The Football Association (FA) has declined a huge offer to rebrand the Women’s Super League (WSL) next season as the English football governing body is continuing its control of this competition.
Sportsmail has recently reported that the FA has turned down a £150million offer from a private equity company to rebrand the Women’s Super League.
That report claimed that the record–time English women’s football champions Chelsea (five times) and other champions Arsenal (won thrice) and Manchester City (won once) were among the leading clubs who were supporting the new investment idea. This new plan would convert the WSL structure control to the clubs, similar to the present Premier League system.
FA is continuing the control over Women’s Super League
However, the FA has decided to maintain its control over the WSL. It means that the league is focusing on slower growth financially.
That proposed £150million would have been shared among the 12 WSL teams, which could help the WSL to develop and grow up quickly. That huge investment was targeted to develop three key areas of each WSL club, and those were new management structures, facilities and player development.
The present WSL TV deal is around £8 million per season. On the other hand, Barclays has extended its sponsorship deal with the WSL for the next three years, where the British multinational universal bank is set to invest more than £30 million in women’s and girls’ football over the period from 2022-2025. But all the present WSL deals can’t match that proposed £150million offer.
There is no doubt about the excitement of the investors in the future of WSL as they are seeing the massive potential for commercial growth. The recent data culture suggests that women’s football popularity is massively growing up, and UK football is also experiencing similar rise.
Though Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United etc have seriously invested in their WSL teams, the other clubs are still much behind putting the solid investments, especially in dedicated management teams.