According to its chair, Dawn Airey, those in charge of the Women’s Super League intend to make it the first billion-pound women’s football league in the world. Speaking in advance of the start of the new WSL season on October 1, Airey stated that the goal is to reach that income target within ten years.
The chair of the Women’s Championship, Airey, further stated that the whole of women’s sport globally generates nothing less than a billion dollars in revenues, from sponsorship and ticket sales. That is a huge boost in the league’s revenue for Women’s football considering that the corresponding Men’s sport gets half a trillion in revenue globally. The difference as observed is huge and it shows the enormous potential for women’s football.
As part of the next step in the evolution of the domestic women’s game, the Football Association will gradually hand over control of the WSL and Championship to the clubs. A new business, called NewCo, will be established to manage the two competitions independently of the governing body.
Airey exclaimed that the Football Association will progressively turn over control of the WSL and Championship to the clubs as part of the next stage in the development of the domestic women’s game. The two events will be managed separately from the governing body by a new company called NewCo.
The FA’s director of women’s football, Sue Campbell, has been keen to stress that the WSL and Championship are not being separated. There are two leagues in their structure, that will benefit from any income coming in.
One of Airey’s strategies for preventing a split at the top is to keep the WSL and Championship together. The Championship board is aware and learning from the lessons from the Premier League and English Football League. There is a current split, which includes 25% of the revenue that goes to the Championship. According to Airey, the Super League clubs are acutely aware of the importance of the Championship thriving as well because there are two competitions.
Campbell said she is confident it will be discussed whether they are considering the possibility of that divide being able to be changed towards 50-50 or perhaps flipped the other way in the future. However, she continued, “there are two things that are really crucial. First, we know that cost limitations in the women’s game are necessary.
