Women's Football Alliance: WFA struggling for professional recognition

World
Europe

02:38

The latest season of a groundbreaking Women's American Football league is about to kick off in the US. But unlike the WNBA or soccer's NWSL, the Women's Football Alliance is still not recognized as a professional team. CGTN's Giles Gibson went to visit the D.C. Divas, just one of the teams pushing to change that.

There's no place to hide when the D.C. Divas are training. They practice their offense and defense drills again and again to get ready for game day. But these women aren't professional athletes.

GILES GIBSON WASHINGTON "It's almost 9 o'clock at night and many of these women have come here straight from work to take part in a grueling two-hour training session."

They find the money to play through a combination of sponsorship, fund raising and dipping into their own savings.

TARA MASON D.C. DIVAS DEFENSIVE LINE WOMAN "It's definitely challenging. However, when you have the heart for it, the girls are all here, when you come to practice it's like a family. You make time for it, you make sacrifices, you hit D.C. traffic, hours to get here, but it's worth it."

ESPN reports the National Football League franchises made about $255 million dollars in 2017 through merchandise, TV revenue and ticket sales.

In contrast, the Women's Football Alliance national champions took home around $20,000 in rewards last year.

The Divas's owner says there needs to be a cultural shift for women's contact football to really take off in the U.S.

RICH DANIEL D.C. DIVAS OWNER "Football is the last male bastion of sport, where in many places you get the impression that only males should play or can play. Less and less of that is happening in the US and that's why you're seeing I think the growth of the sport in this country and also in 25 countries across the world now."

Established in 2009, the WFA now has more than 2,500 players across 65 different teams.

As they try to boost the profile of their sport, they're also trying to encourage young girls to play football instead of soccer or tennis.

KENTRINA WILSON D.C. DIVAS WIDE RECEIVER "It's exciting to be a part of the movement. So later on when we're retired and little girls are able to play for a women's professional team, we can say that we paved the way for these little girls."

For now, the Divas will keep training after work at a local high school, but one day they hope to run out under those bright lights as both professionals and equals. Giles Gibson, CGTN, Washington.