendix 6.
297
Sponsorship Packet, Jackson Hole Juggernauts, 3.
298
“Population of Teton County, Wyoming: Census 2010 and 2000 Interactive Map, Demographics, Statistics,
Graphs, Quick Facts,” Census Viewer (Moonshadow Mobile, Inc., accessed February 26, 2014),
http://censusviewer.com/county/WY/Teton.

89

efforts may be significantly easier and less expensive to coordinate in a small geographic area. Word-of-
mouth may spread quicker. Reputation and relationships are more deeply rooted, creating for a strong
sense of brand loyalty among key audiences (which translates to fans cheering on their home teams at
bouts).
The Jackson Hole Juggernauts is the exclusive roller derby team to the town of Jackson, which
means that there is no threat to the loyalty of its core fan base.
Roller derby is a unique attraction to the town of Jackson because most sporting activities are
outdoors; it is one of the few that can be enjoyed in the warmth of the indoors during the harsh winters.
While there is little direct competition for spectatorship, there is for recruitment. Athletes and adventure-
seekers can enjoy a number of activities during summer and winter months, including climbing, biking,
running, hiking, camping, rafting, skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey and snowmobiling. With so many
other sporting options, the value proposition of playing roller derby must be clear and distinct (in other
words, why play roller derby?).
Challenge/Opportunity
The league’s greatest challenges appear more internal than external, both in growth and
accessibility. In September 2013, the league had approximately 22 members with six unable to skate due
to injury.
299
A team will field 14 players with two alternates to compete with a full roster during a
standard bout (although teams frequently compete short), which presents a challenge should the
Juggernauts seek to fill two full rosters for home bouts. The league itself must continue to grow in order
to continue to thrive competitively, even in a community that has enthusiastically embraced it. The
second challenge is accessibility – to outside competitors, to practice venues and to an expert skate shops.
Although roller derby gear may be ordered online, Jackson does not have a skate shop dedicated to the
needs of roller derby athletes. This is a unique challenge only to a town where there is a considerable
number of shops with local experts and equipment in nearly every sport enjoyed in the area.
299
Borshell, Julie, see Appendix 6.

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Marketing/PR Strategies
The following strategies have been accessed based off of the Juggernauts’ current marketing and public
relations activities (see tactics below):
• Create the perception that roller derby is a fun, family-friendly attraction to watch and enjoy.
• Maximize exposure of the brand and the sport through relationship with local media and other
traditional marketing tactics.
• Cultivate opportunities for mutual exposure with partners and sponsors.
• Attract new prospective spectators with unique incentives at events.
Marketing/PR Tactics
• Sponsorships: Like TRG, the Juggernauts have several sponsorship packages available that
clearly outline the benefits sponsors receive in exchange for their monetary donations. The
packages include print and web advertising and mentions in the league’s local press coverage.
The league is supported by several local businesses in Jackson, including Mangy Moose,
Mountain Athlete, PrintShop 22, Dearing Law Firm, LLC and, Cache Creek Lodge and others.
• Press: The league maintains a close relationship with local media. Jackson Hole’s two
newspapers are Jackson Hole News & Guide and Jackson Hole Weekly. Borshell explained that
one of the league members works for the Jackson Hole News & Guide, and that the sports editor
is a hockey player, both factors have been beneficial to the league’s relationship with the
publication and the coverage it receives.
300
“They have always treated us as a legitimate sport
with flair. They call to get quotes and get facts straight. They cover every single bout. We adore
them,” she said.
300
Borshell, Julie, see Appendix 6.

91

• Facebook: 845 followers and counting, Facebook is the only social media channel with the
Juggernauts use.
301
Recognizing the time-constraints of its members, the league’s marketing
committee made a conscious decision not to take on any other forms of social media.
• Website: The league’s website (http://www.jhjrd.com) is kept current and up-to-date with the
current bout schedule, membership/volunteer/sponsorship information and information about
other upcoming events. Image-driven and limited in copy, it is managed by the league’s web and
graphic designer with the WordPress CMS.
302

• Banner: According to Borshell, the league’s most important promotional tactic during the 2013
season was a 15-by-9 foot banner that required a permit and a reservation six months in
advance.
303
“Our town being laid out the way it is, there is one intersection in town that almost
everyone in town passes on a daily basis. On one of the corners is a grocery store that allows
banner to be hung on the backside that faces the intersection.”
304

• Incentives: In an effort to draw in more spectators from its target audiences, the league offers
contests and raffle prizes with outdoor themes in attempt to influence their interest to attend
events. For example, it offered two main prizes for activities at a superhero versus super villain
themed bout. Borshell said, “We did a Chuck-A-Duck, wherein we purchased a $1200 dollar ski
pass as a prize, and a tricycle race, wherein we gave away a cruiser bike.”
305

• Direct/Face-to-face: Direct marketing, with league member as acting promoters, is assumed as a
relevant and significant marketing and public relations tactic used by the league.
301
Jackson Hole Juggernauts, Facebook (accessed March 2, 2014), https://www.facebook.com/JHJuggernauts.
302
Borshell, see Appendix 6.
303
Borshell, see Appendix 6.
304
Borshell, see Appendix 6.
305
Borshell, see Appendix 6.

