Sky Sports, BBC extend WSL rights
April 11, 2024
By Nik Roseveare
Sky Sports has extended the broadcast rights to the Women’s Super League (WSL) for the 2024/25 season, and will show up to 44 live matches.
WSL on Sky Sports sits alongside a vast offering of domestic football every season including 128 games from Premier League, over 1,000 EFL fixtures including every match from the League Cup, and some of the biggest games from the SPFL and SWPL.
Sky Sports Managing Director, Jonathan Licht, commented: “It’s a hugely exciting time for women’s football in this country. Extending our partnership with the Women’s Super League with more matches than any other broadcaster is fantastic news for Sky Sports customers. Audiences have increased hugely over recent years and we’re proud of our contribution to the growth of the game and women’s sport more broadly, showing 70 per cent of all live action last year on our channels.”
More people than ever before are watching and engaging with women’s football. Since Sky Sports first partnered with the WSL in 2021, viewing on pay-TV has now increased four-fold. Each season on Sky Sports, fans have watched in record-breaking numbers, with the Manchester derby on March 23rd 2024 achieving a peak audience of nearly 600k and an average audience of 485k.
BBC Sport has also confirmed a rights extension to broadcast the Women’s Super League for the 2024/25 season, meaning fans can continue to watch live matches across free-to-air platforms from September. A minimum of 18 of the BBC’s 22 live games will remain on BBC One and BBC Two, and all matches will be shown on BBC iPlayer.
Philip Bernie, Interim Director of BBC Sport, said: “Women’s football has reached unprecedented heights, with the Lionesses’ huge international successes at the Women’s Euros and World Cup, and a terrific contest for this season’s WSL title. We are pleased that BBC Sport will continue to showcase the great excitement of our domestic league by extending our partnerships with the Women’s Super League.”