Success in women’s sport: blaze new trails and lead with personality

Deloitte knowledge and insights lead Jenny Haskel, giving one of the keynote speeches at the conference, pointed to statistics showing the rapid growth of women’s sports in terms of attendance, broadcast views and commercial opportunities. Since 2022, the revenue from these three streams across the full spectrum of women’s sport has grown from US$692 million to US$2.35 billion, representing a growth of around 50 per cent a year.

Haskel said: “It is time to move beyond demonstrating potential to building a lasting legacy of success for women’s sport.”

According to Haskel, the journey to fandom for female sports fans is different from their male counterparts. While only 27 per cent will have participated in sport from a young age, and 36 per cent got involved due to family interest, women are 3.5 times more likely to be influenced by athletes.

Haskel said this meant women’s sports need to look at their commercial partnerships in fresh ways. She suggested this could mean embracing non-endemic brands, explaining: “The immense and largely untapped commercial potential of women’s sport has increasingly come into sharp focus, whereby a new wave of non-endemic brands in sectors like fashion, beauty, travel, and consumer goods have continued to enter the sector.”

Brands that will bolster athletes’ personalities, audiences, and opportunities, and tell stories about athletes’ and fans’ struggles, successes, and journeys, will help engage the audience.

Haskel added that women’s sports fans respond well to organisations that want to solve a targeted problem, such as girls’ participation in sport, athlete visibility, or the intersection between sport and culture.

However, there was no single answer when it came to the “right” type of partnership, but sports organisations should carry out a comprehensive assessment of sponsorship allocation to help prepare themselves for a future where the women’s entity structure could potentially evolve to garnering interest from external investors.

Haskel said the ‘starting five’ points to consider for sports organisations hoping to build their women’s brands should be to first review their operating model; obsess over fans; understand the socio-economic impact of their organisation; foster meaningful partnerships; and consider many types of investment.

The presentation showed the immense potential in women’s sports, including handball, as they continue to gather interest from fans around the world.

Photos © Eva Manhart