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CHAPTER SEVEN: STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS
These strategic recommendations have been developed based off of an analysis of the
researcher’s primary and secondary research findings. These recommendations are a truncated version of
the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism’s Strategic
Planning Model. They are designed to help roller derby leagues optimize their owned media and influence
earned media. The strategic approach to communications may change the scope of antiquated and/or
misguided perceptions about the individual roller derby league and the sport.
Identity, Branding & Business Goals
Before discussing media strategy or how to communicate with the league’s key audiences, the
roller derby league must clearly outline and understand its core identity. The league’s identity is defined
by its mission and the values it seeks to instill and maintain among its members. The league’s identity
will influence all aspects of executive decision making, the structure and order of operations, member
expectations, how the league positions itself in marketing and public relations and how the league
interacts with its key audiences. More than a logo or the look and feel of print or web materials, the
identity is the true essence of a brand. All of the supporting strategic and tactical elements, such as that
logo, print and web materials, may be considered part of the brand but only so far as they are in alignment
with the core identity of the brand.
Further, the brand will influence the league’s overarching business goals. Although these
concepts are seemingly straightforward, many leagues split because the decision makers of the league’s
executive committee have opposing viewpoints about the league’s branding and business goals. Take, for
example, the TRG and TXRD league split discussed in previous chapters. Although several influencing
factors may have been involved, the fundamental was over the brand identity and business goals. Both
leagues have moved on to mature as brands that are distinctively different.
Lack of a clear definition of the league’s brand and business goals will also cause confusion
among key audiences, internal and external. It causes confusion in the league’s messaging much to the
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detriment of its public relations and marketing efforts. For example, the league whose long-term business
goal is to join the WFTDA will position itself differently than the league whose long-term business goal
is solely to empower female athletes and become a socially responsible member of the community. That’s
not to say that a one league cannot accomplish all of these worthy business goals, but the most important
business goal will drive how the league gets there.
Only with the brand identity and the business goal firmly in place can the league begin to
investigate the communications goal of its marketing and public relations efforts.
Communications Goals
The communications goal(s) represents the highest-level outcome that can be achieved through
the league’s marketing and public relations efforts.
306
The following communications goals should align
with the brand and the business goal. Roller Derby’s goals are to:
1. Influence key audiences to perceive roller derby as a legitimate sport.
2. Increase fan loyalty and support for their local roller derby league.
3. Influence key audiences to support their local roller derby league.
4. Educate key audiences about the sport of roller derby.
5. Promote female empowerment and athleticism among key audiences through the influence of the
brand.
Situation Analysis
After establishing the communications goal(s), the league should conduct a SWOTS analysis,
also known as a situation analysis, to understand its internal and external assets and liabilities. This will
help the league determine what assets it may take advantage of and what limitations it may face. Although
some research is helpful, asurface-level situation analysis is still beneficial when completed with intimate
306
“Public Relations Strategic Planning Model,” USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, (last
modified August 26, 2012), 1.

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knowledge of the league. Here the author employed a basic SWOTS–Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, Threats and Strategic Implications—Analysis:
Table 16 - Example SWOTS Analysis (Jackson Hole Juggernauts)

Strengths (Internal)
• Monetary support from local businesses
• Loyal and supportive fans in the Jackson
Hole community
• Integrated committee structure (marketing
works with bout production and
sponsorship)
• Good relationship with local media,
including newspapers and a radio station

Weaknesses (Internal)
• Not enough skating members to field two
full rosters
• Marketing committee spread thin
• Limited access to competitors (requires
travel)
• Limited access to indoor training facilities

Opportunities (External)
• Exclusive roller derby team in Jackson
Hole community
• Access to athletic-minded key audiences

Threats (External)
• Harsh winters
• Assortment of outdoor activities available
to athletes and adventurers
• Large moving population (tourists visit
seasonally)

Strategic Implications
• The Juggernauts have an excellent relationship with local press and should continue to
maximize the value of exposure of its key messages through that relationship.
• The Juggernauts should develop key messages that will influence prospective members to join
the league and help it grow.
• The Juggernauts already have a loyal local following, the league may target more messaging
towards its moving tourist audience to increase spectatorship (i.e. influence tourists to consider
watching roller derby as a must-do while they are in Jackson Hole).

