Double edged sword. Great for growth of the game financially but loved being able to access so many games for free on YouTube – which probably also helped attract a wider audience than when it was on the FA Player.
WSL 2024/25 | new TV deal announced
- Thread starter top1whoisman
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Is it a good deal? The WPLL was believed to want between £15-20m last year, but settled on a years extension and they have now done a deal for £13m with Sky. That includes three times more matches, including the WSL Championship and League Cup.
It won't really increase the number of viewers as pointed out, more likely to limit it and plus it will probably follow the EFL format currently on Sky.
It won't really increase the number of viewers as pointed out, more likely to limit it and plus it will probably follow the EFL format currently on Sky.
I've not seen any official numbers but the Guardian reckons it's worth about £65m across the 5 years. That's up from about £7m/year.
It's thought the 65m is what WSL get directly from Sky and the deal actually costs Sky about 100m because they'll be doing all the outside broadcast work themselves. Including the matches that are going to be on YouTube.
We don't know the full details yet like whether any matches end up free to view on YouTube in the Uk. We know the BBC have basically the same deal as that do at present.
So it's not a bad deal for WSL given that they need some guaranteed income streams.
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...tic-five-year-tv-deal-with-sky-sports-and-bbc
If it’s between growing the game financially vs getting to watch the games for free, I’m happy to pay for the product. Not sure why football played by women should be free to watch when it’s not when men play.
The current deal is worth £8m, so it is an increase of £5m a season. But Sky covering costs of Broadcasting is good and I guess you are right on guaranteed revenue, it just seems everything the WPLL aimed for is falling well short.
Sky could show some games on Youtube, they have done it with German football at times I believe and the WSL has been a part of the Basic Sky package as it isn't shown on Sky Sports exclusively so I'd imagine that will continue.
I think the most disappointing thing at the moment in the UK is the lack of WCL coverage from free to view broadcasters. The quality of some of those matches is excellent and they deserve to be seen.
The annoyance is that DAZN who have a rather feeble app and next to no marketing presence own the rights. They've made it free to view but they're more or less invisible so it doesn't do much of a job for women's club football marketing.
I'd love to see big broadcaster start doing a game each match week. Of course, that would be even better if United were playing in it
I think the most disappointing thing at the moment in the UK is the lack of WCL coverage from free to view broadcasters. The quality of some of those matches is excellent and they deserve to be seen.
The annoyance is that DAZN who have a rather feeble app and next to no marketing presence own the rights. They've made it free to view but they're more or less invisible.
I'd love to see big broadcaster start doing a game each match week. Of course, that would be even better if United were playing in it
I don't mind paying for the product but as you said the product around the game must be good enough. Personally I don't care about studios etc., but I understand that in the bigger picture those type of things improve the quality of the product in the eyes of a lot of fans.
From my point of view the problem is that viaplay have the rights but only show two games a week, only on Sundays (even when the PL don't have the Saturday lunchtime kick-off). I'd be happy to pay (more) for a product that would guarantee I see all the United games.
I think the most disappointing thing at the moment in the UK is the lack of WCL coverage from free to view broadcasters. The quality of some of those matches is excellent and they deserve to be seen.
The annoyance is that DAZN who have a rather feeble app and next to no marketing presence own the rights. They've made it free to view but they're more or less invisible so it doesn't do much of a job for women's club football marketing.
I'd love to see big broadcaster start doing a game each match week. Of course, that would be even better if United were playing in it
Yes I agree. With the place Women's Football is currently it needs as much free to air as possible to continue the momentum. It reminds me of England memorably regaining the Ashes in summer 2005 and that was actually the last ever Test summer that was on free to air so bar the 20/20 final and the odd Test seen nothing in the 20 years since.
Would've thought two matches a week on BBC might have been possible? Also maybe move the highlights show to a more family friendly timeslot. I get the logic in putting it after MOTD2 on a Sunday night but it's finishing well beyond midnight so surely some weeks put it on at 9pm?
9pm isn't really family friendly anyway - kids can watch replay whenever the next day or on WSL YouTube
Agreed on the cricket as well. Rugby League is the other sport I keep tabs on. It needs the money it can get from Sky, but it also needs the exposure/marketing that it can get from being with a major free to air broadcaster.
Women's football has only recently made the jump into being a saleable product and hasn't yet worked out how to make the best of it. The match schedule is a mess - which doesn't help a program like MOTD.
Personally I'd like to see a complete jump to claim a space of their own. The Saturday 3pm is the obvious space to chase - if they can get the rule changed. For a WSL MOTD maybe Sunday 7pm on BBC4 or even a Monday 7pm show if a Sunday show is too logistically tough.
The lack of WCL on a proper broadcaster is a real frustration of mine. Selling the European rights to DAZN effectively made them invisible. UEFA have said they're going to invest £830m over the next 6 years in developing the women's game - though wev don't know what that means. I'm just hoping it means investing in getting more girls to play so the game can keep developing and part of that is making sure it's visible.