In what has been coined a ‘golden year’ for women’s sport, the Women’s Sport Trust has welcomed the latest research from Two Circles showing record attendance figures for all women’s sport in 2022.
The Two Circles’ research predicts that women’s sport attendances will reach 2.4m in 2022, more than double the figure of 0.9m in 2019.
In fact, the FA Women’s Super League has already surpassed the entire total attendance for the 2021/22 season (250,489) less than a third of the way into the 2022/23 season.
These figures are supported by data released by The FA this month. They revealed a 200% increase in WSL attendances this season, with an average of 6,000 fans attending a game.
After 44,259 people attended the Etihad in early December to watch the WSL’s Manchester Derby, making it a record for Man City Women and the second biggest crowd ever for a WSL match, the Women’s Sport Trust hopes this trend will continue.
This latest research comes on the back of a Women’s Sport Trust report that demonstrated record TV viewership for women’s sport in the UK in 2022.
The figures showed that there have been 325 million viewing hours for women’s sport in 2022 (up to end of October) – the highest year on record – versus 19.1 million in 2012 and 246 million in 2019.
Tammy Parlour, CEO and co-founder at the Women’s Sport Trust, said: “Our own research proves that people are watching women’s sport – in fact, 43 million people have watched three minutes or more this year*, and a total of 325 million hours viewed.
“The attendance data from Two Circles proves that growing interest is leading to ticket sales. We know people are watching women’s sport on TV so it’s great to see that fans have also showed up in person to show their support.
“What stands out for me is the rate of growth over the last few years. We believe we’re now entering a new era for women’s sport. With attendances and viewers increasing at a phenomenal rate, we look forward to seeing what happens in 2023, and also how clubs can begin to develop increased revenue streams from this rise in attendance. Our advice – if you’re not yet investing in women’s sport, you should start now.”this month