Objectives
Roller derby leagues should set benchmarks such as these for their public relations and marketing
efforts:
• By DATE, garner XX number of online impressions for the brand.
• By DATE, increase spectatorship by XX percent.
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• By DATE, increase conversation noise on Facebook by XX percent.
• By DATE, increase online ticket sales by XX percent.
Key Audiences
Identifying key audiences will help the roller derby league identify specific strategies and tactics
that will address the needs of those audiences. Enabling and functional audiences are vital to the
livelihood of the league, internally and externally. These include prospective audiences, who provide
opportunities for the league’s growth in memberships, sponsorships and fans. Each of these key audiences
may be considered for target marketing and public relations efforts:
• Functional: Skating league members, non-skating league members, fans, sponsors, prospective
members, prospective sponsors and prospective fans
• Normative: roller derby leagues and sporting organizations
• Diffused: media (print, broadcast, online, special)
The demographics and psychographics of these key audiences will look different depending on
the location, size and target growth areas of the league. Every league has these key audiences in common
in some capacity, what differs is who they target. If possible, targeting should involve some research into
what the members of the audience are actually like (Who are they? What are they interested in?).
Failure to meet the needs of one of the audiences may result in operational or growth problems
for the league. For example, if skating and non-skating league members are not motivated to become
involved in league operations, the league may see low turnouts in recruitment or fundraising events. Lack
of internal motivation may cripple league operations because roller derby leagues are so largely
dependent on do-it-yourself management and contributions. In another example, a league may fail to meet
the entertainment, comfort or engagement needs of fans attending home bouts. If fans do not have an
enjoyable experience, they may not return to the next bout. When attendance drops, ticket revenue drops
and sponsorship and partnership opportunities also drop.
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Key Messages
Key messages are the ideas that the organization wishes to communicate with its key audiences.
They should be used consistently throughout the tactics employed by the league to reach its key
audiences. These messages will differ from audience to audience, depending on the communications goal.
Consider the messages that the Juggernauts might develop for prospective members. Keeping in mind
that it is an adult women’s flat track roller derby league, the messaging will likely be targeted toward
active women in the age range of 18 to 45. Perhaps women in this audience have busy schedules, whether
they are moms, they work, they go to school or some combination of all three. Health and fitness are
important to them. Perhaps they are a runners, mountain climbers or bicyclists. Here are some examples:
1. “Roller derby is excellent cross-training for other sports.”
2. “Roller derby empowers female athletes.”
3. “You can get an excellent workout playing roller derby indoors, outdoors and all of the time.”
Strategies
Strategies are the guiding principles that will help the league reach its communications goals and
objectives. Strategies are the why behind the how (tactics). The recommended strategies and tactics listed
below are based on the communications goal of this study: to change the scope of antiquated and/or
misguided perceptions about the individual roller derby league and the sport.
1. Influence local media to write legitimate sports coverage about the league events.
2. Provide the media with the tools and accessibility to write legitimate sports coverage.
3. Optimize owned media channels by adopting an integrated approach to content development.
4. Develop reliable, current and accurate information hub for all of the league’s key audiences.
5. Increase online engagement with key audiences through the league’s owned media channels.
Tactics
1. Build relationships with local media
Get to know local reporters and radio announcers and come up with creative ways to approach
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them and captivate their interest. Do not expect them to approach the league. Instead pitch ideas
to them first. Feature stories offer an excellent opportunity for exposure, however, also urge the
media to regularly share scores and bout recaps in the sports section. Provide reporters with the
technical knowledge and vocabulary needed to write about roller derby as a sport (see “Press Kit”
below).
Invite local reporters and photographers out for exclusive visits at practices and/or meet with the
skaters (i.e. media day or activity). Get to know them and help them get to know the sport. VIP
access may build stronger relationships, and demonstrate that the league recognizes and
acknowledges their value and involvement.
2. Develop a press kit
Provide reporters with the technical knowledge and vocabulary to write about a roller derby bout
like they would any other sport. TRG has developed an excellent press kit for this purpose (see
Appendix 7). Ensure that the press kit is easily accessible on the league website. Provide digital
and hard copies to reporters attending games.
3. Content development
Develop a systematic and integrated approach to managing and developing content for social
networking channels. One approach is to organize everything into content buckets for each
channel (as was introduced in chapter 4). However, some basic planning and scheduling of
regular content throughout the week will introduce more regularity and consistency in social
media postings. Most importantly, learn how to most effectively format content for each social
media channel. However, even though each channel engages a little differently, the channels may
be integrated in such a way as to maximize online exposure and influence for the brand. For
example, when TRG posts live score updates on Twitter, a complimentary post may be shared on
Facebook reading somewhere along the lines of: “The stakes are high at the Golden Bowl
Tournament this weekend! Follow us on Twitter for live score updates as the Texecutioners take
on XX!”
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4. Website
Ensure that all of the information on the website is kept current and up-to-date. Critically analyze
the look, feel and content of the website and ensure that it aligns with the league’s branding
including business goal, communications goals, messaging and design.
5. Develop a strategic communications plan
Develop a strategic approach to marketing and public relations efforts as outlined in this chapter
or similar. Understand why the league is engaging in all of its current marketing tactics, ensure
that they align with the brand and business goal and analyze all tactical efforts critically. Revise
the plan as necessary.
6. Develop a social media usage policy
It is also recommended that the league outline a social media usage policy that defines how it will
converse with its online community. Although this has not been discussed extensively in this
study, this is particularly important should the league face a crisis issue.
7. Build relationships and partnerships with local business and organizations
Community involvement is important to many leagues. Partnerships offer many benefits to roller
derby leagues and partnering organizations. One of the main benefits is mutual exposure
opportunities through donations, fundraising or marketing efforts. However, these relationships
also often build social capitol for the roller derby league as a business and/or sporting
organization within its respective community.
Evaluation
The evaluation phase investigates the success and/or failure of the marketing and public relations
objectives, strategies and tactics. Although the objectives provide a guideline as a way to measure
whether an effort has been successful, this is only the surface level. The researcher should ask questions
regardless of whether objectives have or have not been met. What worked or did not work about the
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marketing and/or public relations effort? Was the method of evaluation trustworthy and accurate? Was the
objective realistic and attainable? Why or why not?
There are various metrics tools available to help the researcher monitor and evaluate online
“noise,” including budget-friendly tools such as Google Analytics, Topsy and others. The researcher
should also be on the lookout for unanticipated outcomes that occur as result of the efforts; these
outcomes can sometimes be more telling than those that were expected.
The evaluation phase may be taken further through extended qualitative and quantitative research
with informal interviews, surveys and/or focus groups.
Once a set of key outcomes and learnings have been realized, the strategic marketing and public
relations process may start all over as the league either revises its existing strategy or devises a new one.

