Would you go to an arena football game played by women? If that doesn’t sound compelling to you, then let us rephrase: Would you go to an arena football game played by young, pretty women in nothing but their underwear?
If your answer is yes, your wish might come true — if Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett doesn’t stop this from becoming a reality, that is.
Last week, the Lingerie Football League made headlines when Cornett said he staunchly opposed the expansion of the league into Oklahoma.
If you didn’t know, the league was created after the success of the “Lingerie Bowl,” an event that has been available on pay-per-view during the Super Bowl halftime show since 2004. It features women in revealing lingerie, shoulder pads and hockey masks, and has now become a women’s 7-on-7 American football league.
When asked why he wouldn’t allow such a team to play in an Oklahoma City convention center, Cornett said there were “too many problems to list,” and wouldn’t give a specific answer.
With team names such as the “Dallas Desire,” “San Diego Seduction” and “Los Angeles Temptation,” it’s not hard to guess what problems Cornett has with the franchise coming to Oklahoma. Even its founder, Mitchell Mortaza, told The Orlando Weekly that its target audience is “mostly beer-drinking college students aged 21 and up.”
After much media attention for his initial comments, Cornett made it clear that he doesn’t have the power to ban such a decision, but in an Oklahoma City Council vote, he would oppose the league’s expansion.
We understand why the mayor would have misgivings for exposing Oklahoma to a sport played by women in lingerie: It’s not exactly family friendly. Some feel it objectifies and exploits women, while others say it simply uses sex to sell.
The problem with our mayor’s reasoning is we already have plenty of sexually immoral franchises all over Oklahoma. A quick Google search of “Oklahoma City strip clubs” yields several adult entertainment clubs that turn women’s bodies into a profit mechanism. There are also three Hooter’s restaurants in the city — another successful franchise that makes big bucks out of hiring flirty, well-endowed waitresses who must wear tight, white tank-tops.
Is Cornett going to go on a righteous crusade against these franchises too? Probably not.
After hundreds of hits on NewsOK.com’s stories on the subject, a poll was placed on the articles, asking readers, “Is lingerie football good or bad for Oklahoma City?”
As of Sunday evening, after 16,942 votes, support for lingerie football topped out at about 71 percent.
It appears Oklahomans support lingerie football as much as they support banning Sharia law from being used in state courts.
While the sport obviously exploits women as well as its targeted audience in a despicable fashion, if the Oklahoma City Council votes against an Oklahoma City franchise simply on moral grounds, it will be a loss for the free expression guaranteed in our country.
“Oklahomans should be provided the opportunity to choose for themselves and not dictated to,” Mortaza told The Oklahoman. “I thought our plans were for expansion into Oklahoma City, not North Korea.”
After all, as league officials have pointed out, a Satanic church was allowed to hold an exorcism parody at the Oklahoma City Civic Center on Oct. 21 — so why not lingerie football?
Are the two things morally reprehensible? They are to some.
Are the two allowed under the First Amendment? Yes, and the Oklahoma City Council should keep this in mind.
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mustafa 1 year, 6 months ago
This is a great opportunity for women. But I would rather see bikini basketball.