The New Skins Game

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Anna Kournikova, once among tennis's highest endorsement earners, never won a Women's Tennis Assn. pro singles tournament. Currently, Maria Sharapova tops the earners' list even though she hasn't won a Grand Slam since 2008. As Serena Williams said at a Wimbledon press conference in 2009: "Sex sells." Perhaps that's why the LFL is growing.

After the inaugural Lingerie Bowl, Mortaza had his second epiphany: Lingerie football was bigger than just one annual game. He envisioned a national sports league featuring serious athletes—albeit mostly naked—in major markets stretching from Los Angeles to Miami. He began recruiting coaches from semipro leagues and advertised tryouts on local radio stations. Players are paid anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars per game, depending on the number of tickets—which range from $15 to $85—sold.

In 2009, Mortaza launched the LFL with 10 teams and a television deal with MTV2, and he says the league made a profit its first year. While two teams, the New York Majesty and the Denver Dream, folded because Mortaza couldn't secure favorable stadium deals, he found replacements for the 2010 season. The new teams, the Baltimore Charm and Orlando Fantasy, squared off on a cold November evening inside Baltimore's 1st Mariner Arena—and both showed signs of inexperience. On the very first play, the Charm's quarterback threw the ball into the dirt five yards in front of her intended receiver. A few snaps later, however, she delivered a touchdown strike. The Fantasy equaled the score on their opening drive, despite seeing their starting running back limp off the field after a hard tackle. In the end, the Charm pulled away and won the game 42-19.

"I thought I was one in a million being pretty and athletic," says Tiffani Hardin, a junior at the University of Central Florida and middle linebacker for the vanquished Fantasy. "The first time I played with the LFL, I got knocked on my ass. You can say what you want about the uniforms, but these women are real athletes and they're fierce." As she left the field, an announcer encouraged fans to linger and get autographs from their favorite players.

Mortaza claims that the 2010 season, which culminates on Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas, is going even better than expected. "We're 260 percent more profitable so far this season than at the same point last year," he says. Already, he's thinking beyond the U.S. market. The LFL has held a game in Mexico City and plans another in Tokyo. "We're really big in Australia," says Mortaza. Meanwhile, the Charm-Fantasy game earned a two-sentence write-up in The Baltimore Sun. At least it was in the sports section.

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