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CONCLUSION
“No network can cancel them, no league owner can shut them down; what they have created is truly
unprecedented, and I am so glad that I have lived long enough to see it happen.” - Jerry Seltzer
307

After carefully dissecting the complex components of roller derby, the author, like the Seltzers,
believes in its validity as a breathtaking, legitimate sport. This thesis demonstrates that with strategic and
focused communication, roller derby may continue to build up a reputation as a legitimate sport and
thrive for decades to come.

307
Jerry Seltzer, “This Time it is Staying Around,” Roller Derby Jesus (Blog, September 2, 2010),
http://rollerderbyjesus.com/2010/09/22/this-time-it-is-staying-around/

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January 20, 2014.). http://howwerollfitness.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/offskatesfitness/.
“Who We Are.” Power Jam Fitness. http://powerjamfitness.com/who-we-are.html.
Woods, David. “Equal pay? Not on the basketball court.” USA Today (May 19, 2012).
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/story/2012-05-19/nba-wnba-basketball-salary-
disparity/55079608/1.
“Women in the Olympic Movement.” International Olympic Committee, 1. Switzerland: Olympic Studies
Centre, 2013.
Zimbalist, Andrew. “Title IX by the Numbers.” In Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change. Ed. Nancy
Hogshead-Makar and Andrew Zimbalist. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007.
105

APPENDIX 1: HIGHEST PAID MALE AND FEMALE ATHLETES 2010-2011
Highest Paid Female Athletes 2011
Table 17 - Highest Paid Female Athletes 2011
Name Sport Earnings
Maria Sharapova Tennis $25 million
Caroline Wozniacki Tennis $12.5 million
Danica Patrick Racing $12 million
Venus Williams Tennis $11.5 million
Kim Clijsters Tennis $11 million
Serena Williams Tennis $10.5 million
Kim Yu-na Figure Skating $10 million
Li Na Tennis $8 million
Ana Ivanovic Tennis $6 million
Paula Creamer Golf $5.5 million

Source: Kurt Badenhausen, “The Highest Paid Female Athletes,” Forbes (August 08, 2011),
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/08/01/the-highest-paid-female-athletes/.
Highest Paid Male Athletes 2011
Table 18 - Highest Paid Male Athletes 2011
Name Sport Earnings
Tiger Woods Golf $75 million
Kobe Bryant Basketball $53 million
LeBron James Basketball $48 million
Roger Federer Tennis $47 million
Phil Mickelson Golf $46.5 million
David Beckham Soccer $40 million
Cristiano Ronaldo Soccer $38 million
Alex Rodriguez Baseball $34 million
Michael Schumacher Racing $34 million
Lionel Messi Soccer $32.3 million

Source: Kurt Badenhausen, “The World’s Highest Paid Athletes,” Forbes (May 31, 2011),
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/05/31/the-worlds-highest-paid-athletes/.
106

Highest Paid Female Athletes 2010
Table 19 - Highest Paid Female Athletes 2010
Name Sport Earnings
Maria Sharapova Tennis $24.5 million
Serena Williams Tennis $20.2 million
Venus Williams Tennis $15.4 million
Danica Patrick Racing $12 million
Kim Yu-Na Figure Skating $9.7 million
Annika Sorenstam Golf $8 million
Ana Ivanovic Tennis $7.2 million
Jelena Jankovic Tennis $5.3 million
Paula Creamer Golf $5.2 million
Lorena Ochoa Golf $5 million

Source: Kurt Badenhausen, “The World’s Highest Paid Female Athletes,” Forbes (August 18, 2010),
http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/18/top-earning-female-athletes-business-sportsmoney-female.

107

APPENDIX 2: WOMEN’S SPORTS IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Women’s Participation in the Olympic Games 1896 – 2008
Table 20 - Women's Participation in the Olympic Games

Source: “FACTSHEET: Women in the Olympic Movement – Key Figures,” Department of International Cooperation and
Development (International Olympic Committee, last modified February 2009), 1.

Women’s Participation in the Olympic Winter Games 1924 – 2006
Table 21 - Women's Participation in the Olympic Winter Games

Source: “FACTSHEET: Women in the Olympic Movement – Key Figures,” Department of International Cooperation and
Development (International Olympic Committee, last modified February 2009), 2.

108

Introduction of Women’s Sports/Disciplines to the Olympic Games
Table 22 - New Women's Sports on the Olympic Programme

Source: “FACTSHEET: Women in the Olympic Movement – Key Figures,” Department of International Cooperation and
Development (International Olympic Committee, last modified February 2009), 2.

