How can women’s sport in South Africa cash in on increased interest to change the commercial landscape and ensure it sees a bigger slice of the financial pie? It’s clearly got some work to do.
Not an easy question to answer, and, seemingly, no quick fix either.
But, things are changing.
Approximately 3.2 million South Africans watched July’s Women’s African Cup of Nations final between Morocco and Banyana Banyana in Rabat.
That’s according to Nielsen Sports South Africa – the sports measurement and analytics giant.
Big strides
There can be no doubt that women’s sport – globally – has made big strides in reaching new fans and you just have to look at the sharp spike in consumption figures of major women’s events across various sporting codes over the past few years to get a sense of that.
For example, the women’s versions of events such as the FIFA World Cup (2019), Rugby World Cup (2017) and T20 Cricket World Cup (2020) all witnessed significant growth in viewership numbers during their most recent editions.
The T20 Cricket World Cup produced a global audience of 89 million, which was a 131% increase on the same event two years before. The final was watched by 53 million viewers.
But, whilst this is encouraging, women’s sport still lags significantly behind men’s sport, in terms of financial investment and sponsorship.
And it’s not just here in South Africa.
New football transfer record
Just weeks ago, women’s football celebrated the setting of a new world record in the transfer market when Manchester City midfielder Keira Walsh moved to Barcelona in a deal worth about £400,000 (R8m).
But, how’s this for context and some illumination to the extreme gulf that exists, globally, between men’s and women’s football?
The current men’s transfer record sits at £190 million (R3.8bn), for Neymar’s move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.
“There is still a mountain to climb,” says Robyn Cox, Vice-President & Managing Director of IMG South Africa. “The revenues are still significantly below those of men’s sport and this is not going to change in a hurry.”
But, as touched on earlier, things are changing, even if that change is relatively glacial in pace.
The American women’s national soccer team reached agreement with governing body US Soccer on equal pay in February, with the players set to receive $24m and US Soccer pledging equal pay for the men’s and women’s teams across all competitions.
There have been similar calls here in South Africa, post-Banyana Banyan’s WAFCON success, but whilst Bafana Bafana’s results in the past few years – in fact, since the country’s only AFCON title in 1996 – have been decidedly underwhelming, women’s football, domestically, has a long to go, in terms of attracting financial investment.
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“The PSL and Hollywoodbets Super League are the highest competitions for men and women respectively in South Africa. All of the sponsorships on the women’s side combined is less than any of the competitions in the PSL. Even one that runs over two to three weeks is more than the total revenue for women’s football,” said SAFA President Danny Jordaan last month, speaking to Sport24. “How many times have you seen Banyana Banyana on all of these TV stations? Never.
Role of the media
Jordaan’s suggestion is that the media has a role to play, in terms of promoting women’s football in South Africa, but the product itself has to be attractive.
“It will change if and when the quality of the content on the screen is appealing to the fans/audiences,” says Jean Willers, Managing Director of Nielsen Sports South Africa. “Locally, we have to be honest and look at the quality of sport and content we have on the screen. Our individual athletes have done really great stuff in terms of swimming, athletics and even wheelchair tennis. But our team sports are not competing on a global level as yet. Cricket is probably still our best bet, but even Banyana Banyana recently lost to Brazil, who are ranked ninth in the world.”
Drilling down, though, Willers has some thoughts on the actual selling of women’s sport sponsorships and for him, it’s more about mindset and attitude.
“Yes, I agree that there is interest, but investment is still seen as a ‘charity’ investment and that mindset shift has to happen,” he says. “Our rights-holders have to SELL their women’s teams as separate entities (unbundle the rights to the women’s team).”
He cites the example of Cricket South Africa sponsor Momentum, which, he says, essentially sponsored the men’s team and as a bonus provided some money for the national women’s team.
Cox’s argument is along similar lines.
“It comes down to basic numbers – most women’s teams are funded by the federations using the revenue they earn from the men’s division,” she says. “So, the budget is small and restrictive, meaning the women’s teams can’t deliver the same level of competition or performance, and thus have a lesser chance of growing revenues and TV coverage. It’s a vicious circle – without the cash the game can’t grow, and without the game the cash can’t grow.”
Individual athletes
Interestingly, Willers believes individual athletes have it easier.
“They can build their own brand,” he says. “And wheelchair tennis player KG Montjane is a great example. She has put South Africa on the map and her and her team are building a really good sponsorship portfolio around her brand.”
One thing that everyone seems to agree on is that a lot sits with the sports federations – or ‘rights-holders’ – themselves.
“They need to build the profile of their teams and the players, as well as build the media opportunity around women’s sport to strengthen the value proposition of women’s sport,” says Seishane Leshaba, Managing Partner at Playmakers. “This can also be achieved with smart commercial partnerships with brands. Lower rights fees with brands committing to strongly leveraging their association with their women’s sponsorship properties can help to achieve these collective objectives.”
Collective effort
In short, it’s going to take a collective effort.
“We all need to work together towards changing this narrative,” says Cox. “We need more women to support women in sport; more mixed sports events to grow the popularity of women’s sport; broadcasters and media to give more airtime to women’s sport; sponsors to help us help women’s sporting organisations get true value and returns on their investment; and the federations to further invest in and establish teams and competition that will warrant the level of fees required to get our women the level of pay and respect they deserve.”
Clearly, plenty of work to do.
Dylan Rogers