When we talk about women’s football we punctuate its evolution with the 2019 Women’s World Cup which was a landmark year for women’s football and a turning point for its development. Viewing figures & revenue hit record levels. The narrative around the women’s game has continued to be front & center, with the social justice movement bringing to light the topic of equal pay. Needless to say, but important to remember, the women’s game and the stakeholders around it are doing so much more than this!
Our Director of Women’s Football, Arianne Criscione, sought to bring a strategic and holistic view to the fore in an online event. Entitled Women’s Football: Strategy, Revenue and Training, Arianna shared the virtual stage with Ebru Koksal, Football and Finance at Forerunner, Jean Sseninde, Director of Women’s Football at South Sudan Football Federation, Disha Malhotra Julka, Founder and CEO at FAB Football Academy and Deepti Agarwal, Sales Head at Tech Mahindra.
STRATEGY
The 2019 Women’s World Cup had 1.12 billion viewers and generated around $131 million in revenue. This was eclipsed by the men’s tournament of 2018, with 3x more viewers and 45x more revenue.
To reduce this gap, strategy & differentiation are important. Up to now, right holders copy & paste their men’s strategy to the women’s side. This does not and will not work going forward. It is important for clubs & associations investing in women’s football to create clearly differentiated strategies, with clear KPIs, to achieve any sustainable evolution of the game.
The audience, sponsors involved, and fans at games differ between the men’s side and women’s side. The audience is more family-oriented, skews younger, enjoys the data & gamification around the game, watches highlights, consumes content and aligns with social agendas.
During the event, we heard from Jean Sseninde, Director of Women’s Football at South Sudan Football Federation, how they are developing the women’s game in the country by setting up a strategy that achieves one specific outcome — develop a product that generates income in the future. To get there, their tactics have included setting up a national women’s league, upskilling 90 women coaches, allocating 40 full-time administrators and a fully-staffed national team. The goal was clarified from the start, which made it possible to enact a systematic change.
¨With the right strategy in place, with very clear KPIs and support from stakeholders it is possible to develop the women’s game and to develop a product that will generate revenue in the future.¨ – Jean Ssenide, Director of Women’s Football at South Sudan Football Federation
REVENUE
According to FIFA Benchmarking report in Women’s Football, right holders that have over $1 million in revenue have common characteristics: they have a dedicated women’s football department, the club offers women’s football season tickets, they have an average of 19 sponsors for the women’s team, and have a strong digital community.
How can a club, league, or federation increase its revenue? By defining a specific commercial strategy for the women’s team.
Ebru Koksal highlighted how women’s football can explore different opportunities to increase their revenue by unbundling TV rights, which immediately increases the revenue that comes to the game (currently, this figure is about 5% of the total). With sponsorship contributing around 47% of total women’s team revenues, right holders will find more value in dedicated women’s team sponsorships rather than bundling with the men’s team. The value proposition is different due to the audience, the values, the types of stories, and the societal impact that women’s teams have. With the rise of socially conscious brands, women’s football has many more opportunities than before.
TRAINING
To build an attractive football product for the fans, bring new value to partners, sponsors, and broadcasters, innovation and technology should play a leading role in the conversation. Innovation is about experimenting, challenging the status quo, and developing novel business models to grow the industry. That could be from a boardroom perspective, or on the pitch on the field of play.
The women’s game can experiment with innovative ideas more fluidly than the men’s side. There is an openness to co-create & develop new solutions. That creates a unique opportunity for technology companies to enter into key strategic markets.
The acceleration and proliferation of technology has led to more data generation than ever before. Data is the foundational component in supporting fact-based judgments, including around valuation, commonly known as data-driven decision making. With the use of data and technology, one can analyze the game and train more deeply, analyze rivals, players, game strategy, and training load.
Thanks to the use of new technology, the usage of data in football is becoming prevalent and is key to moving forward.
“There’s not a lot of data on women’s bodies and how women’s bodies actually react to trauma or to endurance training, so there is an untapped market that could take the women’s game to a completely new level.” – Arianna Criscione, Director of Women’s Football at N3XT Sports.
Football stakeholders need to approach women’s football from a strategic point of view. A strategic plan must include a clear KPI-driven business & sporting strategy and must account for differences in geographic, cultural and financial contexts. It is equally important to set realistic objectives with short-term wins that drive momentum and build on continued successes. At N3XT Sports we want to help you propel forward by supporting you on your long-term strategy, ensure that your organization has the right structure in place, and creating sustainable business models.
Fill out this form to have a direct conversation with Arianna Criscione, our Women’s Football Director, on how we can help you.