Ross Arnold recaps “Driving Commercial Growth in Women’s Sport” from the SportsPro Live stage—featuring leaders from WTA, NSL, and ECB.
At SportsPro Live, I had the privilege of sharing the stage with three of the most impactful leaders in our industry, discussing the opportunities for commercial growth and development in women’s sport. It’s a topic close to my heart—and one of the major areas of white space and missed opportunity that the industry doesn’t always realise is already being ignited by those who do it best.
Three people who are absolutely at the top of their game—pursuing rapid yet considered commercial growth of their respective sports—are Claire Nelson (NSL), Kate Miller (ECB) and Teodora Ivanova-Limon (WTA). They’re not talking about the future opportunity to drive revenue, they’re making it happen now. Three sports that come from very different places, yet a singular mindset to leave nothing on the table whilst being thoughtful in the quest to lay solid commercial foundations through innovative audience and fan growth strategies. Taking their sports to new places and providing new ways for brands to engage and tell their stories. It was enjoyable, inspiring, and thought-provoking in the extreme, and here are some takeouts from my time on stage with three leaders who are transforming their sports and breaking new ground.
Unlocking new revenue streams requires innovation and creativity in abundance—to craft new sellable assets and build rich storytelling platforms that resonate. Women’s sport is a unique and powerful environment where a brand with a compelling story to tell can achieve unbelievable results that transform their businesses. It’s down to the properties looking to attract those brands to think outside of the box, to re-think value and how brands perceive it, and to transform their commercial programmes so that their proposition is entirely driven by the uniqueness of the women’s sports environment. Those who do this well, will succeed in growing revenues. Those who continue to bundle rights and follow the same commercial history and structures that sports have followed for decades, won’t.
Regardless of where a sport is coming from—its history, its funding, the star-power of its athletes, or the demographic skews in fandom it has now or held previously, attracting new audiences is critical to sustained commercial success. 99% of sports fans never go to a track, stadium, court, or arena. Digital engagement is critical but so is appreciating and reacting to the fact that sport is episodic, it’s a narrative that unpacks across a week, month, season, or tournament, and taking an audience on a journey that doesn’t always end with an on-field/court/track outcome is key. Bring to life athlete stories, relish the non-competition days, create more ‘Super Bowl’ moments for audiences to lean into, be relevant more often and not just on match day. Achieve this and audiences will come, stay, and become a hook for brands to be interested in talking to them through your platform.
Lastly—great strategy, brilliant creativity, commercial innovation and other similar thematics are only as good and impactful as the humans behind their development. That’s the most significant and inspiring thing that I took away from my time on stage yesterday. The care, passion, single-mindedness, and drive to realise the true commercial potential of women’s sport was in abundance on that stage and I have no doubt that the three panellists I shared the floor with represent so many others in our industry too. It was a privilege, and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next from three sports that are accelerating the commercial growth of women’s sport every single day.
