News of the BBC’s decision to air matches from the Barclays FA Women’s Super League can be viewed two ways:
1. as a huge and welcome leap forward for women’s sport
2. as making a similar gesture towards the Allianz Premier 15s slightly more possible
The BBC has to take calculated risks in opening up new fields. Its finances are stunted more and more by a government that doesn’t appreciate it. For every new programme approved an old one has to disappear. In the past that has led to nationwide protests.
It’s noticeable that the multi-million pound deal is with Sky Sports. So Sky is giving ground here.
The optimistic view is that the BBC is only too aware of the growing popularity of women’s sport and will gain large new audiences by covering it. Barbara Slater is Director of BBC Sport: will her influence lead to even wider investment?
For the AP 15s the hope must be that with one foot in the door, a second can’t be far behind. The BBC may have been pleasantly surprised by the viewing figures of the two England-France internationals it covered on BBC2. Several of the league games I’ve witnessed over the past few months have come very close to them in skill and watchability.
And since no other TV company has yet bothered to cover women’s club rugby in the UK, the BBC can name its own price. But they will be aware of possible competition from other free-to-air companies.
Who has the RFU been chatting to recently? Is it time we found out?
