Women’s sport is entering an important new phase, and we have been privileged to work with clients such as Kick It Out, WSL Football, Sport Wales and the Commonwealth Games, and witness and the experiences, impacts and drivers of this growth. Audiences are growing, competitions are evolving and sports organisations are exploring new ways to improve the matchday experience, deepen fan relationships and develop more sustainable commercial models.
Bronwyn Vermaat, our women’s sport market and social research expert
With that momentum comes significant opportunity, but it also raises important questions. As the sector grows, sports organisations need to understand not only whether attendances or revenues are increasing, but what is driving that change, which groups are benefiting and what conditions are needed to sustain progress over the longer term.
Headline indicators such as ticket sales, viewing figures, reach and revenue remain important because they show the scale and direction of growth. However, they do not always explain why growth is occurring, any areas in which this growth isn’t being recognised, how audiences are experiencing growth and any trade-offs being experienced as a result, or whether an initiative that succeeds in one setting can be transferred successfully to another.
Without that deeper understanding, organisations risk making decisions based on assumptions, short-term trends or incomplete measures of success.
Growth needs explanation, not only measurement
There is a tendency to equate audience growth with a small number of visible metrics, such as more people attending, watching or spending. While those measures are valuable, they reveal only part of the picture.
An increase in attendance, for example, may be driven by a particular fixture, venue, pricing decision, marketing campaign or audience group. It could represent a surge in first-time visitors rather than sustained engagement, while also masking important differences in experience between regular supporters, families, younger adults, disabled fans and people attending live sport for the first time.
Commercial performance is equally nuanced as changes in secondary spend may reflect differences in product range, availability, pricing, queue times, stadium layout or audience composition, rather than changes in demand alone.
A robust evidence base helps organisations connect these outcomes with the factors that produced them, allowing them to move beyond observing growth towards understanding how it can be maintained, strengthened and replicated.
Testing assumptions about audiences
The continued development of women’s sport should not rely on untested assumptions about what supporters want. Established models from elsewhere in sport can provide useful reference points, but they should not be adopted without question. Different competitions, clubs and audiences often have distinct expectations, behaviours and relationships with the matchday experience. It’s also important to recognise that there is no single “women’s sport audience”.
Supporters attend for different reasons, vary in how often they come to matches and have different expectations of atmosphere, facilities and communication. Some have longstanding connections to a club, while others are drawn by the social experience, family-friendly environment or accessibility of the game.
Good evidence allows organisations to understand these differences without reducing audiences to broad stereotypes. It can identify which elements of the experience are valued consistently, where preferences begin to diverge and what may prevent people from returning or engaging more deeply.
Understanding those differences is essential if organisations want to broaden their audience while preserving the qualities that existing supporters value.
Evidence must reflect the whole experience
Audience growth is influenced by every stage of the supporter journey, not just what happens during the match itself.
The experience begins with awareness and continues through ticket purchase, travel, venue information, accessibility, arrival, the matchday environment and, ultimately, the decision to return. A weakness at any point in that journey has the potential to affect longer-term engagement.
The quality of that experience is also shaped by decisions made across the organisation. Marketing influences who attends, while venue selection and fixture scheduling affect accessibility, transport and atmosphere. Commercial decisions can influence everything from queue lengths to crowd movement, while clear communications help set expectations before supporters arrive. Ultimately, operational delivery determines whether the experience fans were promised is the one they actually receive.
For that reason, a robust evidence base needs to bring together audience, operational and commercial information rather than treating each as a separate area of performance.
Evidence should enable organisations to understand not only the outcomes they achieved, but also how those outcomes were delivered and why experiences differed between venues, fixtures or audience groups.
Evidence in practice: Our evaluation ofthe WSL Football Fan Choice pilot
Our evaluation of WSL Football’s Fan Choice pilot demonstrates the value of taking this broader approach.
The pilot introduced changes to the matchday offer across clubs in the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Super League 2. These were implemented across different venues, fixtures and operational environments, creating an opportunity to understand how context influenced delivery and audience experience.
The purpose of the evaluation was not simply to produce a headline measure of support, but to understand how the initiative performed in different settings and identify the factors that influenced its success.
This meant considering audience experience alongside safety, behaviour, attendance, commercial information and operational delivery. It also involved exploring the perspectives of different fan groups, together with those responsible for delivering the wider matchday experience, including club and venue teams.
Rather than collecting evidence only at the end of the pilot, information was gathered throughout its delivery. Quantitative, qualitative and operational evidence was brought together to identify patterns, explain variation and understand how differences in implementation influenced the experience.
This type of approach becomes particularly valuable when an initiative is intended to expand across multiple organisations. A single headline result cannot explain which elements are fundamental to success, which depend on local circumstances or what guidance is needed to support consistent implementation.
More broadly, evaluations are most useful when they are designed around the decisions an organisation expects to make, rather than simply measuring activity once it has finished.
A robust evidence base does not necessarily mean collecting more data. It means collecting the right evidence, from the right sources and at the right points in time. In our experience, several principles underpin effective evaluation:
Start with the decision
Research should begin by defining the decision the evidence will support. This determines which outcomes need to be measured, which audiences should be included and how much certainty is required.
Establish a starting point
Without a baseline, it is difficult to distinguish genuine change from existing patterns or expectations. Evidence collected before, or at the earliest stages of, an initiative provides an essential point of comparison.
Combine methods and perspectives
No single source is likely to explain a complex initiative fully. Quantitative evidence can identify patterns, qualitative research helps explain them, and operational and commercial data provide valuable context.
Examine differences, not only averages
Overall figures can conceal important variation between audiences, clubs, venues and fixtures. In many cases, understanding those differences is more valuable than producing a single headline conclusion.
Evaluate implementation as well as impact
An initiative may underperform because the underlying idea is weak, but it may equally reflect inconsistent communication or unsuitable delivery conditions. Process evidence is essential for distinguishing between those explanations.
Use evidence during delivery
Evaluation should not be confined to a final repor because reviewing emerging evidence throughout delivery enables organisations to improve communication, refine implementation and strengthen data quality while an initiative is still underway.
Building cumulative knowledge
One of the greatest opportunities for women’s sport is to build knowledge cumulatively. Too often, individual initiatives are evaluated in isolation. The findings inform a single decision but are not structured in a way that supports future programmes, other clubs or the wider sector.
A more valuable approach is to identify which lessons can be transferred beyond a single project or organisation. That means understanding which principles are likely to apply across different settings, which outcomes depend on local context and which questions still require further testing. Over time, this creates an evidence base that becomes increasingly valuable because it supports better decisions across multiple initiatives, rather than just one.
Evidence as part of growth strategy
The growth of women’s sport should be ambitious, but ambition and evidence are not competing priorities.
A strong evidence base gives organisations the confidence to innovate, understand their audiences more deeply and identify where new approaches should be adapted before they are expanded.
Rather than simply recording growth after it has happened, good evidence helps explain what is driving progress and provides the insight needed to shape future decisions.
The organisations best placed to sustain that progress will be those that embed evidence into their strategies from the outset by defining the right questions, testing assumptions and using learning to guide what happens next.
M·E·L Research works with sports organisations to develop robust evidence bases that support audience growth, matchday experience and strategic decision-making.
Need help generating insights in women’s sport?
If you are designing, funding or delivering initiatives in women’s sport and want research that combines rigour with empathy, we would love to talk. Whether you are a governing body, charity, league, club or commercial partner looking to understand your audience, evaluate impact or inform future strategy, M·E·L Research can help.
Click the button below to see how our expert researchers can support your goals. Alternatively, you can email the team at info@melresearch.co.uk.
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