History has been made in Women’s Football after Sky and the BBC signed a deal, said to be worth around £8 million per season, to secure the broadcasting rights to the Women’s Super League. The agreement is for three years and will begin as of the 2021/22 season.
“Amazing Step Forward” For Women’s Football
The BBC will reportedly broadcast 22 live games, a minimum of 18 of which will be shown on BBC One or Two, and Sky will broadcast up to 44 matches which will be covered across their various football channels. Fixtures which are not selected by Sky or the BBC will be covered live on the FA Player.
The broadcast deal with Sky and the BBC is believed to be the biggest of any professional women’s football league in the world. England and Manchester City captain Steph Houghton told BBC Sport that this news was an “amazing step forward” for women’s football and described how the players are excited to “show the world what an unbelievable league we have”.
Improved Finances
In 2019, Barclays secured a partnership with the FA to become the title sponsor of the Women’s Super League, a deal that is now believed to be closer to £20 million than the initially reported £10 million. With the Women’s Super League now securing a major deal for its TV rights just over two years later, it cannot be underestimated the impact this will have.
The deal will see a further £8 million per season being put into the top of the game, some of that money going directly to clubs themselves – 75% of investment revenue will go to Women’s Super League clubs, the remaining 25% will go to clubs in the Women’s Championship.
Positive Future For WSL
The FA’s Kelly Simmons, who is the director of the women’s professional game, expects the agreement with Sky and the BBC will give the WSL a significant boost in terms of its audience figures. “We have benchmarks for what we think are the most successful, high profile women’s sports leagues in the world like the WNBA… they are low hundreds of thousands in terms of an average peak per week.” She went on to add “We anticipate this would significantly be above that.”
Those who criticise women’s football point to it not having the exposure or the audience to compete with the men’s game.
The developments of the last couple years, namely the WSL’s partnership with Barclays and their record breaking TV deal with BBC and Sky, are major steps which might go some way in helping increase the status and popularity of the women’s game.
“England Women 0 New Zealand Women 1 01 06 2019-1374.jpg” by jamesboyes is licensed under CC BY
