WSL bids to seal eye-catching TV deal - £20million and every match shown live
Every Women's Super League match is set to broadcast live from next season onwards in a landmark new deal worth up to £20million per year.
The WSL's current broadcast deal is worth £7.75million per annum and will expire at the end of the 2023/24 season. Under the terms of the existing agreement, Sky broadcast 35 matches per season, with the BBC taking another 22. The remaining matches are streamed for free on the FA's website.
The WSL, along with the Women's Championship, are in the process of a major takeover by a stand-alone body, known as NewCo, who will run the top two tiers instead of the FA. One of the most pressing matters for the independent organisation is sorting out its next domestic broadcast partnership, which alongside the competition’s title sponsorship with Barclays accounts for a significant portion of the league’s revenue.
Last month, NewCo CEO Nikki Doucet said her organisation was exploring “all possible options” in negotiating a new deal.
And in an attempt to increase the existing deal, the Daily Mail have reported that the WSL tender document issued to broadcasters this month features all 132 league, games, with 56 to be sold exclusively and the remaining 76 available on a non-exclusive basis.
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The WSL are seeking a new TV contract worth between £15million and £20million-a-year, doubling the value of the current deal. They believe the best means of doing so requires selling every game. If approved, the deal will mark an historic first for football in the country.
The strategy of apportioning matches to multiple outlets to secure larger TV contracts is not novel. The National Women's Super League in the USA secured a deal worth £50million per year last year by selling packages to four competing broadcasters. Meanwhile, the Premier League and EFL have utilised similar means in recent years to swell broadcast revenue.
The WSL haven't secured the 3pm Saturday slot, which former England international Karen Carney highlighted in her women's football review as a critical opportunity for the game's growth. The claim was evinced by a new visibility report from the Women's Sport Trust, which found that during men's international breaks, viewership figures for WSL matches were nearly six times greater when played during the blackout time than the usual Saturday lunchtime slot.
However, an agreement has yet to be reached with the Premier League and EFL to pursue a revision on the UEFA blackout. Instead, Saturday lunchtime and Sunday afternoons remain the most common kick-off times for WSL matches.
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