109

APPENDIX 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT ANALYSIS
The purpose of the social media content analysis component of this study was to understand how
roller derby leagues are currently using social media, identify types of content that receive the most
engagement and realize key findings that may be used to further develop best practices on social media. A
qualitative data collection method was designed to observe and measure the Facebook and Twitter
channels of 11 leagues over a six-day period. The data was analyzed to produce quantitative results that
would demonstrate measurable key findings. These key findings may aid leagues in increasing their
online presence on Facebook and Twitter through strategic content development.
Procedure
The researcher began by developing two data collection matrixes. One matrix was purposed for
the overall daily statistics of each league’s channels--that is the number of page likes/followers, collective
number of postings by the league and collective number of responses (comments, likes, tweets, shares and
favorites). The second matrix was purposed for recording information on the league’s individual posts
(content analysis).
Table 23 - Daily Statistics Matrix
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6
Facebook
Number of Page "Likes"
Number of Posts
Number of Post "Shares"
Number of Post "Likes"
Number of Comments
Number of Wall Posts

Twitter
Number Following
Number of Followers
Number of Tweets
Number of Retweets
Number of Comments
Number of Mentions

110

Table 24 - Content Analysis Matrix (With Example)
POST TAG (DAY AND #) D4 #1
Post Copy “a;lskdjf”
Facebook
Image Attached? n
Video Attached? n
Article Attached? n
Event/Ticket Information Attached? n
Other Hyperlink Attached? (i.e. website, tags) y
Original or Shared Content? Original
Event Promotion? n
Fundraising Promotion? n
Sport Information (i.e. Event Announcement, Event Recap, Stats, Scores, Exercise or Nutrition
Tips, etc.)? n
Misc. (Birthday, Inspirational Quote, Etc.)? y
Time of Day 7 a.m.
Number of Comments (24 hours) 3
Number of Likes (24 hours) 31
Number of Shares (24 hours) 1

POST TAG (DAY AND #) D2 #1
Post Copy “a;lsdkjf”
Twitter
Image Attached? n
Video Attached? n
Article Attached? n
Event/Ticket Information Attached? n
Other Hyperlink Attached? (i.e. website, tags) n
Twitter Handle Mention? y
Original or Shared Content? Original
Event Promotion? n
Fundraising Promotion? n
Sport Information (i.e. Event Announcement, Event Recap, Stats, Scores, Exercise or Nutrition
Tips, etc.)? n
Misc. (Birthday, Inspirational Quote, Etc.)? n
Time of Day 2 p.m.
Number of Retweets 1
Number of Favorites 1
Number of Comments 3

After the matrixes were developed, an informal random-selection process was used to choose 10
leagues to observe for the content analysis; the aim was to select a wide range of leagues, of varying
sizes, from various geographic areas, at varying stages in their media development. Note that an eleventh
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league was selected shortly after the analysis began due to concern for the inactivity by one of the
league’s channels. The leagues selected were:
• Angel City Derby Girls (Culver City, Calif.) – women’s flat track, WFTDA member
• Drive-By City Rollers (Los Angeles) – men’s flat track, MRDA member
• Gotham Girls Roller Derby (New York) – women’s flat track, WFTDA member
• Inland Empire Derby Divas (Grand Terrace, Calif.) – women’s flat track
• Jackson Hole Juggernauts (Jackson Hole, Wyo.) – women’s flat track
• L.A. Derby Dolls (Los Angeles) – women’s banked and flat track, RCDL member
• O.C. Roller Girls (Orange County, Calif.) – women’s banked and flat track, RCDL member
• Rat City Roller Girls (Seattle) – women’s flat track, WFTDA member
• Rose City Rollers (Portland, Ore.) – women’s flat track, WFTDA member
• SFV Roller Derby (San Fernando Valley, Calif.) – women’s flat track, WFTDA member
• Texas Rollergirls (Austin, Texas) – women’s flat track, WFTDA member
The analysis was designed to cover a six-day period with Friday, Saturday and Sunday
considered the weekend sample and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday considered the week day sample.
Each league had two of its own spreadsheets—one in each matrix—and the information logged in
Microsoft Excel.
From Friday, July 19, 2013 through Thursday, July 25, 2013 a total of 135 posts were observed
and logged among the 11 leagues between Facebook and Twitter collectively. The response rates
(comments, likes, shares, favorites and retweets) were logged 24-36 hours after the Facebook post or
tweet was published.

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Table 25 - Collective Number of Facebook and Twitter Posts of 10 Roller Derby Leagues July 19, 2013 – July 25, 2013
League Facebook Twitter Total
Angel City Derby Girls 3 15 18
Drive-By City Rollers 4 4 8
Gotham Girls Roller Derby 5 1 6
Inland Empire Derby Divas 6 6 12
Jackson Hole Juggernauts 3 3
L.A. Derby Dolls 3 1 4
O.C. Roller Girls 4 5 9
Rat City Roller Girls 7 6 13
Rose City Rollers 1 8 9
SFV Roller Derby
Texas Rollergirls 15 38 53
Grand Total 51 84 135

