Building for the Future. Creating Spaces for the Rapid Rise of Women’s Football in England.
By Viktoria Jeremies
Women’s football has seen explosive growth in recent years, especially in England, where the sport is thriving. The Women’s Super League (WSL) is now the most-watched European women’s football league, with attendances rising 40% between the 22/23 and 23/24 seasons. Revenue is also surging, with an expected £68 million for the 24/25 season—a 240% increase since 2021.
Recognising the momentum, the UK government has pledged to make the country a hub for women’s sports investment through the 2024-25 Women’s Sports Investment Accelerator scheme.
However, while it is nice to celebrate record-breaking crowds and international successes, not everything is perfect, and challenges remain. One of them is the ongoing debate over women’s teams using main stadiums, recently illustrated by Arsenal Women being forced to move their Champions League fixture away from the Emirates.
At Sport+ we are interested in what the most appropriate stadia strategy is for WSL and Women’s Championship teams that can best support the growth of the game. With new investments into the women’s games on the horizon and increasing popularity, we asked ourselves how the money could be used to improve the stadium situation for as many clubs as possible. We believe that investment supporting the professional leagues and wider infrastructure for women’s football as a whole should be the priority as the sport continues to grow.
In the New Year we will be launching research which explores the potential for the development of regional women-specific stadiums that could support the sport at all levels, from grassroots to elite.
As we develop this proposition, we have outlined some emerging findings which begin to illustrate the challenges facing women’s football in relation to stadia usage:
73% of the women’s teams apply a mixed-stadium strategy: Analysis of stadia usages of all 23 teams across the WSL and Women’s Championship revealed that most teams apply a mixed strategy of using both main and secondary stadiums. A secondary stadium is typically rented for academy or women’s games, often owned by lower-league clubs: for example, Arsenal rent Meadow Park from Boreham Wood FC. In the WSL, 11 out of the 12 clubs use two stadia, with only West Ham not using the main stadium for women’s fixtures at all and playing at the secondary stadium full-time. In comparison, in the Championship, only 6 out of 11 women’s teams play at a main and secondary stadium.
Only 25% of WSL clubs play at the main stadium more than five times per season: Looking at the frequency of women’s teams using the main stadium, it becomes clear that this is more common in the Championship than in the WSL. 54% of clubs competing in the Women’s Championship share the main stadium and have more than five fixtures in the main venue a season, with three clubs having all their games at the primary stadium. In the WSL, only 25% of women’s teams have more than five fixtures in the main stadium.
Travelling to the secondary stadia takes twice as long: Another issue with secondary stadia is their distance and connectivity to the city centres. On average, fans attending games at a secondary stadium who travel by public transport must travel twice as long as those going to the main stadium (See graphic below).
Data Source: Google Maps
Most secondary stadiums are rented, limiting their influence over how they are used: Chelsea and Manchester City are the only clubs that have purchased a second ground. This raises major challenges around venue decision-making processes, such as:
Branding: Most secondary stadia are branded in the colours of the owning club
Sponsorship: Like branding, sponsoring companies have less freedom for activations and branded products around the stadium, as everything needs to be removed after the games.
Matchday offer: Although WSL is the highest professional women’s football league, it operates at venues on the level of regional leagues. Those stadia do not have the facilities for pre-match activities as the main stadia of big clubs, adding another limitation for the women’s team.
Retail: Renting a venue also means it becomes more difficult to sell the women’s team’s merchandise, as retail facilities are either missing or filled with products of the main team. Not being able to sell merchandise removes an important revenue stream for the women’s team.
5. The average attendance at women’s football is very mixed: We calculated an estimated average attendance for both the main and secondary stadium using public data, such as press releases and social media posts. The data shows that most average attendances do not currently come close to filling the main stadium.
Note: West Ham Women currently do not play at London Stadium
The new audience for women’s football has exposed challenges around how they are designed: The main and secondary stadia currently used were originally designed for men’s football teams and a predominantly male audience. This poses challenges in accommodating the audience demographics at women’s football matches. Issues include:
The distribution of facilities such as restrooms is often unsuited to the higher proportion of female attendees at women’s fixtures, resulting in longer queues.
With more families attending, more diaper-changing facilities are needed.
Well-lit paths to the nearest public transport stop are necessary to ensure the safety of the female fans.
Women’s football is being perceived as more inclusive, which the stadium should represent by including disability-friendly areas and sensor-friendly spaces.
After analysing public data to create general comparisons, the next step is to interview experts in the field to incorporate their insights and perspectives.
We will share our final results in the new year, but until then, let us know if you’d like to contribute to our research or join the conversation. You can get involved by contacting me at viktoria@sport-plus.co.uk.
