“We Need To Overcome The Perception That Women’s Sport Isn’t Good For Business Because It Is,” – Sarah Styles From The Victorian Government On Why Women’s Sport Is Undervalued By Sponsors

“We Need To Overcome The Perception That Women’s Sport Isn’t Good For Business Because It Is,” – Sarah Styles From The Victorian Government On Why Women’s Sport Is Undervalued By Sponsors
Sofia Geraghty
By Sofia Geraghty



The recent Women’s World Cup match in which the Matildas took on France is considered to be the most-watched TV event in 20 years with a peak audience of as many as 7.2 million. 

Yet despite the monumental figures, the financials just don’t follow. According to reports, Seven paid just $ 4-5 million for the rights to 15 Women’s World Cup games. Whilst it can be very hard to get the margins in the oversaturated world of men’s sports, Seven’s small investment in women’s soccer is arguably the bargain of the century. 

When we get to sponsorship the gap in investment between men and women’s sport becomes particularly pronounced. 

According to a report made by the Victorian Government, ‘The Value of You Can Be What You Can See’, closing the sponsorship gap between women’s and men’s elite sports in Australia would require an uplift by corporate Australia of more than $125 million annually

For Sarah Styles, director at the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation (part of the Victorian Government), a subconscious bias around women’s sports is to blame. 

“We need to overcome the perception that women’s sport isn’t good for business because it is,” she told B&T. 

“Women’s sport is exploding”. 

“Women are still having to justify their place in sport, where is the logic in that?” she adds. 

Sarah Styles

A lot of the conversations they are having with sponsors and other investors in women’s sport is around showing that biases about women’s sport are actually illogical. 

And if we look at the numbers – this is certainly true. 

Numbers from the reports show that early corporate supporters of women’s elite sports in Australia are benefitting from more than $650 million in customer value annually. 

For every $1 a corporate sponsor invests into the visibility of women’s elite sport, supports the realisation of – on average – $7.29 in customer value for the sponsor.

Further to this, sponsorships of women’s elite sporting properties outperform men’s elite sporting properties in brand awareness, brand consideration, and customer conversion. 

Greater uplifts in significant brand attributes such as ‘quality’, ‘experts’, ‘supportive’, ‘Australian’, and ‘innovative’ are being realised by current corporate sponsors of women’s elite sport. 

The sponsorship gap closing in the next 15 years would see $49 billion in customer value being created for those corporate partners.

Speaking on the findings, Minister for Community Sport Ros Spence said: “Corporate sponsorship of women’s sport can deliver powerful benefits for companies that want to partner with clubs and athletes.”

“Continued growth and the demonstrated value proposition of women’s elite sport make it a compelling investment for corporate sponsors, and these findings reinforce how big an opportunity exists.”

To find out more about gender equality in sports sponsorship – as well as the opportunities that women’s sports can create for sponsors, you can read the report HERE.




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