Sky Sports secure rights to Women’s Super League in “multi-million pound” deal

Sky Sports has reached a three-year “multi-million pound” agreement with the Football Association to broadcast the rights to English Super League Women’s matches from next season in what has been dubbed the “designated rights contract” for sport. women.

From September, the membership channel alongside the country’s leading terrestrial broadcaster, the BBC, will show up to half of the league’s matches live on their platforms as for the first time television rights went to Super Barclays FA Women’s League sold separately from the men’s game. All other high-flying games will continue to be broadcast live through the FA Player.

For the past four seasons, coverage has been shared with pay-per-view channel BT Sport and the BBC who have featured one game a week on their Red Button service. In 2019, The Times revealed that under the existing contract, which expires in the summer, BT Sport and the BBC will only cover the production costs of broadcast games, around £ 50,000 ($ 69,177) every game. That same year, the FA reported the highest numbers of 285,000 games per game on the BBC while BT Sport games had reached 85,000 viewers.

Under the terms of the new three-year deal, the twelve clubs in the league will receive a share of the revenue. In addition, part of the proceeds will be distributed to the clubs in the second tier, the FA Women ‘s Championship, to support their development.

FA Director of Commerce and Marketing Kathryn Swarbrick said, “Both broadcasters have a vision for women’s football that is very much aligned with ours, and this was made clear through the tender process where whether they outlined some very interesting plans to showcase FA Barclays. Women’s Super League. We look forward to working with them “.

Sky Sports, which changed the coverage of the men’s game with a better Premier League special in 1992, has pledged to give the women’s game “full Sky Sports coverage” for up to 44 live matches. exhibited throughout the season.

At least 35 games will be shown live across its channels, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football, with some games being shown simultaneously on Sky Sports Mix and Sky One. The station plans to rebuild a long-term and post-match response to each game and create daily coverage of the league on the 24-hour Sky Sports News channel and digital platforms.

Sky Sports Managing Director Rob Webster said “we are delighted to add the Barclays FA Super Women ‘s League to our expanding football package. Our aim is to bring more of their passion. to our customers, and we are confident that the league will be a success with our hungry football spectators “.

The BBC will continue to share coverage of the Women’s Super League on its free-to-air channels but will offer a greater commitment to show the match broadcasting up to 22 live matches, with 18 at least on their mainstream on BBC One and Two channels. Previously they have only broadcast live games on their Red Button service and on the iPlayer. With the station already given exclusive television rights to next summer’s Women’s European finals in England, BBC Sports Director Barbara Slater thinks “this is great news for sports fans. and for women’s football. We are thrilled to offer Super League Women FA a free-to-air platform to ensure that the sport, and the players, connect with the widest audience. With UEFA Women ‘s EURO 2022 on the horizon, giving fans more opportunities to watch the Barclays FA Women’ s Super League will lift the spirits for home competition “.

Kelly Simmons, Director of Women’s Football at the FA, believes the agreement as “a game-changing agreement that will change the Barclays FA Women’s Super League” and says that “visibility and investment are key features in the growth of any women ‘s sport, and we are delighted that Sky Sports and the BBC have pledged to broadcast more women’ s football live than we have ever seen before, in recognition of its true value “.

Founded in 2010, the Women’s Super League was first established as an eight-team summer tournament to take advantage of a perceived gap in the English football market. For the first four seasons, matches were shown live on ESPN but after five years of failure in European club tournaments and limited commercial success, the test was abandoned due to a more traditional winter season to give it a better chance. English clubs in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

That decision came a year after the success of the national team at the 2015 Women’s World Cup which boosted attendance at the league which was further boosted by two more semi-final appearances at Euro 2017 and The 2019 Women’s World Cup. The BBC had 11.7 million winners of England’s semi-final to the United States that year. Overall, the BBC estimates that 47% of the UK population watched part of the 2019 Women’s World Cup on television or online. Earlier that year, the FA signed a contract, described as “the largest ever investment in branded UK women’s sport” by Barclays, which is believed to have been worth more at £ 10 million, in which they served as league title supporters.

This summer, a mix of the best players in the world, including six World Cup winners in the United States, were introduced to the Women’s Super League clubs. In an international rights agreement unaffected by today’s news, matches are now broadcast live to a dozen countries around the world and every team in the league is considered completely professional and meet the elite level required to continue playing during a routine coronavirus lockout. Nevertheless, England have not given the Champions League final in 14 years and the league is ranked fourth in the UEFA coefficient record behind France, Germany and Spain. It is hoped that this injection of television money from Sky Sports will give further impetus to the English women’s league in the same way that it has made the men’s Premier League the richest in the world.

The eleven clubs currently competing in the FA Women’s Championship have achieved elite status and have continued to play during the lockout despite a loss of income from in empty stadiums. A league manager revealed to me the struggles in women’s football at that stage, “our main revenue streams of sponsorship and gate money have been removed which has had a huge impact on our ability to bring in players. or additional financial support to the current organization. Without the financial support of the government and the FA we would not be able to get close to the protocols required for elite status “.

“We are one of many teams in the Tournament who work hybrid between part and full time and try to get the most out of our players, but they all have to earn a unique living. This is extremely difficult for them, especially in times of pandemic where players cannot stop working together to play.If we were able to work full time, we could support and control how the players manage their day-to-day work, but we cannot do this, they are ‘elite athletes’ in the extent to which they train and train. competition at, but certainly most of the players in this category are working other jobs or are in education.Elite classification creates a real divide in the women’s game.You only have a handful of clubs who can really meet h to the necessary off-pitch requirements, and substantially the finances required. All the other clubs are just fighting against the tide and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bit of a break, unless we see more support given or more investment for lp clubs live “.

It is hoped that this financial package will make a difference across the women’s football pyramid and create more competition at the top of the table where the same teams have taken the first three positions each season. since 2014. Chair of the FA Women ‘s Super League and FA Women’s Championship Board Dawn Airey said “the board has come up with an innovative strategy to have the best professional women’ s sports leagues in the world. We believe this new partnership with Sky Sports and the BBC will go a long way in helping us achieve that “.