After the six-day data collection process was completed, all of the information was manually
encoded in Microsoft Excel using a 0-1-2 numeric system that would allow the program to count and
compare the data. The researcher designed and presented the results quantitatively using pivot tables,
while providing specific examples to help illustrate some of the results in Chapter 4.
See Chapter 4: Owned Media, section on Social Media (p. 60) for the detailed results and
analysis.
Limitations
The study did not measure the level of long-term engagement of any individual post as all of the
response rates were recorded within 24 to 36 hours of the post being published. Although not of particular
concern for tweets, which tend to have much shorter life than Facebook posts, the level of engagement
with a Facebook post may have been different if observed over a longer period of time. Also, the study
was unable to accurately measure the actual level of reach and readership of Facebook posts and tweet as
the content analysis could only be conducted on those that responded to the content published with a call-
to-action (comment, favorite, like, tweet or share). The researcher did not have internal access to any of
the channels, wherein their owners have more detailed metrics as provided by Facebook and Twitter.
113

Key Findings
• Content development occurs irregularly (no social media schedule or plan).
• Images are the most common form of multimedia shared on Facebook.
• Images and articles are the most common forms of multimedia shared on Twitter.
• Facebook posts with images receive more “shares” and “likes” than posts without.
• Multimedia tweets do not receive more “retweets” or “favorites” than text-only tweets.
• There is more original than shared content posted on Facebook.
• There is more shared than original content posted on Twitter.
• Leagues post more frequently on Twitter than Facebook, but not by much.
• Leagues have varying amounts of followers on Twitter and Facebook. The average growth rate,
when compared to the size of the following, does not vary a great deal.
• Engagement is lower are channels that are linked.

114

APPENDIX 4: PRINT MATERIAL EXAMPLES
Figure 20 – Inland Empire Derby Divas Bout Program

Figure 21 – Inland Empire Derby Divas Bout Program

115

Figure 22 – Inland Empire Derby Divas Bout Program

Figure 23 – Inland Empire Derby Divas Recruitment Flyer

116

APPENDIX 5: MISSION STATEMENT EXAMPLES
Inland Empire Derby Divas
The Inland Empire’s Premiere All Women Flat Track Roller Derby League was formed in February of 2006. The
league is proudly run by skaters, for skaters.

The Inland Empire Derby Divas (IEDD) roster is growing and getting stronger every day. Over 40 women have joined
from all over the IE—from Chino to Yucaipa—representing the San Bernardino and Riverside Counties in local and
eventually national competitions. There has been an incredible response from women interested in joining the IE’s
future Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (www.wftda.com) rookie league.

The skating femme-fatales are committed to enduring grueling training to prepare for the 2012 season. The Divas
promise their audiences a high octane match with a shot of pin-up girl and a twist of feminism. The skaters
themselves come from all walks of life—a hair stylist for the dead, an archaeologist, a union pipe layer, college
students, and stay at home moms. Ages range from 19-49 and body types and skating levels vary, but all share their
passion for derby.

Our league is organized into committees including: events, merchandise, communication, recruiting, and sports
management. We do this in addition to our day jobs. It takes a lot of time and commitment. Do we get paid? Not even
a dime. We even pay to play! All people contributing to IEDD do this as a community volunteer effort. Skaters must
pay monthly dues for helping with the operational costs of the rink, bouts, and practices. All profits generated from
fundraisers, tickets, merchandise sales, sponsorships, and other sources are invested into the league. Running the
show requires not only effort from the skaters, but several dedicated volunteers working together to help put on bouts,
public events and other operations. These positions include referees, statisticians, scorekeepers, ticket/merchandise
sellers, audio engineers, and more.

Inland Empire Derby Divas, “Who are the Inland Empire Derby Divas?” Retrieved February 2, 2014,
http://iederbydivas.com/about-ie-derby-divas

L.A. Derby Dolls
The L.A. Derby Dolls are Southern California's premiere all-female, banked track roller derby league.

Founded in October 2003 by Rebecca Ninburg (a.k.a.Demolicious) and Wendy Templeton (a.k.a. Thora Zeen), the
L.A. Derby Dolls are a league of more than 150 skaters and volunteers, divided into five teams who skate on a
banked track.

Embodying the do-it-yourself ethos of modern roller derby, as resurrected in Austin, Texas in 2000, the L.A. Derby
Dolls are an entirely volunteer-run organization, relying on the support of their fans and community.

The L.A. Derby Dolls take all the thrills of the old game and update it with a fresh and feisty new face. And the hits
and spills are 100% real. No script can write this kind of action.

L.A. Derby Dolls, “Who We Are,” Retrieved February 2, 2014, http://derbydolls.com/about/.

117

Texas Rollergirls
Formed in 2003 as the only sports league of its kind, Texas Rollergirls Rock-n-Rollerderby® started today’s Flat
Track Derby movement. There are now more than 300 Flat Track Derby leagues worldwide, with more forming every
week. In its current incarnation, Roller Derby is a genuine athletic competition complete with well-defined rules,
divisions, tournaments, and a governing body: the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).
The Texas Rollergirls, Austin born and bred, is 100% skater-owned and managed. The league is composed of four
home teams supported by a loyal, enthusiastic fan base: Hell Marys, Hotrod Honeys, Honky Tonk Heartbreakers, and
Hustlers. A fifth team, the Texecutioners, is comprised of all-star members from each of the four home teams. In
2006, the Texecutioners were crowned the WFTDA Champions of the first Flat Track National Tournament.
Regular season bouts are held at The Austin Convention Center, hosting sell-out, capacity crowds of 2,500 fans. In
addition to regular season bouts, the Texas Rollergirls also skate in exhibition games and interstate competitions and
are available for public appearances.
Mission

Austin Texas Rollergirls Inc, Rock’n'Rollerderby®, dba Texas Rollergirls, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity
amateur sports organization dedicated to playing and promoting the sport of Women’s Flat Track Derby. We provide
superior athleticism every time we play and are committed to introducing new fans to our revolutionary sport.

