Why record breaking year for women's sport is only the beginning of £1bn project to level the playing field

58,498 rugby fans watched England clinch their fifth consecutive Women’s Six Nations title at Twickenham in March 2023. 110,000 spectators watched the multi-format Ashes series live as England and Australia went to a nail-biting draw. Over 12 million viewers watched the England vs Spain World Cup final with a further 3.9 billion watching on BBC iPlayer. 

Attendance records have not just been broken this year - they have been bountifully smashed but 2023 is not over yet and there is still more excitement to come.  The year is now set to end with the remarkable news that for the first time ever, women’s sport is predicted to reach revenues of over £1 billion for 2024. This total is at least 300 percent higher than Deloitte’s previous valuation three years ago. 

December always denotes a time for celebration; a time for reflection and a time to commemorate all that has been achieved within the previous 12 months and hitting the £1 billion mark certainly constitutes for much celebration, reflection and commemoration. But the result of this prediction has been far from a mere 12-month programme. 

The first ever women’s club football match in Britain took place in 1895; the first cricket World Cup was actually put on for and by women back in 1973 and in 1982, the first women’s rugby international game would be played (albeit 111 years after the first men’s game). 

The rise of women’s sport has been exponential in the past few years and in England, the start of the rapid growth can be recalled back to not just those history-making dates in 1895, 1973 and 1982 but to more recent history such as the T20 Women’s World Cup tournament in 2017 or the Women’s Football World Cup two years later. 

Now, thanks to the phenomenal sporting efforts that were seen in those tournaments, when the topic of Arsenal or Manchester United (par exemple) comes up, one can quite easily praise the goals produced by Beth Mead or the exceptional save Mary Earps managed without having to explain that Arsenal and Manchester United do indeed have women’s teams. 

Equally, earlier this year viewers were able to watch every single minute of the women’s Ashes on Sky Sports as organisers ensured the women’s game would have it’s own scheduling out with the men’s series.  Of course, £1bn in women’s sports revenue pales in comparison to the revenue produced by the men. 

The global revenue that was projected for sport in 2023 was £512.14 billion. Women’s sport is therefore making up less than 0.2% of that figure.

It is key to note that the forecasts are based on matchday, broadcast and commercial revenue so while one may simply argue that the interest just still isn’t there for women’s sport in the same way it is for men’s as the primary reason for such a vast disproportion, that is evidently not the case.

Broadcast is expected to represent about 27 percent of the total figure. In 2022 - for those that missed it, England won the Euros tournament in this year - women’s sport viewing was up by an incredible 131 percent but still only represented 13 percent of sports coverage hours across the key channels (BBC1, BBC2, Sky Sports Main Event, C4 and ITV).

So correct me if I’m wrong, but if fans can’t even view women’s sport with the same accessibility and frequency as men’s, how is that 0.2% figure ever expected to grow? 

Similarly, when arguing over commercial revenue, an RBC-commissioned report in The New Economy of Sports detailed that 90 percent of sponsorship money goes towards male players despite women relying on off-field endorsements twice as much as their male counterparts. 

If male athletes accumulate 90 percent of the money from sponsorship, not only is this accounting for a much higher payday, but it also highlights the discrepancy between those athletes who are becoming more visible to us. 

It comes as a surprise to no-one that representation matters and if we are only seeing male athletes representing our favourite brands, or advertising our favourite food, we have a natural disposition to become more inquisitive about them and their respective games. 

Meanwhile, their female counterparts are struggling to even get through the door. 

One could hark on about the vast inequality that this 0.2 percent highlights or about the next course of action to ensure women’s sport makes up even just one percent of the total for global sports revenue (and so one should). 

However, as stated earlier, now is the time for gratitude and appreciation. Let us not forget those powerful women (and men), the hell-raisers, the record-breakers as well as those who refused to give up when the world told them no-one would give women’s sport the time of day. 

Let us not forget the work that the likes of tennis sensation Billie Jean King put in; the statements Junko Tabei raised when she became the first person to climb Mount Everest  or the noise Alex Morgan and the USWNT created when they filed a lawsuit over allegations of gender discrimination. 

The list of these astounding women is endless and their contributions to women’s sport around the world is invaluable.

As part of Deloitte’s calculations, they make no secret of the intense work needed to put in to get to the £1 billion mark with their global head of technology, media and telecoms stating: “Broadcasters, streamers and social media platforms will have an important role to play in showcasing major events that capture the interest of new and existing fans, while creating an experience that is memorable and impactful.

“The next step will be maintaining habitual viewers who loyally tune in to watch their favourite players, teams and competitions across the season. To do this, sports organisations and media businesses will need to continue to elevate the profile of women’s sport with prime-time broadcasters, as well as investing in digital platforms that make games accessible to all those who want to watch.”

But looking at how far we have come there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that this accomplishment is not only well within reach but can be built upon as we seek to minimise the 99.8 percent gap currently seen in the revenue of global sports.