Pigskin Parade, the 1936 musical best known as Judy Garland’s film debut, features a story as unlikely now as it appears to have been unremarkable then: A bumbling football coach gets recruited from Flushing, Queens, to then-fictional Texas State University, where his wife pushes that team of underdogs to victory in an accidentally-scheduled game against Yale.

A new amendment to the law that governs professional sports will allow for full professionalism in the women’s game for the first time, removing the salary cap and allowing the teams to pay their players actual wages. Prior to the change, the only “wage” that a woman receives is a per diem of €60 (and that for just 5 days a week) and a match bonus of €77.47.

After a 1938 halftime exhibition game between the Wildcats and the Stars, one commentator wrote, “Strangely enough, they played good football,” but going on to conclude that “it would be better for girls to stick to swimming, tennis and softball.”

There’s an edge of desperation, sometimes, when women’s soccer fans discuss their hopes for the future. After all, the marketing of women’s soccer is often reduced almost entirely to a “cause”, positioning players as role models and inspirational characters overcoming adversity.

For the last few years, La Liga has been pushing to make their women’s football a popular and sustainable product, and Barcelona is doing their part by promoting their women’s team to as many fans as possible.

“I’d rather be here playing against the girls than out on a court at a park or something,” explains Wes Murphy, a 28-year-old native of nearby Norwich who’s been on the squad since he was in college. “They know the game of basketball better — so many guys just get up and down the floor, throw shots up and have no idea what they’re doing.”

“For me in this process, I tell people all the time ‘it’s not enough to have it just be you,’” Welter says. “That’s selfish, if it was just them coaching football and there were no implications for anyone else. To me, that’s not enough. And so to hear about the other women at AAF who are doing a great job who are there in the trenches, it shows progress. And it encourages me to continue to not only kick butt on the field but to push for change in our society as a whole.”

In countries like Australia, Canada, and Japan, which has won the last five World Cups, teams and leagues exist specifically for girls and women. Their national teams are made up of professional athletes. In the U.S., not only are there are no reliable opportunities for women to play professional baseball, but the sport is still considered taboo for women — even though they’ve been playing it for over a century.

With more women in prominent NBA roles, there is still another hurdle to cross: the front office. The NBA has never had a woman hold general manager or president of basketball operations positions, and there don’t appear to be many women “in the pipeline” for these roles yet. But one former WNBA superstar could be the first woman to lead an NBA team’s front office. Her name? Tamika Catchings.

We need to get young girls AND young boys involved in watching WNBA basketball. As a society, we should be embarrassed that most young boys — when asked who their favorite players are — do not utter the names Brittney Griner, Nneka Ogwumike or Breanna Stewart.

This isn’t the first time the Bills have broke boundaries for women, as the team hired the league’s first full-time female coach in 2016 when they named Kathryn Smith special teams quality control coach. Pegula will also be president of the Buffalo Sabres and Pegula Sports & Entertainment following the resignation of Russ Brandon. She is the only female president in the NHL, as well.

For many young women, softball is the only realistic avenue for turning their passion on the diamond into the kind of pursuit that can pave the way to a collegiate scholarship or beyond. This joint venture from the MLB and USA Baseball will help ensure America’s most promising young talents have an opportunity to find a place where their skills will be nurtured.