118

APPENDIX 6: LEAGUE QUESTIONNAIRES
This questionnaire distributed to the media/PR/marketing person of 10 randomly-selected leagues
via email on September 3, 2013. Of the 10 questionnaires distributed, there were three respondents.
L.A. Derby Dolls
1. League Name: Los Angeles Derby Dolls
2. What is the approximate size of your league?
a. Number of skating members: Approximately 135
b. Number of non-skating members: Approximately 50
3. How would you describe the geographic area of your league (“home” location)?
Urban
4. How large is the geographic area of your target audience for home games?
Very Large—500 sq. miles.
5. How are media relations activities structured within your league? (For example, if using committee
structure, what type of committees? How many committee members are there? How are
responsibilities assigned?)
We use a committee structure. We have a PR committee and a marketing committee that handle media
relations—each have approximately 5-8 people. Responsibilities are split between members. The head and
co-head of each committee assign the work according to members’ strengths.
6. Is your media relations closely tied with any other areas of the league (fundraising, sponsorship,
bout production, etc.)?
We do work directly with bout production, sponsorship, marketing and our street team to make sure
everything is covered and runs smoothly.
7. For what purpose does your league primarily use social media? Over which platforms (i.e.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)?
We use Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook. We use this to interact with our fans and give them
information about the league and upcoming events.
8. What use of social media has been the most successful for your league?
Facebook. Hands down.
9. How would you describe your league’s relationship with local media (radio, newspapers and
photographers)?
Pretty good. We’re working on making it better. We do press releases to local newspapers and radio and
we do have photographers in sometimes.
10. Does local media contact your league to coverage a game or do you pitch the story to them?
We pitch to them, mostly. There are certain events that media covers on an annual basis.
11. What platforms, if any, does your league use for internal communication among league members
only?
Yahoo Groups and email.
12. Comments:
Questionnaire filled out by Julia “Infinite Pest” Callahan, Head of Public Relations, L.A. Derby Dolls, September 3,
2013.
119

Texas Rollergirls
1. League Name: Texas Rollergirls
2. What is the approximate size of your league?
a. Number of skating members:
80 in our premier league. We have at any given time 100 in recreation and 100 in juniors.
b. Number of non-skating members:
20 (business members – does not include all volunteers)
3. How would you describe the geographic area of your league (“home” location)?
The greater Austin, TX area
4. How large is the geographic area of your target audience for home games?
250 sq. miles.
5. How are media relations activities structured within your league? (For example, if using committee
structure, what type of committees? How many committee members are there? How are
responsibilities assigned?)
The Chief Communications Officer (head of marketing) is over the PR team which last year was two skaters
on pitching, one on writing and one as media liaison (mainly at-bout coordination). We have one skater on
Facebook and one on Twitter.
6. Is your media relations closely tied with any other areas of the league (fundraising, sponsorship,
bout production, etc.)?
No, just marketing. Though, marketing was tied in closely with sponsorship and financing this year through
the CCO (me).
7. For what purpose does your league primarily use social media? Over which platforms (i.e.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)?
Facebook is heavy anywhere from once a week to three times per day before bouts. Twitter weekly/daily.
We are also trying to cultivate a social community but, haven't had success in really pushing it yet:
http://www.texasrollergirls.org/social/
8. What use of social media has been the most successful for your league?
Facebook–we've grown from 3,000 likes to almost 14,000 in less than three years.
9. How would you describe your league’s relationship with local media (radio, newspapers and
photographers)?
Not as good as it should be. We have one paper that covers us, but it's online only. We get mentions and
photo-stories sometimes. Then we typically get a feature story here and there in local papers. The PR team
had great ideas for pitches, but just never got around to actually pitching.
10. Does local media contact your league to coverage a game or do you pitch the story to them?
Both.
11. What platforms, if any, does your league use for internal communication among league members
only?
Yahoo Groups = THEY SUCK. We're looking for a new forum.
12. Comments:

Questionnaire filled out by with Aimee “Sinnerfold” Blasé, Chief Communications Officer, Texas Rollergirls,
September 5, 2013.

