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IN WSLWPLLWSLUEFAWSLWSLWSLWSLWPLLWSLWSLWSLWSLWSLCEOWSLYour browser does not support the element.1992, 22 top-division English clubs resigned from the Football League to establish the Premier League. This upstart has since become the richest football league in the world. In August women’s football in England had its own 1992 moment. The Women’s Super League (), a 12-team competition run by the Football Association since its creation in 2010, came under the control of a new entity, Women’s Professional Leagues Ltd (). The organisation’s boss, Nikki Doucet, wants to make the “the most distinctive, competitive and entertaining women’s football club competition in the world”.The sport has taken some big strides in recent years. The victory of the England Lionesses in the European Women’s Championships in 2022 helped to push average attendances to over 7,300 in 2023-24, up from less than 2,000 in 2021-22. Barclays, a bank, has tripled the value of its league sponsorship to £15m ($19.3m) a year. But women’s football remains tiny. The ’s broadcast deal with Sky Sports is worth £8m a season; the Premier League receives more than 200 times as much. Without an international tournament over the summer to boost interest, attendances this season are down by around 15% so far.As the develops, its relationship with the Premier League will be crucial. Premier League clubs own all 12 sides; they gave the ‘s forerunner a soft loan of £20m to build its commercial side. More teams have begun to share their parent clubs’ main stadium. This season Arsenal are playing their matches in the 61,000-capacity Emirates Stadium. Their average attendance is now 34,000, a higher number than nine Premier League teams.For others, scaling up is proving trickier. Aston Villa is averaging 3,000 people inside the 43,000-seat Villa Park. Fans rattling around deserted grounds strip matches of atmosphere. Broadcasters hate rows of empty seats. In 2023 Brighton became the first club to announce it would build its own stadium. The club says it has identified 30 design features, from more shower cubicles to a different turf, to suit female players and fans of women’s football (many of whom have never attended a men’s game).This sort of investment shows the benefit of Premier League largesse. But other teams remain at the mercy of their men’s sides. Manchester United shunted its women’s team into portacabins so the men could use their facilities while the main training base was redeveloped. Chelsea rejigged the ownership structure of its women’s team to help its men’s side comply with Premier League financial rules. “Being the little sister to a Premier League team can actually stop teams growing in their own way,” argues Rowena Samarasinhe of Level, a law firm.The is comparable to the Premier League in some ways. Top clubs hoover up lots of the money. Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United accounted for 56% of revenue in 2022-23, according to Deloitte, a consultancy; the equivalent figure for the top three Premier League teams was only 32%. Paul Barber, the of Brighton, has warned of a spike in wages if “we all end up competing for a relatively small pool of top players”. But Ms Doucet stresses that a slower pace of growth than the Premier League does not constitute failure. To achieve the ’s goals, a more patient build-up will be needed.
