ePrivacy and GPDR Cookie Consent management by TermsFeed Privacy Generator A Golden Decade for Women’s Sport in England: How Sports Presentation is evolving to win a wealth of new global fans.

A Golden Decade for Women’s Sport in England: How Sports Presentation is evolving to win a wealth of new global fans.

4th June 2024

The Sports Presentation Company, www.sportspresentation.com a pioneer in this specialist area, have been at the vanguard of a new era for women sport and predict that as a commercial and entertainment proposition, this is only the beginning.

While not widely covered in the wake of a pandemic, when the Men’s and Women’s (and wheelchair) Rugby League World Cups were hosted simultaneously across England in 2022, they broke new ground. In this instance the idea Women’s sport was ‘equal’ threatened sports’ old commercial eco-system that relied heavily on brands, venues, content and TV rights focusing on mainly male audiences, and as such their commercial choices and preferred channels. This positive step toward equality has fortunately extended to other women’s formats and codes.

With the Women’s UEFA Euro’s in 2022, female sport again shone in the public’s consciousness, the momentum built and female sports heroes were born – inspiring young women and girls to play, and waking the commercial giants who really started taking these new audiences seriously.  In 2023, after several years working on the Men’s Challenge Cup Final, we produced the first ever Women’s Challenge Cup Final at Wembley – another landmark moment for women’s sport.

Looking ahead to next year the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 will be played at eight venues across England – galvanising an already huge fan base and bringing in new rugby fans of all types, to create another generational moment on the world stage. They’re already breaking attendance records, and the Red Roses are yet to reach their peak. Top this off with the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2026, and likely many more headlining female-first fight cards (boxing), huge women’s hockey clashes, athletics meets, rowing wins, the revamped netball superleague and Olympic skateboarding hopes – it is ALL women’s sport that is reaching for new heights. But why? And how do Women’s sports capitalise?

Women’s sport’s events subtly manage to separate the experience from the performance, meaning, while victory is paramount for the players, having a great day out is as important for the fans as the result itself. This makes for a more fun and less intimidating environment, and as such an opportunity for families to enjoy sport together, building new traditions and finding ways – in an increasingly digital world – to make meaningful personal connections with likeminded passionate humans.

Rights holders and Event Producers – like us – find that free from the obligations and age-old rituals of long-established fan groups, we can also develop fresh content and ways to educate these new fans helping them navigate an event day in the same way other entertainment like festivals, exhibitions, leisure parks or retail experiences would. Music matters, so do shared moments – and unlike male fans who often attach to stacking sports facts and priding themselves on knowledge, instead it’s leveraging other verticals – food, fashion, artistic performance, entertainment, short form content – to bring them closer to the sport and it’s culture. It is these multiple touch points, that add to fans feeling they belong to this convivial and open minded, growing sports community.   The democratisation is there too when one also considers access to world-class sport is now via household OTT channels (Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple), not just expensive subscriptions. Domestic Women’s Super League football (WSL) for example, is available free to air on the BBC. Can you even imagine this happening in the male game?     

Now let’s follow the money. With female fans on the rise, commercial partners are trying to reach more family decision-makers (women!) who control household budgets and can make long term financial calls for many domestic goods and services (energy, travel, mobile, broadband, food, self-care, insurance). Research shows that women control 60-80% of consumer spending and by 2028, they are expected to own 75% of the discretionary spending market. This opens up both the creative focus of sponsorships and the tone and way that sports activations are executed as many women, particularly those aged 25 to 35, who are curious about sports feel excluded by current marketing strategies.

And why now? In the mid-2020’s – the answer: Time, Money and Product quality. Time, as 24/7 culture with the pace and demands of modern life added to the multitude of digital distractions means there are fewer opportunity for families to do ‘actual’ things together – hence they seek meaningful moments of shared experience for which live sport is a compelling one. Money – well obvious as it is, even with increased cost of living, tickets for women’s sport is still relatively affordable to most, in the case of England Football just £15 will get you into the stadium to watch the Lionesses.  Plus, the glut of free content around the matches keeps fans engaged for longer, amplifying perceived value. Finally, the Product (a word I don’t like to use) – which in recent years has seen across sports an increase in female players’ incredible athleticism, skills, tactical awareness, show‘woman’ship and excitement levels and all, while fiercely competitive, with greater kindness and less nastiness.

One final observation is that in a world of manufactured outcomes and a sense of societal fait accompli - predictable movies and box sets, stale government policies, consequence-free bad corporate behaviours, derivative social feeds, and low expectations of all sector customer experience – the unpredictable nature of live sports, increasingly women’s – means it is one of the last few areas of ‘unscripted reality’ where surprise and delight are more often than not enjoyed!

If you’d like to discuss how we can help you grow your sport (women’s or men’s) through enhancing your events, building better content, addressing fans needs or simply delivering something engaging and spectacular – do get in touch and join our mission to create and deliver world-class, entertaining and unforgettable shared sporting experiences. af@sportspresentation.com