120

Jackson Hole Juggernauts
1. League Name: Jackson Hole Juggernauts
2. What is the approximate size of your league? 22
a. Number of skating members: 16
b. Number of non-skating members: 6 presently injured (we also have 5 refs)
3. How would you describe the geographic area of your league (“home” location)?
Jackson Hole is a small, resort town with a very athletic and outdoorsy local flavor. We are spread out
between the towns of Jackson, Wilson, Kelly & Teton Village, which is about 18 miles from our venue. We
are fairly remote with the closest small city being 90 miles away (Idaho Falls), and the closest metropolitan
area being Salt Lake City at 300 miles away.
4. How large is the geographic area of your target audience for home games?
I would say that 95 percent of our audience lives within 20 miles of our venue, although we also see a few
tourists and people from Star Valley, which is about 45 miles away, and Victor/Driggs, Idaho, which is about
30 miles away.
5. How are media relations activities structured within your league? (For example, if using committee
structure, what type of committees? How many committee members are there? How are
responsibilities assigned?)
Our marketing department started out with 7 members, which was the largest committee. We functioned
with a Director, Web and Graphic Designer, Facebook Person, Public Appearances Coordinator, Media
Relations, Merchandise Coordinator and two to hang posters. However, after the first year of fall-outs (one
moved, two dropped out entirely, and two just never followed through with their obligations). Our committee
is now down to 3 people: Director, Facebook and Web/Graphic.
6. Is your media relations closely tied with any other areas of the league (fundraising, sponsorship,
bout production, etc.)?
Sponsorship works with our graphic designer to create the sponsorship packet and website. We work with
Bout Production to advertise bands, contests and raffle prizes. For this last bout of our second season, we
all worked together through the Board to create a themed bout (Superheroes vs. Supervillains). We
reallocated our two home teams to mix it up, we dressed up and changed up the posters to fit the theme.
We also purchased two huge prizes to try to get some new faces to bouts: we did a Chuck-A-Duck, wherein
we purchased a $1200 dollar ski pass as a prize, and a tricycle race, wherein we gave away a cruiser bike.
7. For what purpose does your league primarily use social media? Over which platforms (i.e.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)?
Facebook
8. What use of social media has been the most successful for your league?
Facebook. We may venture into the others this next year as our new Director of Marketing is much younger
and more “into” social media than I am (I’m almost 40, busy working mom and am moving into my role as
president next week). After all of the fall-outs in our committee, the three of us were stretched so thin that we
couldn’t take on the other forms of social media.
9. How would you describe your league’s relationship with local media (radio, newspapers and
photographers)?
Awesome. We are such a small town that we have only two newspapers, JH News and Guide, who puts out
a free daily, and a $1 weekly. We have a player who is a journalist there, and the sports editor is a hockey
player. They have always treated us as a legitimate sport with flair. They call to get quotes and get facts
straight and they cover every single bout. We adore them.
The other paper is a weekly arts and entertainment paper, also free. We had some issues with getting them
to cover us. At the beginning, they wrote a story that we can’t figure out where they came up with some of
their facts about roller derby. This year, we finally got the editor to write and publish a story on us that had
121

actual facts, pictures, and it seemed like he was starting to “get” roller derby. Maybe we are just so spoiled
with News & Guide’s coverage that it is tinting our view of JH Weekly.

The sales manager at the local radio station is a huge fan. We did radio ads this year only because she
offered us an amazing deal. Not sure if that really produced anything. Do people actually listen to the radio
anymore?

10. Does local media contact your league to cover a game or do you pitch the story to them?
JH News and Guide covers us, but that may be because Dollface Killah sits two cubicles over from the
sports editor. JH Weekly, we had to pull teeth to get them to notice us.
11. What platforms, if any, does your league use for internal communication among league members
only?
Facebook Secret Pages. We have an all-league page that works swimmingly. Most of the committees and
teams have also created similar secret pages.
12. Comments:
Our town being laid out the way it is, there is one intersection in town that almost everyone in town passes
by on a daily basis. On one of the corners is a grocery store that allows banners to be hung on the backside
that faces the intersection. You have to reserve that space 6+ months in advance, get a town permit and
climb way up on the ladder to hang the huge banner. That banner was the single most important piece of
marketing we had all year. We purchased a 15’ x 9’ (massive) banner for about $400 and put limited copy on
it. I think it just says “Come watch Roller Derby, this Saturday 7 PM Snow King Arena” in huge letters, with
our logo. It was impossible to miss.

Questionnaire filled out by Julie “Punkalicious” Borshell, Director of Marketing, Jackson Hole Juggernauts, September
23, 2013

122

APPENDIX 7 - PRESS KITS

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125

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127

128

129

130

131

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Abstract (if available)

Abstract There is a great disparity between how the sport of roller derby is perceived by those outside of it versus how it is perceived by those involved in it. Younger audiences often have never heard of roller derby, and what older generations know about roller derby was born out of the original entertaining roller sport, which was made popular on broadcast television from the late 1940s through the 1970s. Today’s roller derby is largely the byproduct of a tremendous revival that began in Texas in 2001. While modern roller derby continuing to mature as a sport, the overall audience perception seems to have failed to evolve with it. It is still largely perceived as more of a performance than a sport. ❧ This study explores modern roller derby and its media relations

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Asset Metadata

Creator Goodman, Krista Lee (author)

Core Title Roller derby, from spectacle to sport: moving past perceptions

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 07/16/2014

Defense Date 07/01/2014

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Athletics,derby,OAI-PMH Harvest,roller derby,Roller skating,rollerskating,Skating,sports communication,sport's league,sports marketing,women's sports

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), LeVeque, Matthew (committee member), Lynch, Brenda (committee member)

Creator Email info@kristagoodman.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-442938

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Rights Goodman, Krista Lee

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Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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