Farrer & Co Women in Sport - Report - Page 25
Certainly, the quality of women’s sport is
improving, as is consumer interest, so the
backdrop is favourable and I believe there
is a desire by the clubs to increase
participation for women at all levels.
Lucy Pearson
Head of FA Education,
The Football Association
Farrer & Co roundtable
The Barclays partnership with
the FA to become title sponsor for
the Women’s Super League has
attracted the headlines, underlining
the growing commercial opportunities
in women’s sport.
The top tier of women’s football now
benefits from this multimillion-pound
deal that runs from the 2019-20 season,
through to 2022. The deal includes a
£500,000 prize fund for the League,
as well as record levels of investment
in the women’s game.
There have been other headlinegrabbing developments over recent
months: Lucozade’s partnership with
the Lionesses, which saw the soft
drinks brand release 16 million special
edition bottles featuring captain Steph
Houghton and forward Nikita Parris.
47%
increase in women’s sport
sponsorship deals between
2013 and 2017
Farrer & Co
Gatorade became an official partner
of the Manchester City women’s team,
and Nike became the official match ball
supplier for UEFA women’s competitions
including the Women’s Champions
League and the UEFA Women’s EURO
2021. UEFA also sealed a deal with
Visa, which makes it the first ever
main sponsor of women’s football in
a seven-year deal. These follow in the
wake of other brands that acted early
to begin partnerships in women’s sport:
SSE with the Women’s FA Cup, O2
with England’s Red Roses rugby team,
and Investec with women’s hockey.
This is a positive picture of
engagement by some of the world’s
best-known brands and of growing
sophistication in terms of campaigns,
but it is clear that women’s sport
still represents a somewhat underexploited opportunity.
On a macro-level, investment in
men’s sports still towers over that of
women. Women in Sport estimates
that between 2011 and 2013 (the most
recently available figures), women’s
sport received 0.4% of reported UK
sponsorship deals.
Many observers sense that we are
at a moment of major opportunity. This
is an uncluttered market, with relatively
low investment capturing a valuable
expanding audience profile.
Brands that are getting involved
perceive the benefit of investing in a
way that underlines their own values.
SSE was clear when it signed its deal
to sponsor the Women’s FA Cup for
four years that it felt it sent a powerful
message about the brand’s commitment
to diversity and inclusion.
At a glance
Consumers view women’s sport as
“inspiring, progressive and clean”
The average sponsorship deal size
is increasing
In football, sharing a sponsor with
the men’s game has signalled the
importance of the women’s game
at this stage in its development
Developing women’s sports is
increasingly recognised as a way
to grow audiences and incomes
In the long term, unbundling the rights
of men’s and women’s teams within
sports will increase the opportunities
for women’s sport
Good media coverage is key to
growing sponsorship and income
for women’s sports
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