- The Women’s World Cup could have as many viewers as the Olympics
- So will sponsors wake up to the women’s game?
If forecasts had been right, the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup would see the US square up to England’s Lionesses on 20 August. If other forecasts prove more accurate, more than 2bn people will tune in to watch this year’s tournament – overtaking both the summer and winter Olympics in terms of views. Although fans will be thrilled to see England make a World Cup final, to an economist the second fact is more interesting: when it comes to sport, media matters.
Economists at Wells Fargo sum it up nicely: “For most sports teams, not just football teams, media distribution is the main driver of revenues.” We know that women’s football has been steadily growing in popularity – estimates suggest that 1.2bn viewers tuned in to watch the World Cup in 2019, almost double the audience of the 2015 tournament. Yet it has been hard to unpick the popularity of the women’s game: historically, rights to broadcast men’s and women’s matches have been bundled together and sold collectively.