What Can You Do For The Future For Woman’s Football
Increasing numbers of television viewers have helped improve the Lionesses’ marketability and that of woman’s football in general. With record numbers recently of over 91 thousand fans attending a woman’s football match at Barcelona’s stadium. And over 570 thousand tickets sold for the woman’s 2022 euros.
What can you do for the future for woman’s football?
Increasing numbers of television viewers have helped improve the Lionesses’ marketability and that of woman’s football in general. With record numbers recently of over 91 thousand fans attending a woman’s football match at Barcelona’s stadium.
And over 570 thousand tickets sold for the woman’s 2022 euros with an attendance of over 81 thousand.
Clearly huge media coverage and tickets sales provides a vital springboard for woman’s football.
Reports on Euro 2022 marked the first time that sponsorship was offered just for the women’s tournament. Rather than deals being bundled with the men’s tournament as in the past.
Brands and Fans
Brands like Visa, Heineken, Lego and Pepsi has helped increase organiser Uefa’s revenue stream from 25 million to £33 million per year.
PepsiCo is making a long term commitment to women’s football by sponsoring the Uefa Women’s Euro as part of a five-year partnership with Uefa.
PepsiCo will be encouraging the nation to show the same level of support for the women’s game as with the men’s national team, with the launch of a heavyweight marketing campaign, across digital and social media.
However to say a step by step approach to speed up the development and uptake of the woman’s game is wrong. From a strategic perspective a number of the key elements need to happen in conjunction to achieve maximum velocity.
Woman’s football should never be a CSR target. The fact is women’s football represents a powerful purpose led sponsorship platform. One that generates a return on investment for a brand.
So the question is “What can you do for the future for woman’s football?”
Having one aspect working without connected thinking and a strategic action plan in place will see any gains in one element fade away. For optimisation and development of the woman’s game every aspect must be working and connected in unison
The elements for success
1 Exposure is key
2 Stars and Role Models & Commercial Investment
3 The women’s grassroots game
Exposure is key
It goes without saying the 2022 woman’s euros could very well go down as a watershed moment for woman’s football. However if the people involved in the woman’s game do not link all the aspects and elements together. It could set back any momentum gained from the success of the Euros which has the potential to benefit the women’s game long term.
Getting the exposure and sponsorship aspect of the woman’s game right is a big step. With sponsors from Booking.com, Euronics, Grifols, Hisense, Just Eat, Takeaway.com,Volkswagen, Adidas, Hublot, Nike, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pandora,Starling Bank and Gillette Venus.
The production values and all the build to the 2022 woman’s euros has been outstanding which can only have a positive effect on any aspiring young lady.
Stars and Role Models & Commercial Investment
Has the success of the Lionesses set-up the perfect shop window for brands looking for potential for sponsorship in their marketing campaigns?
Without question the Lionesses are becoming household names, their marketing value will rocket over the coming months.
And will only get stronger as we head into the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. Which will be the biggest and best FIFA Women’s World Cup to date with 32 nations taking part.
The woman’s game has evolved in recent years with commercial opportunities generated for players.
Which in turn fuels interest in the woman’s game. More interviews more branded campaigns and sponsorship. But the question is can the women’s game prove to be a more attractive proposition than men’s game?
Mind The Gap
The Lionesses have been reported to earn a £55,000 bonus per player for winning the tournament.
That £1.3m handout to the squad would be much lower than the bonus of £5m that England’s men had been reported to have received if they had won last summer’s Euro.
Again this highlights the fact that the woman’s game still has some work to do to compete at the levels of the man’s game.
To capitalise on this competition’s legacy in terms of commercial investment. The strategy is to guarantee that audiences are translated to local competitions in the WSL. And Uefa Women’s Champions League games. To foster sustainable development in fan numbers will be a critical mission point for the powers that be in the woman’s game.
Investment Is Key
Barclays have been the main sponsor of the Woman’s Super league since it became professional in 2018. They have now renewed that deal until 2025 doubling that amount to 30 million over the next three years.
The possibilities are endless for a commercial partner being associated with a sports asset like women’s football. It gives them the opportunity to engage at all levels. Brands will look at Barclays and they’ll look at the position of the women’s game and they’ll see the scale of the opportunity.
Is Football Profitable?
Clearly in many cases football clubs in the man’s game have shown that football at club level as a business model is very challenging.
Especially when club owners have very deep pockets while others don’t. Which will always be a heated topic for debate.
However the current football pyramid in the men’s game does have a deep chasm of League and Non-League for Professional, Semi-Professional and Amateur Footballers.
Developing The Woman’s Football Pyramid
So if the woman’s game would grow how would the expansion of the pyramid look.
However at this moment the woman’s game is not profitable. Which is not unusual for any business to require funding in its early years.
If you compare the time-line of the man’s game and the way it has evolved over the many years, then by comparison the Woman’s game is heading in the right direction.
Investing and putting in the money to build something and get it going is key. But the long term ambition has to be financial sustainability, otherwise, you can’t set up a loss making model for the long term. It just won’t be able to sustain itself.
There is a lot of potential for woman’s football to learn from the mistakes from the mans game. The FA, football consultants and the Government can help accelerate woman’s football and help it avoid the key pit falls that have taken place in man’s football.
So a lot of experience from the man’s game can be used as a case study to speed up and catch up the development of the woman’s game.
The Women’s Grassroots Game
To suggest that the Euro final is the sole factor that will drive change in woman’s football is just wrong. Systemic change can not be imposed from the top down. It can not be achieved just through inspirational moments alone.
It can be accomplished through a full range of elements like investment in facilities. Hard work and dedication from the athlete. Through high class coaching and the very best in sports science and opportunities throughout all levels of the game.
Investment in grassroots football academies and local non pro clubs. Is just one aspect of the grassroots game. More importantly woman’s football must be fully inclusive to the whole range of social classes.
Also with the focus upon urban development that can offer girls a safe environment to play and express themselves. Over the last 20 years governments have looked to cut funding for sports centres and often selling off sites for private housing development.
However if girls at the grassroots level are going to be included in football. Then all segments of the demographic range must be catered for. Providing equal opportunities regardless of a families economic standing.
It is now down to the game of football and governments to provide the funds and support to make this an option and provide the opportunity.
Football for Girls in Schools
One of the most important elements for the future for woman’s football is to have young girls playing football in schools. This is so important for the overall development of the sport for young girls as it lays the foundations for their development as they grow.
It also provides the path ways for development of the individual with the ability to progress throughout the phases in growth when starting in the ecosystem of football.
However while all this outstanding positivity is taking place in woman’s football. At this moment we have the chance to set-up support and a safety net for the girls who will not see their dreams played out at the highest levels of woman’s football.
Now is the time to carry on the key developments not just to drive the woman’s game. But also to protect and support all the young girls who wont make it
This was a report by Dynamic Sport marketing. Connecting your goals in the changing landscape of sport.
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