The latest breakdown of the split between sponsorship investment in men’s and women’s sport in the U.K. makes for stark reading. According to World Sponsorship Monitor, between Sept. '11 and Dec. '14, women’s sport accounted for just 0.4% of the total sponsorship deals. Simply put, women’s sport in the U.K. lags way behind men’s sport and has failed to spawn global stars of the magnitude of Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, or even major domestic stars, such as NASCAR’s Danica Patrick in the U.S. Some of the U.K.’s biggest sporting names such as cyclist Laura Trott, athlete Christine Ohuruogo and Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds are not even household names in the U.K. This lack of star quality, coupled with comparatively small live and TV audiences, has rendered women’s sport unappealing to prospective sponsors.
 |
Laura Trott
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
BUCKING THE TREND: Pitch CEO Henry Chappell said, “It remains the case that in all sports, the women’s forms of the games have significantly smaller audiences then the men’s game. That is a global trend.” But experts believe times could be changing and that investment in women’s sport, both in the U.K. and globally, is moving in a positive direction. Utility giant SSE has signaled a clear intent that it values female equally to male athletes as part of its sponsorship of the Commonwealth Games; Omega has just penned in a 10-year deal with golf’s Ladies European Tour; while Olympic sponsors such as Procter & Gamble have made women central to their sponsorship activity. LET CEO Ivan Khodabakhsh: “Sponsorship in any sports -- probably except football -- is always tough.” Khodabakhsh, who has overseen a significant increase in broadcast coverage of the women’s golf tour since he became CEO at the start of '13, argues that women’s golf has a huge potential for growth, as there is only a small difference in athletic performance between men and women.
ADDING VALUE: He also points out that LET tour events can engineer as much media value as equivalent male events, pointing to the example of respective Dubai golf tournaments. The LET, he said, “needs to communicate this [media value] better to make sure that brands recognize it and pay for it.” According to Chappell, there are reasons to be optimistic about the commercial appeal of the women’s sport. He said, “At the moment the level of investment into women’s sport is a pretty negative picture, but there are two reasons for optimism.” Chappell points to a rise in popularity of women’s football, rugby and basketball in the U.K., and, secondly, the fact that female sporting stars can become “ambassadors and great assets for lifestyle, luxury and aspirational brands.”
 |
Christine Ohuruogo
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
LEAD BY EXAMPLE: There is arguably no better example of this than Maria Sharapova, whose success has spawned commercial deals with diverse brands such as PepsiCo, Tiffany and Tag Heuer. Furthermore, women’s golf is set for a boost when it makes its return to the Olympic fold in Rio in '16. Khodabakhsh said, “Once you are an Olympic sport, governments invest in grassroots, so it puts money into the development of the sport and brings young people to the sport." It seems that in the U.K. at least, a number of sports are heading in the right direction, but they need to improve their infrastructures, appeal to broadcasters, and produce more stars to attract more sponsorship money. Brandrapport's Nigel Currie said, "I think it’s going to change. But it’s going to change slowly. No doubt that women’s rugby football and cricket are receiving huge boosts and there are signs that it can develop into something meaningful."
John Reynolds is a writer in London.
