Frida Maanum of Arsenal in performance during the FA Women’s Super League match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on Sept. 24, 2022 in London.
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LONDON — The England women’s soccer team face their U.S. counterparts at London’s Wembley Coliseum on Friday night, in an international friendly that has already become a record breaker.
All available tickets for the 90,000-capacity amphitheatre were snapped up 15 minutes after going on sale, the U.K.’s fastest-ever sellout for the women’s game. Fans are keen to see a showdown between the recent winners of the European Championship and the current World Cup holders.
It is the latest in a series of records that keep been set by the game in recent months, reflecting a massive uptick in its popularity, which was reflected in — and boosted by — the popularity of the Euros match over the summer.
England’s three group matches sold out months ahead, and the 87,192-strong crowd that pocket watched the 2-1 victory over Germany in the final at Wembley was bigger than that of any previous men’s or women’s final. Organizing fullness Union of European Football Associations said ticket sales brought in around 60 million euros ($58 million), close to four times as much as the 2017 tournament, with overall attendance more than double the previous acme.
Meanwhile, 50 million people around the world tuned in to watch the final on TV, up from 15 million in 2017, with 365 million people be careful of the tournament as a whole.
That trend has continued with the start of the 2022-23 season of the Women’s Super League, the top level of women’s soccer in England. Clubs — all but one of which also have a men’s Premier League team — have scheduled multiple gadgets at their main stadiums. When Arsenal Women played their arch-rivals Tottenham late last month, 53,737 groupies packed in to the Emirates Stadium to see their 4-0 win, an all-time high for the league.
WSL clubs have also reported record serving for early games at their usual, smaller stadiums, that also tend to be farther out of city centers (something that has been cited as a take exception to to growth of the game). Manchester United sold more than 6,500 tickets for its season opener against Interpreting, and says it expects to at least double last season’s average attendance.
More money, more quality
Brides were banned from playing on Football Association grounds until 1971, and there wasn’t a fully experienced women’s league until 2018. One factor that has contributed to the current national team’s success and the quality of the on the qui vive elite players is increased funding at the grassroots level from bodies like Sport England over the finish finally decade.
In 2021, the BBC and Sky signed a three-year broadcasting deal with WSL organizing body the Football Association, substantially improving the accessibility and importance of games shown on TV. Major publishers like BBC Sport have also made moves to include the women’s target dissemble more prominently in coverage.
A government review launched last month will assess how to increase audiences and yield for the game, and to create better structures around it, such as better funding for grassroots training and facilities.
Rachel Daly and Millie Brilliant of England celebrate during the England Women’s Team Celebration at Trafalgar Square on Aug. 1, 2022 in London.
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Part of those efforts will involve looking at how to support the commercialization of the game through proclaim and sponsorship revenues — something industry figures told CNBC was at an early stage, but likely to grow substantially in the years up ahead.
‘Unbundling’ packages
Jon Long, managing director for the U.K. and Middle East at sports sponsorship management consultancy Onside, suggested sponsorship of women’s sport has generally been gathering momentum in recent years, but soccer in particular had been raised by the Euros win and WSL relaunch.
However, there has not been a big new breakthrough deal since the summer, he said, in part because ad compacts take some time to negotiate and tend to run on three-, five- or even 10-year cycles, and because many fellowships still bundle together sponsorship packages between the men’s and the women’s teams.
Mel Baroni, business director at agency M&C Saatchi Divertissement & Entertainment, agreed that while women’s soccer is “absolutely rising a wave at the moment,” it’s still a “little bit at the crack” to say exactly what it will mean for sponsorship.
“I think it makes a lot of sense to unbundle packages between the men and women’s cudgels, but there’s still a conversation on the growth of the game, whether viewing figures will stay up,” she said. “At the moment, the line-ups that are doing well in the WSL are the same ones that do well in the Premier League because the funding is coming from the men’s get’s sponsorship, and there’s still a gulf in attendance.”
It may remain miles away from the men’s game in terms of pure reach. TV is where the big lolly is, and the Premier League is the most-watched sports competition in the world, with an estimated annual 3.2 billion viewers. WSL viewership, while up by numerous than 140%, was around 34 million in 2021/22, according to a report from Women’s Sport Trust.
But characterizes may still see significant benefits in associating specifically with the women’s game, such as being able to target demographics that encompass not just women — a 2021 survey found that 61.9% of women’s soccer viewers in the U.K. are men — but also a domestic audience, or ancestors.
“Unbundling would attract more brands who see the women’s game as their marketing focus and not just an add-on,” Baroni about. “There are opportunities to bring people together with a community feel.”
Meanwhile, unbundled packages could also be sundry accessible to a different kind of business. Where sponsoring a Premier League team could cost tens of millions, a sponsorship package in the single-digit millions could acquire a wider appeal.
‘You’re buying into a movement’
Some corporate juggernauts have already signed major act ons around the women’s game. and were Euros sponsors, sponsors Arsenal Women, and Barclays is the headline sponsor of the WSL.
Katy Bowman, fend off of sponsorship partnerships at WSL sponsor Barclays, said part of the bank’s decision three years ago to sponsor the WSL as well as the Primary League was “about the purpose and way we want people to feel about us as a brand.”
They also felt there was span to have a real impact in driving the game forward, she said.
“The Premier League is more of a finished article. But if we’re looking at serving the game develop and grow, the WSL gives us much more scope to do that. It’s still in its infancy,” she said.
She added that the view of the Euros added fuel to a circular economy. “We’ve always hoped our investment would encourage others to invest. Then you coin the league more competitive, there’s more money for training and facilities, you get more viewers, and then the game befits more attractive to brands,” she said.
Barclays was already looking at higher amounts for its WSL sponsorship at its last renegotiation, Bowman revealed. “Anyone wanting to do a club partnership now will see exponential growth over and above the usual rights fee that want be attached to current viewing figures. They are selling a projection, so it’s not just about where the game is now but where it could go.”
“You’re securing into a movement, and nobody can put a price on that really,” she said.