The Alberta Women's Health Foundation and Calgary Wild FC have launched a symbolic campaign to spotlight women's health and sport by playfully referring to the team's home field as McWomahon Stadium. The tongue-in-cheek rebrand aims to raise funding for women's health research and highlight that women's sports are finally taking centre stage at McMahon Stadium for the first time in its 60-plus-year history.
Changing the Conversation
Lindsay Robertson, vice-president of communications, marketing and brand for the Alberta Women's Health Foundation, emphasized that the stadium name has not been changed. 'We didn't actually change the name, but we are changing the conversation,' she said. 'For too long, women have been expected to fit into systems that weren't originally designed with them in mind — in sport, health care and beyond.'
Stadium Modifications for Women's Team
Before the Wild kicked off their inaugural season in 2025, parts of McMahon Stadium had to be renovated to better support a women's team. Changes included upgrading locker-room and showering spaces, adding built-in feminine hygiene product dispensers, and removing urinals from washrooms. Lara Murphy, the team's co-founder and CEO, noted that the modifications highlighted the stadium's original design for men's sport. 'We're able to play in a stadium that was purpose-built for men's sport,' she said. 'Obviously, as times evolve and change, we did have to modify parts of the facility.'
Consultation and Symbolism
Before launching the McWomahon campaign, the women's health foundation consulted the University of Calgary, which owns the stadium, and the McMahon family, which donated funding for its construction in 1960, to ensure their support. Robertson described the initiative as a 'symbolic rebrand' that is not about pitting men against women but rather spotlighting the under-representation of women's health research compared to broader health initiatives.
Funding Disparities in Women's Health Research
Robertson cited recent polling suggesting that only three per cent of research funding from the Canadian Institute for Health Research went specifically toward women's health research in Alberta. Nationally, seven per cent of health research funding is dedicated to women's health, dropping to two per cent when excluding breast cancer research. 'There's so much more to women's health that we just don't know because we haven't been doing the research on women,' Robertson said, noting that some diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, affect women disproportionately.
Campaign Visibility
Over the next six weeks, Calgarians may notice a series of digital billboards featuring 'McWomahon' throughout the city, accompanied by photos of Wild players in action and messages like 'It's time' or 'Finally.' The campaign aims to draw attention to ongoing disparities for women in both health research and sport.
