The worldwide commercialisation of women's sports

Interest in women's sports has surged exponentially in recent years, driving significant commercial growth. Football in the UK serves as a prime example of this trend.

In this article, we examine the primary areas of commercial expansion for women's sports and the challenges associated with keeping pace with this rapid growth, including potential legal issues.

Sponsorship and media rights

Deloitte has reported that revenue in women's sports comes primarily from commercial avenues (55%) such as club sponsorships, partnerships and merchandise sales, followed by broadcasting (27%) and matchday (18%). Brands recognise that consumers think more favourably of companies or brands that support women’s sport through their sponsorship than support men’s sport. Those brands are seeking to capitalise on that and the perception that women's sport is starting from a low base and has substantial room to grow.

One of the most valuable assets that an owner of a tournament, or "rights holder," has is the right to broadcast its sports events. Considering broadcasting rights are the primary revenue source in men's sports, the relative nonperformance in women's sports underscores a significant growth opportunity and economic potential for women's sports to grow broadcasting revenues.

Rights holders monetise those rights by licensing the right to show their sports events to TV broadcasters such as RTÉ or Sky, or more frequently, to over-the-top platforms such as Netflix or Amazon. For example, the WSL recently agreed to a new five-year broadcast rights deal with BBC and Sky for a reported fee of £13 million per year, up significantly from the reported value of the existing deal of £7 to 8 million.

The allocation of rights for particular matches, clips and additional content are agreed upon for a particular territory, such as Ireland or the UK, and reflected in a broadcasting agreement between the parties. The agreement may also require the rights holder to take steps to prevent unauthorised use of broadcast content, such as the illegal broadcast of pirated content via set top (or "dodgy") boxes.

The increased media coverage and public interest in women's sport has led to more interest from potential broadcast partners, leaving women's sports organisations with a dilemma: to partner with subscription broadcasters such as Sky, or free-to-air broadcasters such BBC or RTÉ. Subscription broadcasters offer more substantial revenues but can then only be watched by the broadcasters subscribers. In contrast, free-to-air broadcasters offer less revenues but much greater visibility of the sport. As the 20x20 campaign slogan went, "if she can't see it, she can't be it."

Research produced by the Women’s Sport Trust found that free-to-air UK TV broadcasters BBC and ITV accounted for only 11% of 2023 coverage hours of women’s sport in the UK but 77% of viewing hours. The free-to-air broadcast of the Women’s World Cup Final was the most watched women’s sport event on UK TV in 2023 with 38.4 million viewing hours.

In contrast, day three of the Solheim Cup was the most watched on subscriber TV with only 3.1 million viewing hours. These figures underscore the immense reach and visibility provided by free-to-air television, highlighting the intricate balance that women's sports organisations must navigate between financial gain, which can be reinvested into the sport and to support professional athletes and maximising public exposure to sustain growth in grassroots participation. The WSL appears to have tried to balance those considerations by affording both Sky and BBC rights to broadcast their matches.

Matchday

There is also an opportunity to grow matchday revenues. Women's sports organisations are increasingly moving to larger grounds to accommodate larger attendances, which in turn generates more revenue.

The Ireland women's football team has used the Aviva Stadium, seating 50,000, for bigger matches instead of its recent traditional home, Tallaght Stadium, which only holds 10,000 fans. A record attendance of over 36,000 for a football match in Ireland was set against Northern Ireland last year.

On a larger scale, Arsenal announced that its women's team would host all eight of its WSL matches at the 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium this season. It hosted six WSL matches at Emirates Stadium last season, drawing an average crowd of 52,029, including three WSL attendance records. With modest tickets prices, these games are more affordable for families leading to a wider demographic attending and diversifying the fanbase.

The trend of women's sports organisations moving to larger venues presents a significant opportunity to boost matchday revenues. Affordable ticket prices further enhance accessibility, drawing a diverse and expanding fanbase. This strategic shift not only strengthens the financial sustainability of women's sports but also fosters greater community engagement and support.

Investment

Investors are slowly beginning to realise the commercial potential in women's sports. The most notable investment to date was when Michelle Kang bought a majority stake in Olympique Lyon's women's football team adding to her ownership in London City Lionesses and Washington Spirit. In Ireland, Ciara McCormack acquired the Limerick-based club Treaty United in 2023 in partnership with a Canadian-based investment group, which has a men's and women's team playing in the League of Ireland.

Conclusion

The ever-increasing commercialisation of women's sports present numerous opportunities for revenue generation to sustain the long-term growth of women's sports. As women's sports continues to capture a larger audience and attract more commercial interest from sponsors and broadcasters, there may be significant potential for further economic development.

How Ogier can help

Ogier is the leading sports law firm in Ireland and advise on all challenges that arise for sports organisations, including advising on sponsorship, broadcasting and venue agreements and investment in sports organisations, contact our team or visit Sports | Ogier.

This article was originally published in conjunction with Her Sport on 02 December 2024.

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This client briefing has been prepared for clients and professional associates of Ogier. The information and expressions of opinion which it contains are not intended to be a comprehensive study or to provide legal advice and should not be treated as a substitute for specific advice concerning individual situations.

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