It was recently announced that a momentous three-year deal had been agreed between the Women's Super League, Sky Sports and the BBC that would see more women’s football than ever coming to our TV screens.
From the start of the 2021/22 season, Sky Sports will be showing at least 35 live WSL games whilst the BBC will be showing 22 games, with a minimum of 18 of these being on BBC One.
In a statement on their website Sky Sports said: ‘The WSL will get the full Sky Sports treatment with lengthy build-ups and reaction to all live matches, plus daily news from the competition across Sky Sports News and Sky Sports' digital platforms.’
It will also be the first time since 1988 that regular live, top-flight football has been on a flagship BBC channel – including the men’s game.
This will prove to be a defining moment in the growth of women’s football as the potential impact of this new deal cannot be understated.
The deal will be worth over £7 million per season which will see the WSL generate more revenue than any other women’s domestic league in the world and it is also set to become the most watched women’s sport league in the world.
This will no doubt lead to the very best players women’s football has to offer wanting to play in England leading to the overall quality of the league improving massively and if the quality of a product is growing, so too will its demand.
The 2019 Women’s world cup showed that there was already a certain level of interest in women’s football as a record 28.1 million people watched the BBC’s coverage of the tournament including a peak audience of 11.7m viewers for England’s semi-final defeat to eventual winners the United States.
Whilst the money will no doubt lead to vast improvements to the women’s game, it is the impact of the coverage the league will get that will have the biggest effect on the growth of women’s football.
This tweet by twitter user @AlistairMagowan sums it up perfectly:
“It’s a new age for elite women’s football in England,” said Dr Beth Clarkson, senior lecturer in sport management and development at the University of Portsmouth, speaking to Telegraph Sport. "This marks a big shift. The importance of those regular fixtures on free-to-air television shouldn’t be understated. The monetary figure of the deal is not the most important factor here, it’s the enormous potential for immediate and long-lasting impact on the game.”
This injection of cash and coverage will prove to be a catalyst for a change in attitudes towards women’s football.
This is due to the fact that the quality of the football will receive a huge boost by the improved facilities, analysis and coaching that will be a product of this bumper deal and as the quality of the football grows, so will the size of the fan base.
However, the many bigoted tweets from old men scared of change in reply to the news of this deal has shown the women’s game has got it’s opponents to change but whilst the battle will be tough, it is one women’s football are currently winning 1-0 and the momentum is with them.
It is not just the female footballers that have had to overcome strong opposition to their growth, all women in the sport from journalists to officials have had to fight their way to where they are.
It’s taken years for female pundits to get anywhere near the same level of respect male pundits get, as shown by some of the attitudes towards Sky Sports’ and BBC’s Alex Scott, who I feel is one of the best football pundits around, but the new WSL deal will go some way to changing attitudes towards women in all aspects of football.
It would be naïve to suggest the quality of women’s football is on the same level as the men’s game but why should that mean people can’t respect and enjoy women’s football too?
No one compares female boxers to male boxers; you don’t see tweets constantly questioning what would happen if Anthony Joshua stepped into the ring with Nicola Adams but men and women’s football are constantly pitted against each other and this needs to end in order for growth to happen.
I don’t think the women’s game will ever reach the popularity levels of the men’s game but there is no doubt that the gap will get smaller, whether the idiots on twitter like it or not and this new deal is just the start.
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